American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)

by Zitkala-S̈a

  In spite of the treaty of 1868,9 “the cupidity of the white man, lusting for gold in the forbidden country of the Black Hills, prevailed upon the War Department to come to his rescue by instituting war against the peaceful roaming Sioux.”

  The Black Hills claim, like other Indian claims, is the progeny of broken treaties. Paradoxical as it may seem, the very people standing most in need of the aid of justice and the machinery of law is debarred from the courts of America. Three-fourths of the Indian race being non-citizen, have no legal status, though a race that is good enough to fight and die for world democracy is surely worthy of full American citizenship and the protection of law under our constitution! The Indian’s voice will not be heard, however, in the courts of our land until our great government uproots the Bureau System, the love-vine strangling the manhood of the Indian race.

  Indian tribes are by express statute excluded from the general jurisdiction of the Court of Claims; and in order to present their grievances, they must first obtain the consent of Congress, of which they are non-constituents. In view of this situation it is quite apparent that the sooner the tribal corrals are thrown open, the sooner the Indian will become Americanized. There need be no fear that he may not measure up to the responsibilities of a citizen. Even after the blighting stagnation of the Indian reservations, the Indian will be equal to his opportunities.

  The tenacity with which Indians cling to the belief in the democratic doctrine of justice to all is characteristic of the race. It is illustrated by the Black Hills Council which braved the appalling difficulties it encountered. Representative men chosen by the Council were sent to Washington, D.C., in the hope of gaining the ear of Congress. They stormed the very citadel of the Great Father in Washington. By their untiring work, a number of bills were introduced in Congress from time to time—bills which were ostensibly intended to give jurisdiction to the courts to hear and determine what rights, if any, remain to the Sioux in the Black Hills property.

  One after another of these bills failed of passage by Congress, while access to the Court of Claims to all other Americans was comparatively easy, types of men like the I.W.W. and the Bolsheviki not excepted. Small wonder that Immortal Justice must be blindfolded upon her marble pedestal lest her tranquil ity be marred by the Red Man’s dilemma!

  The fact remains that the Sioux have an intangible right none the less real and just for the postponed settlement, one that can only materialize in a democratic government, by the aid of the American Congress and the courts.

  The council has reached the point in its school of experience where the need of legal advice is recognized. The Indian’s view must be presented in due form for the consideration of Congress.

  The Sioux Nation, acting through its own association, must avail itself of the aid of recognized competent legal counsel; and this under similar conditions governing such employment by the white man in his business affairs. It is time for the Sioux and their friends to inquire why they have not long ago had an attorney or attorneys of their own choosing employed under such conditions as would insure faithful and effective service.

  The history of the attempted legislation in regard to the Black Hills Case, if scrutinized, would develop interesting facts and information for those earnestly interested in the establishment of justice to the Indian.

  In this connection, the words of an Indian on the floor of the House of Representatives, at the last session of Congress, may be read with great profit by all Indians and friends of the Indians.

  Congressman Hastings, of Oklahoma, is a Cherokee by blood. He with his wife and children are enrolled members of the Cherokee Tribe and allottees with the Cherokee Nation. Mr. Hastings is a lawyer of distinguished ability. At one time covering a number of years, he was the official attorney for the Cherokee Nation. He served under the direction and control of the Commission of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior.

  The occasion for his recent speech, referred to above, was in advocacy for a Bill under consideration, where an attorney was to be provided for the Osages and to be of their own selection.

  The contention of the Indian Bureau was that if the Osages were to have an attorney, which for years it had been denying them, he should be an attorney virtually chosen by and under the direction of the Indian Bureau.

  Mr. Hastings said: “They have certain differences with the department. They cannot be represented up here before the committees of Congress. They cannot send an attorney here; they cannot send their tribal council here. There is no way for them to present their claims to Congress now without the permission of the Secretary of the Interior.”

  In response to the views of a member of the House, opposing him, Mr. Hastings said, “The gentleman has not had the experience upon these Indian matters that some of the rest of us have had. Personally I have lived under the department every day of my life. We have been under the supervision of the Interior Department down there in Oklahoma always, and if you are going to allow the Secretary of the Interior to pick the attorney, to let him be hand-picked by him, you might as well have none at all, because the attorney then must go down and first get orders from the department and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, else he will not be employed the next year. His employment depends upon his representing their views and not the views of the Osage Indians.”

  He made his position clearer still: “Now, I have always contended that these people with these large interests ought to be represented by a high-class attorney, and I believe they ought to have something to say about naming him. Let me say to the gentleman, for years I was attorney for the Cherokee Tribe of Indians, and represented them before committees and before the departments and before the courts here, and I do not believe that any tribal representation ought to be dictated to by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or the Secretary of the Interior.”

  After an interruption, Mr. Hastings proceeded: “I will say that all of these tribal attorneys that are now employed where approval has to be made by the Secretary of the Interior they cannot, of course, represent any other views than those entertained by the department. . . .”

  What is true of the Osages may apply with equal force to the Sioux. The question arises in our minds,—have not the Sioux already wasted too much time in desultory quest for a plan for adjusting the Black Hills controversy?

  Is it not emphatically clear from the words of Congressman Hastings on this subject, that the secret of the Sioux Council’s failure or the explanation of the postponement of its desire, lies in the fact that the Indian Bureau has been the chief factor in defeating the Sioux to appoint, employ and retain capable counsel of their own choosing?

  Sounds from an Anvil

  Before the armistice was signed, a reputable gentleman of the West wrote us relative to a school he was opening for young men. He was prompted to this philanthropic and educational work by letters from his soldier boy overseas who wrote of the constant need for good horseshooers in the field.

  The father, owning a well equipped blacksmith shop and having himself won medals for his own meritorious work in this line, at once offered a course of training in Blacksmithing to the young men of his vicinity, feeling that such knowledge would help to make better soldiers.

  He was liberal enough to include in the invitation his Indian neighbors. These Utes living in the mountainous region could always find remunerative work in the mines where there is a demand for blacksmithing, even after the war.

  The government school in the western Indian Reservation did not teach blacksmithing, though in the Far East, the Hamp ton School taught it with amazingly good results.

  We are advised the white boys took advantage of this offer of training in the blacksmith shop but the Indian Bureau, for some unknown reason, declined to accept the opportunity for the Ute boys.

  The reason would be interesting!

  The Ute Grazing Land

  In Utah, the Ute Grazing Land of 250,000 acres is in jeopardy.

  Scarcely a month had
passed after the cessation of the World War when on December 10, 1918, in the United States Senate, a resolution was introduced directing the Secretary of the Interior to report, among other things, “What means may be taken to extinguish the Indian title to said lands; and whether it is convenient and advantageous to add said lands, or any part thereof, to the Uinta National Forest.”

  To the Indian soldier proudly returning home, this is a cruel unwelcome!

  Amid the wails of those mourning for their dead on European battlefields, and Indian widows with their orphaned children comfortless, attempt is made to invade their rights!

  During the war, these Utes contributed liberally to the Red Cross work and over subscribed their quota for Liberty Loans. The story is told of a Ute grandmother who subscribed $500.00 and when reminded that she had only $13.00 left, she replied, “That is enough for me!” It is within the memory of this same dear old grandmother that her people suffered the loss of their Colorado homes, large tracts of their lands being then turned into Forest Reserves.

  A repetition of this experience by the Utes is unthinkable!

  Remarks of Representative Church in a House address recently indicates the game of National Park extensions has reached its limit. More particularly is this true when it involves gross injustice to a people who have proven their loyalty in the war.

  The Senate resolution states that the Ute Indians are not making an economic and adequate use of their grazing land; and will not in the future be able to make economic and adequate use of it.

  These are strange declarations which in their final analysis, reflect discredit upon the Indian Bureau management of the Ute affairs. It is true that the Indians’ herds of cattle, horses and sheep have not been large enough to stock their entire range; and that a part of their grazing land is leased, through the Indian Bureau, to white settlers who find it a profitable business. The Utes have protested in vain again the trespasses of these same white stockmen whom the Bureau continues to favor with leases.

  In the United States Treasury are some two million dollars belonging to these Utes. Why have they not been encouraged to purchase cattle for their Grazing Land instead of spending vast sums of money in farming desert lands allotted to them without water?

  It remains for the American people to say if “in the future” the Indian Bureau shall continue to hinder the Utes from making the adequate use of their Grazing Land. These Indians are natural stockmen and have long wished to engage in more extensive stock raising.

  Were the Indians’ dream to come true, the Utes would be free to invest their money in live stock, with the hands of the Indian Bureau strictly off!

  The Utes would become producers in the beef supply of America.

  They would find at last the joy of active participation in an American enterprise!

  Editorial Comment (Summer 1919)

  Hope in the Returned Indian Soldier

  “Can you tell me why a soldier returned from overseas service is called a hero?” These are the words of an Indian soldier in a recent letter. At once I recalled the ovation to Sergeant York, the Tennessee soldier, whose record of having killed twenty-five Germans and capturing 132 others, has been heralded nationwide.

  The Indian soldier further said,—“Last July, 1918, my brother and I, as doughboys went over to Europe with the Wild West Division. We served at the front. I was in bloody battles on No Man’s Land in the Meuse-Argonne Sector. I was wounded in action. After my recovery I joined my division and stayed with them until we sailed for the States after the armistice. Today I am alive!—in good health!—and at home! I do not claim to be a hero but I do call myself a lucky bird!”

  The returned soldier is a hero more fortunate perhaps than his brother now sleeping in No Man’s Land. Both displayed the same fortitude of mind on the field of action. Chance took one and left the other. This incident of chance in no wise affects the heroic bravery of either.

  We quote further from the letter,—“I am glad for the many things I learned while in the army. In my travels with the army I have seen a great world. I did not know till then that I had been living in a reservation wilderness. I have seen how men and women engage in the world’s work.”

  These and other like expressions are upon the lips of our returned Indian soldiers. From the ashes of Indian heroes, dead in foreign battlefields, rises the returned Indian Soldier Disciple! He brings home to his race stories of human enterprise and world activities such as they have never even dreamed. He tells of the many friends he has made during his elbow to elbow comradeship with the white American soldiers. Added to the joy of his return is the new interest in life his graphic recitations inspire.

  Even as he talks heroism seems to become contagious! Warm blood tingles! The Indian’s self-sacrificing part in the world war is a sublime achievement which tinkling cymbals more or less may not augment or diminish! This demonstration of valor and fortitude reveals inherent in the Indian race a high and noble quality of mind.

  The black night of world war has served to bring out the brilliant stars of Indian bravery and heroism. The night revealed their presence in our spiritual firmament. They have always been there. We believe they are eternal. The emergency of war ushered them into a world review.

  Now in demobilization our Indians in khaki do not lay aside with their military uniform these telling qualities of heroism which have won so much “undistinguished collective acclaim.” They continue to be clothed with that divine courage which some have called “Indian stoicism”; and in their company we realize that each and every one of us possess the attributes of heroism, as our divine heritage!

  We are reminded of the words of Carlyle, “If hero means sincere man, why not every one of us be a hero?”

  The irksome vacuity of reservation exile may require as much heroism, if not more, to live than it did to die in actual battle. It takes courage to live, sometimes. It takes strength to do one’s own thinking. Yet these are our responsibilities, we dare not shirk nor permit another to assume. Of course another cannot exercise for us our discerning powers. We must do that ourselves! In the doing prove our heroism!

  Every Indian, who stands firmly on his own feet, for the cause of right justice and freedom, is indeed a hero—a living hero in the skirmishes of daily life!

  Gift of Angel DeCora Dietz10

  This Indian woman, artist and teacher of art, while living won laurels for her race. She loved her people much. Their trials and deferred justice lay upon her heart. Believing that in an organization of Indians lay the means of the Red Man’s self-expression and power, she was one of the charter members of the Society of American Indians in 1911.

  Throughout the years following, she watched the struggles of this Society. She knew the serious handicaps under which it labored for the lack of sufficient funds. But Angel never spoke of her plan. Only after her untimely death last February was it learned she had in her will bequeathed three thousand ($3,000.00) dollars to carry on the work of the Society of American Indians.

  The gift is a sacred trust! Such faith in her own race inspires us to our uttermost effort. Angel DeCora Dietz, living and dying, has left us a noble example of devotion to our people. Let us take heed. Let us prove our worth even as she has done.

  An Indian Citizenship Campaign

  Our president, Dr. Charles A. Eastman, spent about three months this spring on a lecture campaign in behalf of American citizenship for the Indian. Sacrificing remunerative engagements to give himself up to strenuous public speaking, delivering three and sometimes four addresses in a day.

  The echo of his plea reached the nation’s capitol. During the debate on the fifteen million dollar Indian Appropriation Bill a newspaper account of Dr. Eastman’s Indian citizenship address was read into the Congressional Record. We earnestly hope every member of Congress has read it! Had there been no opposition to the generous estimates the Indian Office made for its own self-preservation this appropriation might easily have been thirty millions.

&n
bsp; The Indian race is asking release from the clutches of bureaucracy!

  If American audiences are an indication of public sentiment, —and Congress truly represents the people, the Indian’s cry must be heard!

  The American people still remember how their early ancestors fled from the autocracy of Europe to the open arms of the Red Man a few centuries ago. This memory together with the proud record of the Indian in the world war just closed must move all those whose hearts are not stone.

  Our Indian philosopher and lecturer was welcomed everywhere and most cordially entertained by notable men and women prominent in human welfare work. As they believe in Americanizing the foreigner so should they desire the privileges of American citizenship for the native, the aborigine! In Chicago an auxiliary to the Society of American Indians was organized by friends of the Indian for the purpose of uniting their efforts to secure citizenship for the Indian.

  Elated by so much encouragement from the American people, Dr. Eastman, with Dr. Carlos Montezuma, left Chicago to visit Indian country. There they were met and ably assisted by our First Vice-President, Rev. Philip Gordon, Dennison Wheelock and others. In the towns close to Indian reservations they again spoke before crowded houses.

  Throughout the extended lecture tour of three months, in large cities and small towns of America, all went well until attempt was made to enter an Indian reservation.

  Indian Bureau autocracy forbade these educated, leading Indian men to hold any meeting on the Indian reservation! Though the riffraff of the white people from the four corners of the earth may enter Indian lands and homestead them, thus permitting daily contact with the very scum of other races, the educated, refined, and patriotic Indian, teaching the highest ideals of democracy is forbidden to meet with his own race, even for a day!