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President Jackson's declaration (extract): "May we not hope... that all good citizens, and none more zealously than those who think the Indians oppressed by subjection to the laws of the states, will unite in attempting to open the eyes of those children of the forest to their true condition, and by a speedy removal to relieve them from all the evils, real or imaginary, present or prospective, with which they may be supposed to be threatened."

Book Review Section

"HAVE WE FAILED WITH THE INDIAN ?" by H. L. Dawes

Atlantic Monthly, New York 1899, Volume 84, pp. 280-285.

"The prevailing idea was that of guardianship of an uncivilized race among us, incapable of self-support or self-restraint, over which public safety as well as the dictates of humanity required the exercise of a constant, restraining care, until it should fade out of existence in the irresistible march of civilization. It very soon became apparent that under this treatment the race did not diminish, but, by reason of protection from the slaughter of one another in wars among themselves and from diseases inseparable from savage life, it increased in number.

This increase in population calling for more room, we were confronted with another problem not before taken into account. Emigration was yearly swelling in numbers, and marching like an army with banners upon the public domain and over into Indian reservations. These conditions, impossible to change, forced upon the country a change in its Indian policy. This army of newcomers was invading and appropriating to the uses of civilization the reservations which the increasing number of the Indian race was making more and more necessary for its own support.

There would soon be little unoccupied room for either race, and it was plain that the two could not live together, and that the one must speedily crowd out the other.

What was to become of the untutored, defenseless Indian, when he found himself thus pushed out of the life and home of the reservation, and cut off from the hunting and fishing which furnished the only and scanty supply of his daily wants? It was plain that if he were left alone he must of necessity become a tramp and beggar with all the evil passions of a savage, a homeless and lawless poacher upon civilization, and a terror to the peaceful citizen.

It was this condition which forced on the nation its present Indian policy.

It was born of sheer necessity. Inasmuch as the Indian refused to fade out, but multiplied under the sheltering care of reservation life, and the reservation itself was slipping away from him, there was but one alternative: either he must be endured as a lawless savage, a constant menace to civilized life, or he must be fitted to become a part of that life and be absorbed into it.

To permit him to be a roving savage was unendurable, and therefore the task of fitting him for civilized life was undertaken..." Larger extract (Virginia edu library).

"A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its woman are on the ground. Then it is done, nomatter how brave its warriors nor how strong their weapons." (LAKOTA WOMAN, 3).

LAKOTA WOMAN by Mary Crow Dog with Richard Erodes, as reviewed by Janelle L. Gordon, Illinois State University May 3, 1995.

What has been and still is the most forgotten and left-out race in America? - The American Indian. Yet, when one usually speaks of race and inequality in the United States the Indians are seldom, if ever mentioned. It appears as if Blacks and Latinos in America are the only races that have been done an injustice, the only oppressed races that matter(...).

Also, I frequently hear the complaint , among educated individuals, that the Native American books are boring or that these books tell only of the history. My response to that is -- What's wrong with learning about history?

When I think of American Indians what comes to mind is very little. I know that thousands of years before Columbus came to the New World, these "people" were already living in North and South America whom Columbus called "Indians." Yet there was a problem because this term "Indians," encompassed a variety of peoples which led led to several misconceptions by the Europeans. some men disputed whether or not the Indians were human or animal. Others wondered if they were Egyptians or displaced Israelites.

Then there were also the settlers who viewed these Indians as murderous savages. And after they were subdued they were seen as inherently lazy drunkards, which is the same view people hold today. Now, there is the possibility that the reason so few American Indian novels are on a discussion list in a class of Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality is the fact that there just isn't much literature written on this topic. And maybe all of the Native American novels really are quite boring.

Nevertheless, I decided to take my chances. In reading LAKOTA WOMAN, an autobiography by Mary Crow Dog with Richard Erodes, I chose not only to challenge my limited knowledge of American Indians,but also to disprove the notion that Native American novels are usually boring.

Mary Crow Dog's autobiography is a story of one woman; however, it tells the tale of many Indian women who have endured te wrath and pride of their own men, and the brutality of government control as well as several other trials and tribulations. Still, these women have emerged strong and whole in spite of all their wounds and Mrs. Crow Dog tells how.

In this telling narrative Mary Crow Dog provides information about Indian history and contemporary reality while interweaving her life story with that of her people. For Indians; land, religion, and family are at the core of their life. These attributes make up a large part of their heritage and they, men and women alike, will go to any means necessary to try to preserve these integral aspects of their society. For Mary Crow Dog, her upbringing and heritage play a primary role in her life.

Yet, it goes much deeper than being Indian. It is being a half-blood unwanted by her father, it is being delivered at birth in the "white" American way rather than the traditional Indian one, and it is being denied the full knowledge of her culture in hopes tha she will be "whitemanized."

Each chapter begins with either a proverb, song, or some wise saying which sets the tone for the chapter. I especially liked the proverb of the first chapter: "`A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its woman are on the ground. Then it is done, no matter how brave its warriors nor how strong their weapons.'" (LAKOTA WOMAN, 3). It is this Cheyenne proverb that exemplifies the theme of the entire book. The first five chapters recount her years growing up as an Indian girl in South Dakota where everything Indian was considered evil.

Mrs. Crow Dog's story begins with a graphic and vivid descripton of the siege of Wounded Knee and then she takes the reader to her adolescent years. Being an Indian woman is by no means an easy task in America especially for Mary Crow Dog who is an iyeska, a half-blood, being looked down upon by whites and full bloods alike. Crow Dog is a Sioux who grew up in poverty on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Her father was a trucker," part Indian and mostly white," who left her mother before Mary was even born. She saw him twice, but he never even acknowledged her presence.

Mrs Crow Dog faces a great identity problem and she uses strong words and ideas to convey the disgust she felt at having a mixed heritage. She speaks of constantly having wished to `purge' the white blood from her body, and longing for the summer in order to be tan and made "into a real skin." I find this no different from the attitudes that many mulattos have today. So many have no sense of who they are and where they fit in, that they completely disenfranchise themselves from one or both of their races rather than embracing both of them. Unfortunately society only further helps to alienate these individuals. The fact that Crow Dog wasn't born at home on the reservation, but rather in a hospital delivered by a white doctor appears to be truly disturbing for her.

At this point in her book she tells of the injustice done to her mother as well as several Indian women at the hands of white doctors.

Envers les amérindiens, la biologie humaine peut-elle réduire la faute historique des européens? These doctors routinely sterilized Indian woman without their permission yet nothing was ever made of it. I know that several people would make the argument that the sterilization of Indian women was merely done in order to decrease the number of Indians on welfare. And that this would benefit them as well as society. Yet, it was also held in the eyes of many that the fewer Indians there were the better.

Like many reservation children, Crow Dog and her brothers and sisters were primarily raised by her grandparents. Since her mother was the sole provider, the only job she could find as a nurse was hundred of miles away. Being raised by grandparents where there were often several living together in a one-room hut was unacceptable to a white social worker. So, you had many kids being taken away from their families and given to "wasicun (white) strangers to be `acculturated in a sanitary environment'" (LAKOTA WOMAN,17). Therefore the tiyospaye; the extended family group (grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, cousins), which was the center of the Sioux society was intentionally broken up as a matter of policy. This close-knit clan was "a stumbling block in the path of the government agent . . . a barrier to what the white man called `progress' and `civilization'." (LAKOTA WOMAN, 13).

The government forced the Sioux into what is now called a" nuclear" family - it "forced upon each couple their individually owned allotment of land, trying to teach them `the benefits of wholesome selfishness without which higher civilization is impossible'" (LAKOTA WOMAN,13). This is a prime example of egocentric Euro-America stepping in to declare what is right from wrong about something they know nothing about. And nothing has changed to this day. Not only did Mary Crow Dog face the brainwashing tactics of the government to "whitemanize" her, but also from her own mothet and grandmother. Crow Dog's grandmother was a Catholic and she tried to raise Mary and her sisters and brother as whites.

Her mother and grandmother spoke Sioux fluently and whenever Crow Dog asked to be taught the native language she was told no because she needed to get an education and live a good life. "You need a white man's education to live in this world" (LAKOTA WOMAN,22).

This directly related to the Catholic faith since they (Catholics) were always repeating that one needs to kill the Indian in order to save the man!According to Crow Dog, if "she wanted to be an Indian [she'd] have to go elsewhere to learn how to become one" (LAKOTA WOMAN,23). Crow Dog was further drawn away from her culture when she was sent away to Indian Catholic boarding school. She compares the process of taking the Indian children from their families to that of kidnapping, and the children are 'like victims of Nazi concentration camps" (LAKOTA, 28). It was at the boarding school that Crow Dog came to hate and distrust all white people on site.

"Racism breeds racism in reverse"(LAKOTA WOMAN, 34). She and other Indian girls were constantly mistreated and beaten by the nuns for the slightest of things. It was a constant physical as well as mental abuse. Mary recounts a time when the girls in the school would huddle in bed together for comfort and reassurance only to have a nun charge into the room to tell them they are committing sin and will forever burn in hell. Then the nun made them get out of bed and pray until morning all the while the young girls having no idea what they had done.

This is another illustration of how these "Catholics etc." knew nothing of the Indian culture or way of life. On the reservation people slept three and four in a bed for warmth and a feeling of security. Even now when the schools have significantly better teachers who are well-intentioned and well-trained in child psychology - unfortunately the psychology of white children - the shock to the child is still tremendous. There still exists an impersonality and a cold atmosphere as well as the language difference. Mary Crow Dog finally walked out when she could no longer take it. In these first few chapters Crow Dog mentions other ways Euro-America affected Indians, and more specifically Indian men which in turn affected the women.

The fight for their land was such an integral part of their culture, it was the core of their existence for two hundred years. So, once the land was gone (taken) then the Indians were gone too. The land was leased to white ranchers, jobs were almost nonexistent on the reservations and of course whites outside the reservation didn't hire Indians if they could help it. So there was nothing left for the men to do except to drink the liquor that the white man provided.

These men were "psychologically crippled. . . [they] had nothing to live for, so they got drunk and drove off at ninety miles an hour in a car without lights, without brakes, and without destination, to die a warrior's death" (LAKOTA WOMAN, 15). Then some of these warriors come home drunk and "beat up on their old ladies in order to work off their fustration" (LAKOTA WOMAN, 5). Crow Dog says that she can understand where these men are coming from and she feels sorry for them, but even sorrier for their women. It is the woman who have to bear all the weight of the men as well as their own burdens. It doesn't seem as if much has changed toady because overall people's perception of the Indian is as a chronic alcoholic. Crow Dog ends this chapter saying, "People talk about the Indian drinking problem,' but we say that it is a white problem. White men invented whiskey and brought it to America. They manufacture, advertise, and sell it to us. They make the profit on it an dcause the conditions that make Indians drink in the first place" (LAKATA WOMAN, 54).

After Crow Dog left the boarding school she also left home to wander aimlessly where she engaged mostly in shoplifting with several other Indians. But their reasons were not only out of need of the things they took, but alsobecause the store owners provoked it. They expected the Indians to steal and made no point in trying to hide the fact that they were watching them.Crow Dog states how the store keepers would stand next to youjust watching. It got so bad that the owners were basically urging them on to see if they steal right from under their noses. Yet, most of the Inians were arrested for who they were and what they represented rather than what they they did. It got so bad that they were constantly being pulled over by the police for no particular reason.

Eventually Mary encountered AIM, American Indian Movement formed in 1968, and she stopped her wandering because she'd found a home so to speak. Leonard Crow Dog; whom Mary later marries, was a great speaker for AIM who stressed that the time for Indians was now and that they must stop speaking with their lips and start with their bodies. It was also at this time that she met and befriended white people who supported the entire Indian Movement like Jane Fonda and Marlon Brando.

Now up to this point I found several similarities that the Blacks and Indians shared. The busing to schools, the low status among other citizens and the treatment given to them by the police are just a few. But Crow Dog makes the point that in Indian language"a black is called a `black white man.'The blacks want what the whites have, which is understandable. they want in. We Indians want out!" (LAKOTA WOMAN). This is the main difference between Blacks and Whites according to Crow Dog. When I first read this I was shocked an I thought no way Blacks and Indians are going after the same goal, but then as I pondered this statement a liitle while longer I realized Crow Dog was right. The Indians want to be left alone to practice their religion, smoke peyote legally, have their land and no one interfere with them. But the Blacks want to be equal opportunity co-workers with the whites, Latinos and Asians and all other races.

A large success of AIM and two of the most significant parts of Crow Dog's life was the March on Washington and the seige of Wounded Knee. The seige of Wounded Knee was a direct connection with the events that had occurred there in 1890 when Indians were massacred at the same site. In 1890 Wounded Knee marked the culmination of the Ghost Dance. It was the last war between Indians and whites which symbolized the many injustices and degradations inflicted upon Indians by the U.S. government. Another big accomplishment for Crow Dog was the birth of her firsrchild at Wounded Knee during the firefight. I think that Crow Dog's strong need to have her baby at Wounded Knee was a direct relationship to the fact that she was born in a hospital rather than on the reservation as she was supposed to because of complications in the birth. This was one of the largest turning points in her life.

I believe that this act put the finishing touches on her feeling of wholeness and she finally knew who she was.

I admit that unfortunately I too have been guilty of ocassionally leaving out the American Indian when discussing race in America, but after reading the LAKOTA WOMAN I doubt that I will continue to be a contributor ro such an injustice. This compelling autobiography has only aroused my interest to delve further into the story of the American Indian who is as much a part of American history as any other race and culture, if not more. Crow Dog continuously illustrated the importance of the women in the Indian culture as well as in all of society. The experiences Mary Crow Dog had in her early years directly affected everything she became and everything she did.

As far as I'm concerned LAKOTA WOMAN has succeeded. Both as a book and as the Lakota woman" herself. --

From Online Library Catalogs

Electronic Books and Reference Databases

Book Reviews from rec.arts.books.reviews

Deloria, Vine, "Red Land, White Lies", Reviewed by Ted Holden Bombshell Frontal Assault on Yuppie Science.

Vine Deloria is well known, and not some fringe science writer. He has held the position of Chairman of the National Council of American Indians, and is the author of the familiar "Custer Died for Your Sins".

Roger Dunsmore, author of the Dictionary of Native American Literature wrote:

"Vine Deloria, Jr., is the most significant voice in this generation regarding the presentation and analysis of contemporary Indian affairs, their history, their present shape and meaning."

Renee Sansom Flood, author of Lost Bird of Wounded Knee, notes:

"In Red Earth, White Lies, Vine Deloria, Jr., masterfully challenges the accepted but grossly inaccurate scientific theories of evolution, radiocarbon dating techniques, and the Bering Strait migration hoax. He warns coming generations of scientists, both Indian and white, not to repeat the ethnocentric omissions of the past by ignoring Indian oral tradition... I have been waiting for this book all of my adult life."

I should start by noting that Red Earth, White Lies is a fun book to read. If you can picture a serious scholar (rare enough in itself these days) who is also a gifted speaker and writer and is capable of writing on and clarifying sometimes complex topics with something like the dry wit of a Paddy J. O'Rourke, you'll have a bit of an idea of what's in store.

At the Ceno-Catastrophism convention in Portland a year ago, Deloria told me that he was tremendously interested in my own presentation regardinng sauropod dinosaurs, the mathematical and physical demonstration that nothing heavier than 21,000 lbs. or thereabouts could even stand in our present world, much less walk around. He noted that he had been researching a major project, a compendium of Indian oral traditions and folklore, and had been out for what sounded like the last 20 years or so speaking with every chief, every shaman, every medicine man, storyteller, and keeper of oral traditions of every tribe in North America. He noted that if there was anything which used to totally floor him at first, it was the extent to which virtually every one of these tribes retained descriptions of pliestocene megafauna and, more often than not, dinosaurs. If any of that is true, than much of what scientists think they know about the history of our Earth is certainly wrong and grossly so.

Any tool works better at some applications than at others. A chainsaw, for instance, works quite well on trees, and poorly on steel I-beams. Likewise our current science, with its compartmentalization of knowledge appears well-adapted for various kinds of technological applications, and is at its best at complex projects such as the Manhatten Project, or computer technology. It is precisely when modern science turns its attention to questions of origins, and of the ultimate nature of reality, that this same specialization of disciplines and sub-disciplines and compartmentalization of knowledge, become an insuperable barrier to understanding.

Deloria notes that:

"Fragmentation of human knowledge by science means tha most explanations must be constructed on an ad hoc basis with the hope that use of the scientific method will guarantee that all bits of data are ultimately related. Unfortunately, the day of the philosopher in Western society has passed and no single group today serves the function of surveying the totality of knowledge and trying to bring it into a coherent and simple explanation which can be made available to the rest of society.

DeLoria notes that the most major difference between the ways in which Indians and Western scientists view our physical world is that scientists see the universe primarily as an inanimate collection of atoms and molecules, ourselves a temporary abberation caused by chance associations of inert material, while it is self-evident to Indians that the universe itself, us included, is a living thing. That whites originally adknowledged this obvious reality is inherent in our Indo-European languages with the exception of English which was stripped of grammar deliberately, i.e. in the fact that all manner of things which we are conditioned to view as inanimate all have gender in language.

The general world-view of what I call yuppie science includes as major tenets such things as the Big-Bang, the nebular theory of our solar system along with the assumption of a 3 billion - 7 billion year age for our Earth, uniformitarianism in geology (now grudgingly including a few minor catastrophes, asteroids etc., provided they are placed some psychologically comfortable distance into the past), and the theory of evolution by stochastic processes, guided by "natural selection", whatever that's supposed to be.

Moreover, the general world-view and axiomatic system has logical corrolaries of a parochial nature, logical fallouts from the general system which are necessary to insert into every localized system. In the case of the Americas, these local corrolaries include the idea of Indians as well as animal species having migrated across the Bering Straits, and this is driven by the theory of evolution and the fact that no Neanderthals or other possible human ancesters are found in the Americas. The notion of Indian ancestors having killed off the North American megafauna is also part of the system because the system does not allow for recent large-scale catastrophism.

The idea is frighteningly stupid on the face of it. Killing off all of the mammoths and other giant animals would require firepower, organization, logistics, and mobility which nobody in the Americas ever had. Even if Indian ancestors had had automatic weapons, they could not have exterminated the megafauna on foot; the herds would have simply filled in behind them. Nonetheless, this belief is part of the system.

We have seen challenges to individual pieces of this system; we've seen Velikovsky's challenge to notions of solar-system stability, and Michael Denton's challenge to evolution. Red Earth, White Lies is more than that.

Red Earth, White Lies is a massive frontal assault upon the entire ediface of yuppie science. Deloria heavily documents the fact that many if not all of these tenets of yuppie science are not only stupid and massively so, but should probably be categorized as ethnocentric and racist to boot.

Regarding the supposed killout of megafauna, he notes that:

Since these events, if they did indeed occur, happened some 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, why should it matter? It matters immensely because the image which science has given American Indians is such that modern Indians are blamed for the extinction of these creatures. Conservative newspaper columnists, right-wing fanatics, sportsmen's groups, and scholars in general tend to see the "overkill" hypothesis as symptomatic of a lack of moral fiber and ethical concern for the Earth among Indians...

I can speak here from firsthand personal knowledge. In 1990, I was invited to speak at Stanford University, trumpeted as the "Harvard of the West," to celebrate its one hundredth anniversary. I was asked to speak on the Indian relationship with the land, and I tried as best I could to outline the philosophical principles I thought would be meaningful to the audience and the values I thought were involved in the Indian perspective on the natural world. The first question from the audience when I finishedwas a person asking whether I didn't think running hundreds of buffalo over a cliff was wasteful. The tone of the question implied that the previous weekend myself and other invited Indian speakers had destroyed hundreds of bison somewhere in Wyoming. Since the only recent slaughter of buffalo that I could remember was the Super Bowl, I took offense and refused to answer any more questions.

The chapter dealing with this problem is titled "Mythical Pliestocene Hit Men". Deloria makes a total shambles of the Bering Strait hypothesis, the overkill hypothesis, and any number of other sheboliths to boot, and describes clear instances of Indian knowledge of geological events which are conventionally dated in the millions of years, as well as clear descriptions down to the red fur and saw-blade back of stegosaurs.

This is a book for the ages; a book about Indians and tribal peoples, about catastrophism, and about the failings of our modern science...

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From the document Online Library Catalogs, Electronic Books and Reference Databases/Book Reviews from rec.arts.books.reviews/M/Misc./ Short reviews of new and recent books by, and about, Native Americans reviewed by Steve Brock:

GHOST SINGER by Anna Lee Walters. University of New Mexico Press, 1720 Lomas Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591, (505) 277-2346, (505) 277-9270 FAX. 248 pp., $17.95 paper. 0-8263-1545-3.

This is the novel the Smithsonian Institution doesn't want you to read. Walters has written a thrilling and complex story (now out in a paperback edition) about Navajo ghosts, the bodies they once inhabited stored in cardboard boxes at the Smithsonian, who haunt and murder the anthropologists studying them, as well as members of their own tribe.

SUNDANCE: THE ROBERT SUNDANCE STORY by Robert Sundance with Marc Gaede. Chaco Press, 5218 Donna Maria Ln., La Canada, CA 91011, (818) 952-0108, FAX: (818) 952-7267. Illustrated, afterword. 300 pp., $12.95 paper. 0-9616019-8-1

Robert Sundance (Rupert Sibley McLaughlan), born on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, roamed all over the West, was arrested over 500 times, and spent most of his adult life in an alcoholic daze. In 1975, however, he sued the city and county of Los Angeles and won his case, bringing wide-ranging reforms to the way street alcoholics were treated. Sundance's memoir vividly documents his relentless bid to be heard.

OCEAN POWER: POEMS FROM THE DESERT by Ofelia Zepeda. University of Arizona Press, 1230 N. Park, #102, Tucson, AZ 85719, (800) 426- 3797, (602) 882-3065 in Arizona, (602) 621-8899 FAX. The University of Arizona Press online catalogue and order form may be accessed from the Internet by telneting to INFO.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU. Login as INFO. From the Main Menu choose 5 (On-line Information Services), 3 (University of Arizona Information), 1 (Campus Services), and 4 (University of Arizona Press). Afterword. 91 pp., $19.95 cloth (0-8165-1517-4), $9.95 paper (0-8165-1541-7).

Zepeda, an associate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona, reflects on her life as a Tohono O'odham woman: stirring clouds with a harvesting stick, growing hair so long it can be worn as a dress (to be used as a pillow when laid to rest), possessing a body in rhythm with oceans and moons. Not so somber is her frolicsome version of "Under the Sea," ("It's so much better, down where it's wetter"). Many of the poems are printed in both English and O'odham, and one is entirely in O'odham. Intensely personal, remarkably accessible. Grade: A-. "Ocean Power" is volume 32 in the "Sun Tracks" American Indian Literary Series.

INDIANS, FRANCISCANS, AND SPANISH COLONIZATION: THE IMPACT OF THE MISSION SYSTEM ON CALIFORNIA INDIANS by Robert H. Jackson and Edward Castillo. University of New Mexico Press, 1720 Lomas Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591, (505) 277-2346, (505) 277-9270 FAX. Illustrated, index, bibliography, notes, three appendices. 214 pp., $32.50 cloth. 0-8263-1570-4

When Spanish colonists erected 21 missions along the coast of California, they persuaded (and on several occasions, forced) the members of many California Indian tribes to provide labor, as well as being ripe for conversion to Catholicism. Jackson and Castillo document attempts to modify the social and religious lives of the tribes, and tribal efforts to maintain a separate identity. Grade: B.

MESSENGERS OF THE WIND: NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN TELL THEIR LIFE STORIES, edited by Jane Katz. Ballantine Books, 201 E. 50th St., N.Y., NY 10022, (800) 726-0600, FAX: (212) 572-8700. Illustrated, index, selected bibliography, notes, map. 331 pp., $23.00 cloth. 0-345-39060-1

Katz introduces twenty-five Native American women who relate, in their own words, what life means to them, what has shaped it so far, and what the future seems to hold for them and their loved ones. Divided into themes such as "Mending the Tears, Weaving the Strands" and "Look Little Ones, All the Places are Holy," these inspirational narratives contain a common vision: preservation of culture and language are mandatory for tribes to continue to exist. Highly recommended as a supplemental text for undergraduate classes in Women's Studies.

NATIVE AMERICAN LIVES: PERFORMERS, edited by Liz Sonneborn. Facts on File, Inc., 460 Park Avenue South, N.Y., NY 10016, (800) 322- 8755, FAX: (212) 213-4578. Illustrated, index, selected annotated bibliography. 128 pp., $17.95 cloth. 0-8160-3045-6. For ages 10 and up.

From Emily Pauline Johnson and Iron Eyes Cody to Graham Greene and John Trudell, Sonneborn profiles eight of the most famous American Indian performers: musicians, actors, a humorist (Will Rogers), and a ballerina (Maria Tallchief). Included are a short history of each performer's birthplace, a biography, and a discussion of their body of work. Noticeably missing from the volume are Floyd Crow Westerman and Carlos Nakai. Grade: B. Also in the "Native American Lives" series: Spiritual Leaders; Scholars, Writers, and Professionals; Political Leaders and Peacemakers; Artists and Craftspeople; and Athletes.

THE PHOTOGRAPH AND THE AMERICAN INDIAN by Alfred L. Bush and Lee Clark Mitchell. Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, NJ 08540, (800) 777-4726, FAX: (609) 258-1335. Illustrated (more than 300 black-and-white and color photographs), bibliography, biographies of photographers. 360 pp., $79.50 cloth. 0-691-03489-3.

By the mid-1800s, the had camera became another instrument for exploiting American Indians. In 1985, a conference and exhibition at Princeton looked back at the changing agendas of Indians, photographers, and Indian photographers, and this catalog documents the 150-year-history, with many famous stereotypes set alongside recent photomontages. The result is a visually rich, wide-ranging, and at times disturbing record, essential for photographers, scholars of American Indians, and fine arts libraries.

THE CIRCLE IS SACRED: A MEDICINE BOOK FOR WOMEN by Scout Cloud Lee, Ed.D. Council Oaks Books, 1350 E. 15th St., Tulsa, OK 74120, (800) 247-8850, (918) 583-4995 FAX. Illustrated. 272 pp., 17.95 paper. 0-933031-97-1.

This is the type of book that makes Indians cringe. Scout Cloud Lee advertises herself as a "recreation therapist" and a "pioneer in the field of experiential learning technologies." It says nowhere that she has one drop of Indian blood, yet her new book of women's rituals and ceremonies incorporates many sacred Native American ceremonies, some even using eagle feathers. I'm all in favor of gender-based consciousness-raising, but not at the expense of another culture, and especially not at a ranch in Oklahoma that's a "sacred ceremonial playground."

CHIEF: THE LIFE HISTORY OF EUGENE DELORME, IMPRISONED SANTEE SIOUX, edited by Inez Cardozo-Freeman. University of Nebraska Press 901 N. 17th St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0520, (800) 755-1105, (402) 472-6214 FAX. The University of Nebraska Press online catalog is available on the Internet by telneting to CRCVMS.UNL.EDU, username INFO, choosing UNIVERSITY PRESS, and ONLINE CATALOG. Illustrated, chronology, selected bibliography. 250 pp., $26.00 cloth. 0-8032- 1469-3.

Delorme, who collaborated with Cardozo-Freeman in writing "The Joint," is now the subject of her new biography, which relates Delorme's youth in Aberdeen, Washington as part of a "dissolving family," spending most of his fifty-five years in reformatories, detention centers, and penitentiaries, and now residing in a psychiatric hospital, suffering from alcoholism and depression. Delorme has experienced several lifetimes of adversity, and his story should be required reading by Indian healthcare administra- tors and practitioners.

THE AMERICAN WEST by Dee Brown. Charles Scribner's Sons, 866 Third Ave., N.Y., NY 10022, (800) 223-2336, (800) 445-6991 FAX. Illustrated, index, bibliography, maps, selected chronology. 460 pp., $25.00 cloth. 0-02-517421-5.

The publicity material says this is the "best single-volume history of the Old West," but it forgot to insert one word: it's the best- promoted single-volume history of the Old West. Brown, unfortunately, sits on his laurels and plunders his other works for material on the Native Americans, settlers, and ranchers and cowboys who battled over who got to live where. The book, with its solid collection of archival photographs, is well-written and readable. Most of us, however, have read it before.

LANGUAGE OF THE ROBE: AMERICAN INDIAN TRADE BLANKETS by Robert W. Kapoun with Charles J. Lohrmann. Gibbs Smith, Publisher, P.O. Box 667, Layton, UT 84041, (801) 544-9800, FAX: (801) 544-5582. Illustrated (more than 300 black-and-white and color photographs), bibliography, notes. 191 pp., $34.95 cloth. 0-87905-468-9.

From clothing staple to currency used in negotiating business deals to gift of deep friendship to collectible work of art, the trade blanket has become popular once again. Kapoun traces the history of trade blankets, robes, and other articles of clothing produced by Capps, Oregon City, Buell, Racine, and Pendleton prior to World War II. With numerous color plates, and a section on modern collecting (don't miss those designed by Hopi weaver Ramona Sakiestewa), this book is a beauty.

WORDS OF POWER: VOICES FROM INDIAN AMERICA, edited by Norbert S. Hill, Jr. (Oneida). Fulcrum Publishing, 350 Indiana St., Suite 350, Golden, CO 80401, (800) 992-2908, (303) 279-7111 FAX. Index of speakers, list of sources. 68 pp., $9.95 cloth. 1-55591-189-7

Native Americans from the past and present voice their thoughts on subjects such as educating children, preserving natural resources, traditional values, friendship, and leadership. Inspirational and insightful, "Words of Power" is an appropriate gift for any occasion. Grade: B. Hill is the executive director of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

COLUMBIA RIVER BASKETRY: GIFT OF THE ANCESTORS, GIFT OF THE EARTH by Mary Dodds Schlick. University of Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145-5096, (800) 441-4115, (206) 543-3932 FAX. Illustrated (191 total, 56 in color), index, list of sources, glossary, notes, map. 248 pp., $60.00 cloth (0-295-97249-1), $35.00 paper (0-295-97289-0).

Schlick provides information on the wide variety of textiles made by mid-Columbia River Indians (from Richland to Vancouver, Washington) and their ancestors, as well as their cultural significance. Included are many archival photographs and close-up examples, accumulated from the author's relationship with tribes that has lasted for over 40 years. The book won an award for best book of 1994 from the Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Association.

THIS PATH WE TRAVEL: CELEBRATIONS OF CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN CREATIVITY. Fulcrum Publishing, 350 Indiana St., Suite 350, Golden, CO 80401, (800) 992-2908, (303) 279-7111 FAX, in association with the National Museum of the American Indian. Illustrated (60 total, 40 in color), appendix, notes, lists of exhibitions. 128 pp., $24.95 cloth (1-55591-205-2), $18.95 paper (1-55591-208- 7).

Published in conjunction with one of the three current exhibitions of the National Museum of the American Indian, "This Path We Travel" profiles fifteen artists and their works, most of it in their own words. Also included are several essays on the project. Though the actual exhibit, a collaborative effort created specifi- cally for the museum, is confusing and unfocused, the book does well in describing the perspective of each artist.

NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN ANTHROPOLOGY: ESSAYS ON SOCIETY AND CULTURE, edited by Raymond J. DeMallie and Alfonso Ortiz. University of New Mexico Press, 1720 Lomas Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591, (505) 277-2346, (505) 277-9270 FAX. Illustrated, index, references. 442 pp., $32.95 cloth. 0-8263-2614-0.

The fifteen essays on kinship, social organization, and culture history in this new text provide current interpretations while combining structural and historical approaches. The volume is dedicated to anthropologist Fred Eggen (1906-1991), and all of the contributors are former students. Highly recommended as a textbook in introductory classes on American Indian Anthropology.

HIT BAR TO GO TO MAIN INDIAN POLICY PAGE

"There was no one to talk to except the invisible world, nothing to move me but the music on the radio." -Joy Harjo, Creek writer and poet.

From the document "Online Library Catalogs, Electronic Books and Reference Databases/Book Reviews from rec.arts.books.reviews/K/Keith, Michael C./Signals In the Air (NA Radio)". Archived: Tue Oct 17 20:01:19 1995.

SIGNALS IN THE AIR: Native Broadcasting in America. By Michael C. Keith. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 1995 ISBN: 0-275-94876-5. Reviewed by Frank Haulgren.

It is a given fact that radio has the power to shape opinion and change society. The frightening aspect of this, for most of us, is how we've given over the medium to those who would and will bludgeon with the heavy club of consumerist culture. With his book, SIGNALS IN THE AIR, Michael Keith documents the evolution of Native American broadcasting in the United States and how it seeks to snatch away the dull blunt instrument and repair -- at least in part -- the damage done by the nation's dominant culture.

At first glance Keith's book may lead casual readers to believe that these radio stations -- like all small, non- commercial (though not all are) stations on the margins of mainstream culture -- face only the same kinds of problems as their Anglo counterparts. Indeed they are underfunded, programs are produced with inadequate and obsolete equipment, heads are butt with boards of directors whose vision of the station often differs radically from the vision held by those that produce the programming and listen to it. These stations, however, also bear some additional and unique burdens as each struggles to hold together the remaining bits of cultures that have been decimated by more than two centuries of genocidal government policies.

Keith traces Native American presence on the airwaves from early isolated incidents through the impact of the 1965 Economic Opportunity Act (which allowed Native American organizations and tribes to plan and develop their own economic initiatives while bypassing the Bureau of Indian Affairs) to the early 1970's when a unique atmosphere which encouraged social activism and the acknowledgement of cultural identity provided fertile ground for the growth of Indian radio.

In 1969 Pacifica's Berkeley station, KPFA, regularly broad- cast Radio Free Alcatraz. The station had loaned broadcast equipment to Native Americans who had taken possession of the former prison island. Between November of 1969 and mid-1971 KPFA broadcast regular proclamations and statements from the Island. According to Keith this incident served as a catalyst that spurred the creation of "Native-controlled broadcast outlets" in the U.S. at a time when activist groups like the American Indian Movement (AIM) were helping to develop an understanding of just how essential Indian access to media was. SIGNALS IN THE AIR gives considerable space to documenting individual histories and the current state of affairs at many Native owned and controlled stations.

Most of this coverage is given over to non-commercial outlets licensed to tribal organizations which seek to employ tribal members, provide programming of unique interest to the native audience that is specifically intended to preserve language and other aspects of tribal culture, and which try to serve a relatively small audience spread over the often huge geographic areas that make up Native reservations. All this while coping with the usual problems faced by small independent stations.

Sovereignty control of the airwaves is an issue that, like many of the rights granted to Native Americans by treaties with North American governments, is a complex matter of serious concern to native broadcasters as well as tribal governments. CKON is a station broadcasting to the Mohawk Nation located on both sides of the U.S. side and Canadian boarder from a transmitter on the Canadian side, on the authority of neither the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or the Canadian Radio and Television Commission. Its broadcast license has been issued by the government of the Mohawk Nation. Keith writes: "Sovereignty is a major issue for most Native Americans, and the idea of the federal government playing a key role in the regulation of Indian media is one that does not sit well with them."

The Indigenous Communications Association's Ray Cook agrees, "These signals belong to Indian territory and should not be subject to policies established by foreign governments." The organization's secretary, Joseph Orzco, says that while he would be wary of giving every tribal nation separate jurisdiction over licensing issues, "To act in a sovereign manner, I see the need to form a Native communication commission." The FCC, obviously, sees things quite differently. Training is another issue that presents some unusual problems for Native owned and operated stations.

The hiring of non-native and even non-tribal personnel is also one of the complicated and potentially divisive issues faced. Keith discusses at some length the problem of finding trained and qualified Native Americans to work at these stations. While many station managers simply consider themselves to be the reluctant operators of training schools for folks who are often themselves re- luctant to embrace the medium, KABR-AM of the Alamo reservation in New Mexico throws itself wholly into its role of educator and trainer: "KABR turns into a radio lab on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Grade school and high school students take part in the lab. They are taught how to operate equipment, produce programs, and speak on the air.

The students are also encouraged to develop programs in the Navajo language, which helps them develop literacy in their own language as well as English. "Tuning to KABR, listeners may hear a grade school student reciting a Native American poem, a junior high school student reading the community news, or a high school student hosting a locally produced show, like the "dedication Hour" or the "Alamo Children's Show." KABR stands more as an optimistic exception, however. A different and more common story is told by broadcast consultant Mary Dinota: "The economic conditions on most reservations have made it extremely difficult for Native owned and operated stations to hire and/or train sufficient staff to produce local programming ..., One of the major problems Native stations had in operating was the lack of trained local Native personnel.

Too often it was necessary for licensees to bring in non-Natives to operate their stations. Outsiders, not knowing the local culture, were not able to adequately respond to local needs and this caused discord at some stations." This problem is dramatically demonstrated by a recounting of the situation at the Pine Ridge Reservation's KILI-FM where non-Indian Tom Casey was hired on as acting station manager in 1990. KILI, with its roots in the radical past of AIM and the 1970's, began broadcasting in February of 1993 -- the 10th anniversary of the occupation of Wounded Knee. With that kind of lineage it's of little surprise that when Casey dismissed a regular member of the station staff for what he felt was, "(U)sing the airwaves as a soap box to convey her personal views on issues regarding the reservation," the shit, as they say, hit the fan.

Keith writes: "The day following the firing, Casey was confronted in his station office by the disgruntled former employee, her husband (a prominent member of the reservation's tribal council) and members of the local AIM chapter.... When Casey refused to reinstate the canceled program, the terminated employee struck him in the face with her fist. "Soon the reservation police were involved and Casey was being escorted daily to his office past a protest camp..., which set up its headquarters in the station's front yard. The camp remained in place until the frigid winds of winter arrived, at which time the issue had lost considerable steam, since Casey's actions had been upheld by several courts, both tribal and otherwise." Casey justified his actions throughout. While many protesters chafed he pointed to the fact that KILI is owned not by the tribe but by the "independent broadcast entity Lakota Communications," whose goal, he pointed out, was to "provide fair and im- partial programming for all members of its listening audience."

Tribal interference is a major issue facing Native operated stations even when non-Indians are not involved. Here especially the examples provided in SIGNALS IN THE AIR will ring familiar to anyone involved in the station politics of non-commercial broad- casting. Pete Coffey states in part: "As a 10-year veteran of radio, not just Indian radio, the biggest issue I see is tribal governments dictating or attempting to dictate station policy and practice to those who know radio and have been trained to act impartially in preparation and reporting of tribal news -- whether good or bad."

Michael Keith continues: "E.B. Eiselein is sympathetic to Coffey's perspective adding: 'Tribal leaders can be a real barrier to Native stations. I found that many tribal leaders don't really understand what tribal radio is all about and its potential for serving tribal members.'" Language and cultural issues are of immense importance for most Native stations. Nearly all of the stations surveyed broad- cast some portion of their schedule in the tribal tongue. Ironically, Keith reports, this is often a programming decision that never seems to leave listeners satisfied. Some listeners want more of the local language, some want less, some want none.

Some Anglo listeners are among those most supportive of Native language programming and tribal members may be those most opposed to it. It requires a balancing act by station management not unlike that which is required when scheduling music programs. Traditional tribal music? Contemporary Native American music? C&W?

Classic Rock? Alternative? In any event the choices are crucial. They must be made carefully and chosen with the hope of accommodating most, if not all, constituents. Preservation of indigenous cultures is of utmost importance to these broadcasters: "Despite the presence of Indian stations, the language and culture of Native Americans continue to be the target of mainstream animosities. This disapproval adds to the importance of the role of Indigenous media, says (E.B.) Eiselein. 'They are the first line of defense in many respects..." Stations failing in this important role will likely be roundly criticized. Eiselein is again quoted by Keith: "A station staff has to have cultural skills if the station is to live up to its expectations and the expectations of those people relying on it across the reservation.

The problem is that too many of those who are broadcasting out there are more culturally Anglo than they are Indian." The approaches taken by the Native American broadcasters struggling to reach their audiences -- their communities -- vary widely and most stations (like their Anglo counterparts) are still searching for a successful path.

As much as Michael Keith's book, SIGNALS IN THE AIR, may suggest a commonality between Native and Anglo broadcasters and the problems they face, one difference is quite clear. An understanding of just who populates "the community" and why these stations must succeed in reaching them is far clearer to Native broadcasters than it often is to their Anglo cousins. "In contrast to 'mainstream media,' Native American broadcast outlets are able (to the extent that they do not let themselves be co-opted by 'mainstream' values) to be clear voices for the people and culture they represent. They are free to express the values of their own unique cultures in both their Native language and in English. They are free to provide a forum for the expression of their needs and desires... In short, they can be a liberating and creative force in their mission to get the 'word' out to their communities," says Joseph Gill.

Keith's book is an interesting and informative look at a part of North American broadcast history that is, like the people it strives to serve, widely ignored and denied by the dominant culture. While it offers no solutions, no panaceas, it does con- clude with a succinct statement by Peggy Berryhill of just what the future of Native broadcasting is: "As the century closes and we find urban and rural communities grappling with broadcast technologies that promise 'interaction' and 'on-line communities,' we still find radio at the fore front of human interaction. Native stations will take their place along side all the other media linked by the common bonds of community, and they will do for Native people what the mainstream cannot. We will still be Indians or Native Americans or 'the People,' but we will not be reduced to a soundbite or a 6 a.m. Sunday morning time slot."This review appears in the Fall, 1995, issue of Radio Resistor's Bulletin. A quarterly publication devoted to the issues and concerns of those involved in or who are critical listeners to non-commercial / alternative radio around the world. The Bulletin is available by e-mail delivery and as a 10 page paper publication as well as from our WWW site: http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/rrb.html. Comments and requests for additional information to be sent to: Frank Haulgren, Editor Radio Resistor's Bulletin PO Box 3038 Bellingham, WA 98227-3038 E-mail to haulgren@well.com "free radio for free minds" -- end of quotation.

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