Itt-Ott, 1988 (21. évfolyam, 1/107-3/109. szám)
1988 / 1. (107.) szám
MŰHELY Hírnevünk csorbákat szenved minden alkalommal amikor nem használjuk ki tudásunkat és helyszíni ismerteinket, hogy megcáfoljuk azt, ami valótlan, torzított, tudatlanságra alapozott, vagy szándékos rosszindulatból eredő magyar-ellenes propaganda. Majdnem minden öntudatos közösségnek van "image" korrigáló szervezete. Ilyen például az amerikai zsidóság B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League szervezete, az amerikai olaszok Anti-Defamation Committee-ja, vagy az amerikai feketék NAACP szervezete. Ezek, úgymint sok más etnikai és vallási szervezet, gyorsan és hatásosan reagál közösségüket becsmérlő vagy támadó írásokra, kijelentésekre vagy tettekre. Legutóbb ennek példáját láthattuk, amikor az amerikai indiánok helyre utasították Reagan elnök ismeretekben hiányos moszkvai kijelentéseit. (Lásd a mellékelt tíjságkivágást!) President's comments anger American Indians From Th« Bl ad«'s Wirt Services WASHINGTON - American Indian leaders reacted with anger to comments by President Reagan that the United States may have made a mistake when it “humored” Indians by allowing them to maintain their “primitive life-style” by living on reservations. Robert Holden, a spokesman for the National Congress of American Indians, said the President’s comments, made in Moscow yesterday, reinforce the impression among Native Americans that Mr. Reagan’s knowledge of Indians affairs comes from the “worst kind of old westerns.” Answering questions from Soviet students, Mr. Reagan said letting Indians maintain their culture on reservations may have been a mistake. “Maybe we should not have humored them in that, wanting to stay in that kind of primitive lifestyle. Maybe we should have said, ‘No, come join us. Be citizens along with the rest of us.’ ” American Indians have been citizens since 1924 under an act of Congress. Indian spokesmen were most angered by the President’s appraisal of their culture and his apparent misunderstanding of U.S. history. Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D., Colo.), a Northern Cheyenne Indian, said he found it dismaying that Mr. Reagan “doesn’t know how Indians got on the reservations ... They didn’t go to these sandy, hot places because they wanted to.” Mr. Holden said, “What [Mr. Reagan] calls a primitive culture is a culture based on tradition. It would be like me saying that his religion and his beliefs are hokey. It’s just pure intolerance.” Indian leaders noted that reservations were created as a result of treaties negotiated between the United States and various tribes. “We were not humored. These were treaties run through the constitutional process,” said Sam Deloria, director of the American Indian Law Center in Albuquerque, N.M. Several Indians leaders said they found Mr. Reagan’s comments particularly offensive the day after he lectured the Soviets on the importance of human rights. Mr. Reagan also told the Soviets that some Indians “became very wealthy because some of those reservations were overlaying great pools of oil. And you can get rich pumping oil. “So I don’t know what their complaints might be.” Several Indian tribes do receive oil revenues. Those royalties totaled about $81 million last year, according to Interior Department figures. Some tribes distribute the money to members. Others use the funds for tribal projects. But government studies consistently have found Indians to be among the poorest Americans. “All you have to do is travel through Indian country and see the situation there to realize the absurdity of his comments” about Indian wealth, Mr. Holden said. 33 M a r > a a H O r N o X P 3 M Ö Z S a > «—I a z M «o 00 00 *V > O M 47
