Racism alive and well
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Editor,
In light of Mr. Elliott’s response to Kale G. Thomas (Sept. 19), I am perplexed by his position. Mr. Elliot, in one light, you claim Mr. Thomas’s assumption that only a few in the white race carry bias against Native Americans. On the other hand, you take offense by his words.
As a non-enrolled tribal descendent, very few would know or assume I have Native heritage. For the sake of this article, call me white — so you may not see me as a threat, rather someone who is passing on the news of what I have learned over the years. I have witnessed racism and anger on both ends of the cultural spectrum. When looking (locally) at the reasons why this persists, I’ve realized that one culture’s “racism” towards another is basically a result of anger, while the other culture’s “racism” towards the other is rooted in a form of ethnocentrism, a type of cultural narcissism.
I can understand how you would feel that Mr. Thomas’s letter would “reek of hatred.” However, I do not see his letter in the same way as you. I see it more as a statement of frustration. A frustration built on generations of not only misunderstandings of the Native culture by non Indians, but the overall disrespect, ignoring and not honoring the rights and sovereignty of the CSKT. To the Native people of this reservation, this is racism. Mr. Ellis, are you familiar with the 1855 Hellgate Treaty? Are you familiar with the Dawes Act? Do you understand the history of how you came to acquire the very piece of land you own?
Racism is not a thing of the past. It is alive and well on this reservation, by many.
My thoughts are: If you do not take offense to what he is writing, then you are not the population he speaks of. If you do take offense, then the point of his message is directed to you indeed.
So you might feel it is your god-given right to live here, use the resources, and drill a well as you see fit. You just don’t have a god-given first right to the water that comes from it. Those rights are for you off the reservation. It is also your god-given right to ignore the history of how you got to own the piece of land you now live on.
Craig Stevenson
Polson
