Posted on 04/20/2004 4:19:35 AM PDT by HostileTerritory
Russell Means is one of the founders of the American Indian Movement, and one of the principal players at AIM's seizure of Wounded Knee in 1973, and the occupation of Alcatraz in the late 60's. He's as radical as they come, but he's evidently smart enough to detect a plantation overseer when he meets one.
Well, politics DOES make strange bedfellows, but I'd love it if President Bush would be the catalyst to do something about the Indian Reservations. It might be difficult, though, because the 'Indian leaders' have gotten just about as bad as the 'black leaders' in that the Dems have set them up as overseers and they're interested in keeping their positions of power.
While there are some similarities, I think it's dangerous to equate the Indian and Black cultures. Where they have one at all, Blacks' culture is one of failure, anger, disenfranchisement, and self-sabotage. Indians have a culture -- an ancient, proud, and independent one. However, because of the collision with Western society, they simply cannot practice that culture any longer.
As I see it, Indian culture cannot co-exist with Western culture. It cannot merge or otherwise synthesize a new hybrid that combines features from both. One or the other will eventually be destroyed.
Black culture, on the other hand, can certainly assimilate values from White culture. It merely chooses not to, in the misguided (and specious) notion that rejecting White society somehow gives Blacks an independent identity.
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