I have been writing a weekly column called "Notes from Indian Country" for 30 years. McClatchy News Service in Washington, DC distributes my column nationally and it appears weekly on indianz.com, nativetimes.com and on huffingtonpost.com. It also appears in Native American and mainstream newspapers around the nation.
Mike Duggan and Ray Walker, formerly of Knight Ridder, and now of McClatchy News Service, decided many years ago that the one voice that was lacking in America's opinion and op-ed pieces was that of the Native American. We had a voice but it seems that no one wanted to hear our unique perspective on American issues. Mike and Ray were kind enough to include my weekly column in their news distribution. These two are the type of hardnosed newsmen that are fast disappearing from the American scene.
Romi Lassally of huffingtonpost.com also saw the need for a Native voice that was never carried as a regular contributor to their site and gave me the opportunity to post my column. I also thank Arianna Huffington for opening the door.
I was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It has always been my perception that reservation born and raised Indians bring a different point of view to state and national issues. We were excluded from the mainstream by geography, language and culture and I believe that gives us the unique perspective of looking at America as an outsider, but an outsider with deep roots to this country. What is more, for the most part, we were educated in segregated schools. We lived in communities where we (Indians) were the majority. The only white people we knew while growing up were the teachers or the nuns and priests at the Catholic boarding schools.
And so from the perspective of an outsider looking in, my interpretations of America have almost always been contrary to the mainstream. For instance, when I hear the phrase, "Founding Fathers" my thoughts do not go to a George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. I immediately think of the Indian chiefs for whom I had the deepest respect, chiefs like Little Wound, Crazy Horse, Bull Bear, Young Man Afraid of His Horses, Sitting Bull, Big Foot, Red Cloud and many others from Indian country that fought and died for my freedom. I cannot help but think of the harm the faces carved on Mount Rushmore brought to the Indian people.
When I see the faces in Time Magazine of "The Most Influential People in the World," I cannot help but wonder why there are no Native Americans listed there. Our heroes may not be your heroes, but they are heroes to us nonetheless. And we do have Native Americans bringing about change and accomplishing great things for our people. Heck, even Osama bin Laden made the list. What's up with that?
It seems that on the 24/7 news programs there are African American experts, Hispanic experts, Asian American experts, and military experts, but there are no Native American experts. Perhaps that is as it should be because no Native American ever wants to be known as an "Indian expert." When Oprah Winfrey had Michael Haney, Suzanne Harjo and me on her television show 15 years ago, it was the first time Native Americans had the opportunity to discuss how we felt about the use of Indians as mascots. Unfortunately, Oprah has never re-visited this issue to see the many changes that have taken place since that show. But she did open a window that allowed many Americans to see for the first time, the Indian perspective on this important issue.
Hollywood has never been a friend to the Indian people. I recall one day when I was visiting my friend Paha Ska (White Hills) at Mount Rushmore several years ago (Paha Ska passed away last month). Paha Ska took up where Black Elk left off. He was the Indian artist and greeter in Keystone, SD. He had a painted horse he used as a prop for photos with the white people visiting Mount Rushmore. The day I was there a white couple showed up with two children about ages 5 and 6. Paha Ska encouraged them to take a photo seated on his horse with him holding the reins. When he reached for them to place them on the horse they screamed in holy terror. The father apologized with, "The only Indians they ever saw were on television or in the movies." Is the impression left by Hollywood of Indians as bloodthirsty savages and murderers the only one that sticks in the minds of white children?
HBO will air Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee on May 27. Already the producers have set about changing the heart of the book by Dee Brown by attempting to spice it up with a love affair between an Indian and a white woman. If the movie followed the book to the letter, wasn't that powerful enough for it to stand on its own? More than 5 million readers worldwide thought so. Go ahead and watch it and see what you think. I know that a recent PBS show about the life of Sitting Bull was a distinct disappointment to me.
I brought up the circuitous route my weekly column has taken over the 30 years I have been writing it because I wanted to get across the point that it has been extremely difficult getting different media outlets to carry it. Hardheaded persistence on my part has been the driving force behind it and I hope that it has been a source of enjoyment and education for my readers over all of these years.
(McClatchy News Service in Washington, DC distributes Tim Giago's weekly column. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com. Giago was also the founder and former editor and publisher of the Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers and the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the class of 1990 - 1991. Clear Light Books of Santa Fe, NM (harmon@clearlightbooks.com) published his latest book, "Children Left Behind")