Firewater Myths

I do not pick what goes into this newspaper, and sometimes I have to openly voice my disagreement. This is the case with the material “What Criteria Should Be Used in Assessing Reform?” by Les Kachkovsky, which contains some pretty negative stereotypes about Native Americans that polite society in the USA has dispensed with long ago. Our learned author seems to be saying that if the white man had not come along with his higher culture, the Indians, having lost any potential to progress on their own, would still be scalping each other and chasing buffalo. Who? The Iroquois? The buffalo of the Great Plains never made it to where the eastern woodlands where the Iroquois lived. But how would our author know? Has he ever seen a real live Indian? And if you think they are so primitive, just visit their web sites. There are hundreds, maybe thousands. I would recommend starting with the American Indian Exposition at http://www.indianexpo.org. Coming from Oklahoma, I also favor The Oklahoma Indian Times at http://www.okit.com. Both are considered among the best pages on the Internet and highlight the proud achievements of the justifiably proud Native American peoples.

This is neither the time nor the place to go into the tragic history of indigenous peoples confronted by outsiders with better weaponry and a covetous eye on what those peoples possessed. The point is that when one writes about something, one bears responsibility for its content. For this reason, it is usually advisable to limit oneself to things one knows something about. This author clearly did not. Incidentally, his other piece on the old Rus’ viche bears an uncanny resemblance to the work of Russian Academician Boris Rybakov. Perhaps this is only a coincidence.

Read my fuller response to what I consider this bull patty in next week’s issue. All I can say in the meantime is, Sherman Alexie, where are you?