"What we need is a cultural leave-us-alone agreement, in spirit and in fact."
Custer Died For Your Sins
"This is what makes them Indian"
Indians all celebrate their own heritage and have different things important to them, but one thread remains the same.
- "...Tribes is that they stubbornly hold on to what they feel is important to them and discard what they feel is irrelevant."
The "Mythical" Indians
Throughout the chapter, the idea of the "Mythical" Indian was continually brought up.
Clothing Drive
Sarcasm
- "We are no longer a wild species of animal loping freely across the prairie."
- Stereotypes of Indians long ago still exist. We grunt, wear feathers, live in tipi's, etc.
- That every Indian knows everything about being Indian.
- That is if you know one.
- Cherokee Princess
Cherokee Princesses
"Whites" tried to assimilate the Indians by holding clothing drive to give Indians civilized clothing (evening gowns, tuxedos, tennis shoes, etc.) because whites didn't wear buckskins and pelts.
- From the start of the chapter, Vine Deloria uses plenty of sarcasm, "Indian humor."
- He covered some hard topics, but he defused them with his humor and sarcasm.
- People claiming they're Indian, because their great-grandma was a Cherokee Princess.
- But you never hear of your grandfather being a chief.
- It's more "respectable" to come from royalty rather than a "savage."
Treaties
- Government
- Paternalism
- Private Organizations
- Assistance
- The Tribes Themselves
- Dwell in Primitive Splendor
Boarding Schools
Treaties were made and then blatantly broken over and over.
- Ex. The Sioux had a plain treaty stating that it would talk signatures of 3/4's of the male population and the government had 10% of the signatures and counted it as valid.
"Indian children were kidnapped and forced into boarding schools thousands of miles away from their homes to learn the white mans ways."