Indians sure have changed

[Arrow]

Jerry,

There is no doubtyou canstill go into these OTSA's and find close to the same scenerio in many instances,with whites living next to them in the same conditions.

Debo's bookon the back cover gives us some interesting facts; the Federal Government and the exploiters that followed broke the back of the Indian Nations, they were 70,000 strong and owned the eastern half of Oklahoma with its farm lands, untapped oil pools, coal mines, and forrest's. They held their lands in common,had their own legislative bodies, educational and judicial systems. Their political and economic status wereguaranteed by treaties and patents from theFeds.By 1890 whites were in the majority,statehood came in 1907. Yearsof exploitation anddevious trickery followed to steal the holdings of these greatNationsleaving the people to starve and depend on charity to survive.

A quote from George Benge a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahomagives us abrighter picture for the future if the Indian Nations remember the lessons of the past and keep a close watch on those that control the purse strings.

"Life began to improve in 1988 after congressional approval of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which empowered the nation's Indian people to establish gaming operations on their tribal lands.The decade of the 1990s and the early years of this century have brought success and hope to thousands of Native Americans.Two recent reports have documented this era of new optimism.

The National Indian Gaming Association said that in 2004:Tribal gaming generated gross revenues of $18.5 billion.The number of jobs created by tribal gaming and related businesses exceeded 553,000.Charitable contributions from gaming tribes topped $100 million.

Moreover, The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development reported that from 1990 to 2000: Reservation residents' per capita income growth rate was three times the U.S. average. The unemployment rate for Indians on gaming reservations dropped from 26 percent to 21 percent.

The number of college graduates in all Indian areas increased by 2 or 3 percentage points."

I don't play at the casinos but when I drive by I always smile and say "Native Americans, takin' it back one nickle at time" "Good on'em"

You might find the following site intersting, it details the sources of revenuefor the Indian Nations in Oklahoma.

Gaming State Of Oklahoma

Tobacco State Of Oklahoma

Motor Fuels State Of Oklahoma

[MORTARDUDE]

While on the way back home from Pinehurst, North Carolina, we stopped for a couple of days in Cherokee, North Carolina for some sightseeing in the Smoky Mountain area. There is a museum there called The Museum of the Cherokee Indian. It is always heart breaking to read how the Cherokee nation adapted to the White's man culture and still was brutalized and forced to move East. I bought several pieces of art and was able to talk to several native Americans about their culture, as well as seeing the outdoor drama, "Unto These Hills".


http://cherokee-nc.com/museum_main.php

http://cherokee-nc.com/

[39mto39g]

People believe that the poor Indians were " brutalized and forced" by the White man. The thing is that the Indians were fighting and killing each other for hundreds of years before the white man came here. Each tribe is an offshoot of another tribe and that tribe concurred some other tribe to gain land and slaves. These indians fought each other much more than they fought the whiteman.
Indian Tribes American Indians
Anasazi Indians
Apache Indians
Apache Indian
Apache Tribes
Aztec Indians
Blackfoot Indians
Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Cherokee Indians
Cherokee Indian
Cherokee Tribes
Cheyenne Indians
Cheyenne Tribe
Choctaw Indians
Chumash Indians
Comanche Indians
Cree Indians
Creek Indians
Crow Indians
Hopi Indians
Iroquois Indians
Lakota Indians
Maya Indians
Mayan Indians
Mohawk Indians
Navajo Indians
Nez Perce Indians
Northwest Coast Indians
Paleo Indians
Pawnee Indians
Pueblo Indians
Plains Indians
Potawatomi Indians
Seminole Indians
Shawnee Indians
Sioux Indians
Sioux Indian Tribe
Sioux Tribe
Southwest Indians
The Mohawk Tribe
Wampanoag Indians
The Paleo indians were most likely the first indians in what we call the United States some 10,000 years ago.
Theres no way of telling just where and when each tribe gained the territory it has and from whom, certainly the whiteman was the last to enter the fight but the fight had been going on for a long time and the land had switched sides many times.

Citing figures from a 1894 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, one scholar has calculated that the more than 40 wars from 1775 to 1890 reportedly claimed the lives of some 45,000 Indians and 19,000 whites.

These 40 some wars between the indians of various tribes and various "white" men were contucted along side the wars that the indians were having against each other.
And it was the latter that sealed the indians fait. If they would have got together , (instead of fighting each other) The whiteman would have got his butt kicked.

Although the whiteman "brutalized and forced" the indians to live on reservations, that act was far more humane that what the indians were doing to each other at the time. .

[Arrow]

Larry thanks for thegreat links!

[Keith_Hixson]

Ron,
I was reading a study on the down side of tribalism. It allowed for the conquering of much of Americas, Africa, S.E. Asia, Hawaii etc. by nationalistic countries.
Tribalism is more local in nature. There is generally one culture and one religion and that is the rule. Nationalism covers a much broader scope of ideals that organize themselves into one force. They are more tolerant (generally) of other religions, and cultures.
Quite a study. In Africa and the Americas the tribes fought with each other as much or more than they did the white man. They sold each other into slavery and fought against other tribes more than with the whiteman.
However, the downside of tribalism is not an excuse for lying to and mistreating those who have been conquered. The Native American was mistreated by the Whites as were the Hawaiians. Two wrongs doesn't make a right.
Today in the Middle East, the Balkans, Africa, and S.E. Asia we still see tribalism and there still is a downside to tribalism as the tribes are still trying to eliminate each other. Much of the famine in Africa is tribal related rather than climate created. In the Balkans we have the Serbs, Croations, Slovenes, Albanians, Bosnians, fighting each other. In Iraq you have the Shittites, Sunis, and Kurds struggling with each for power. In Africa the tribes are too numerous list but they still burn each others crops and practice ethnic cleansing, which creates many of the famines.
However, as I said before: Just because tribalism had its cruel side and often corrupt and unethical in practices doesn't allow another to do the same. Shame any dishonest behavior by anyone.

Keith

[Arrow]

Ron,

I agree there are many with a romanticized view of theIndian Tribesthat occupied what is now the United States.I'll have to take the opposite view and say no one outside those Tribes had the moral high groundin making humane decisions. The Civil War led by white men, fought for economic reasons, (many Indian wars were alsofought for economic reasons) proved that white men with European ancestors were quite adept at displaying mans inhumanity to man with the casualties mounting from that war to exceedUScasualties in all wars we have fought up to this present day.

Civil War Casualties

[Keith_Hixson]

There is a dark side to humanity whether its tribalism or nationalism.
Greed and Power can corrupt.

Keith

[MORTARDUDE]

Ron :

I wasn't talking about the Native American Indaian nation for the last 40,000 years. Just what was done to the Cherokees in the North Carolina area by Andrew Jackson and company.

Larry

[Jerry D]

And don't forget what Andy Jackson told the Supreme Court Justice when the Cherokee Nation WON their lawsuit against the US Government. Soon after Andrew sent in the US Army to force march the North Ga Cherokee off to reservations in Okla. Even though they had legitimate land rights in Georgia. Greed over Gold discovered on their lands caused the problem. Andrew Jackson wanted his cut of the profits from what today we refer to as lobbyist.
Between 1811 and 1813 Davey Crockett fought under General Andrew Jackson in the Creek War. It was his reputation as an Indian fighter and frontiersman that first established his popularity. He used rough, exaggerated images of himself as soldier and hunter to rise to political positions. Although he was admired for being a strong, hard and heroic frontiersman, the obsessive admiration of Davy Crockett was due in large part to his humor. He was charismatic and possessed the mastery of vernacular coupled with common sense that made him a natural storyteller with the power to enthrall his audience and parody his opponents. He served two terms in the Tennessee legislature and was elected to Congress three times. After years as a Democratic Jacksonian, Crockett broke ties with Jackson in 1828 and became a Whig for the remainder of his political career. He broke ties with Jackson over the ill treatment of the Cherokees that Crockett had befriended after his days as an Indian Fighter and believed their cause was Right!

[39mto39g]

The Indian wars are all linked not just to the Cherokees , And they certainly were not 40,000 years ago. Its kinda like saying look at what Grant did to Lee, without talking about the civil war.

The Cherokees took the land from someone who took the land from someone else and so on, and then the United states took the land from the Indians, its just part of the cycle, The Cherokees taking the land by force from other Indians is no worse then Andrew Jackson taking it from them, a lot of people got killed along the way.
And the Romans killed people also and so did the vikings.


Ron