Hi Sondra.  You were saying to Jim...
-> I'm dialoguing with a person in another conference, who is going to
-> post an essay to me stating his views on "the Indian problem." I
-> already basically know them, however.  He wants to see the government
-> stop honoring *all* treaties, eliminate *all* reservations, and
-> simply have "one law for all people."
'The Indian problem', forsooth!
This is based on the premise that native Indians are just one ethnic
group among many.  But I don't think they are.  Here's Professor Miller
in 'Skyscrapers hide the heavens':  'Attempts by governments, churches,
and the general population to change Indians, Metis, and Inuit into just
another ethnic group in the multicultural mosaic have failed.'
-> I've gotten enough similar comments on the various writers and poetry
-> conferences I belong to to know for certain this idea is fairly
-> popular among many groups right now; and not just among some of the
-> less educated groups either.
I've come across this view too, and I can see that it looks like a tidy,
logical, once-and-for-all solution.  The only answer I've been able to
come up with is that Indians aren't recent arrivals.  They used to
occupy the whole house.  Then we moved in and told them to be good
citizens and occupy the basement.
I'd appreciate hearing how you replied to him.
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