Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Human rights advocates are making international noise about compensation for slavery.

American Indians lost far more when this land was settled than any other race. They lost lives, land and location. Many tribes were herded like cattle to Oklahoma and other regions and placed on "reservations" so the settlers could take title to their lands.

The entire wealth of America was built upon the misery and the loss of the Indian people.

In 1987 Congress awarded $1.2 billion to Japanese-Americans for their internment in concentration camps during World War II. This was a knife in the heart for every Indian in America.

Are we less deserving?

Most of the top-10 poorest counties in this land are on Indian reservations.

Our life expectancy on many reservations is 25 years less than the rest of Americans. At one time our longevity was much greater than that of the early white Americans. We are dying by the thousands of diseases like diabetes. Our schools are crumbling and our students are sitting in them trying to learn, although many of the school buildings have been condemned. In some schools asbestos still lines the interior walls.

We live in the poorest houses, have the poorest income, have the poorest health, have the most substandard educational facilities and opportunities, and we live on some of the poorest land in this nation. Some of our people are second- and third-generation welfare recipients. We suffer from one of the highest rates of alcoholism, and substance abuse would be even greater if there was the income on the Indian reservations to partake more frequently.

When there is little hope, people look for a way to forget.

Please do not look to the Indian casinos as our savior. Ninety percent of the income raised by the casinos reaches only 5 percent of the Indian people.

And yet, Indians have never whined around about reparations. They have only asked that the treaties our ancestors signed with America be honored. If the United States honored our treaties, that would be all the reparation we would ever need.

Where are the human rights advocates when it comes to the indigenous people?

Tim Giago, Oglala Lakota, is the editor and publisher of the Lakota Journal. Contact: P.O. Box 3080, Rapid City, South Dakota 57709-3080, e-mail: editor@lakotajournal.com.