-
Title
-
Letter to Dr. Ben Cashman of Seattle University from Lloyd Colfax
-
Date
-
1982
-
extracted text
-
2/16/82
Dr. Ben Cashman
Prof. of Political Science
Seattle University
Seattle, Washington
Dr. Cashman:
Yesterday I read in the paper that Dr. Ben Cashman was to
hold a Citi~enship and The Indian Treaties Seminar at Foss High
School in Tacoma.
When I a-rrived at the School I was met at the stairs by an
Indian student and his wife who said that was no place for me to gol
He had been in there and . he not only felt the mood but he also saw
the mood on the fa.-~es of' the audience. I couldn• t believe it, an
innocent seminar about Citizenship and Indian treaties that I mistakenly
thought might be a scholarly discussion, and I was advised not to go
in I
•
He shared three handouts with me: (1) Citi~enship and the Indian
Treaties seminar with Dr. Ben Cashman, Professo-r af political Science,
Seattle University (2) Pacific Salmon Sportfishing Committee (3) Indian
Treaties: Past, Present and Future ••••• Taken From the Daily Ollahoman
June 8-15, 1980 (And unsigned)
'
On yo~r sheet of paper, I saw the names of Congressmen Gorton,
Jackson, Prichard, Swift, Bonker, Morrison, Foley, Dicks, and Lowry.
But I couldn't associate them with the program unless they were your
sponsors, although it didn't say that. H~vev~r, there was a list of
contributing Co-sponsors to the Dr Cashman Seminar, six of them being
· anonymous, so I got to thinking that the Congressman were the main
sponsors of your little seminar, right?
I wa~ struck by the fact that I couldn't really point my finger
at anybody because of the anonymous nature of the whole thing. The
only piece of documant that was signed was by Dick Posey that really
was a "saf'e" document and not addressed to anyone in particular.
I d-: >n't know who you are but if you lend yourself to inflamatory
trash like "Indian Treaties - Past, Present, and Future" I have to think
that you are not JllUCh of a man, or a p-rofessor, or a Dr.
Indian people are caught in between the white uninformed public and
the wbite federal government. When oil was discouvered in Oklahoma and
the tribal rolls were still open, white people lined up by the hundreds
to take advantage because the BIA did not require any documents of proof.
AlJ the white guy had to say was that part of- his ancestory was Indian.
That is why some Ollahoma Indians Quot~-Unquote a-re not even l/1024th
as the article suggests •
.
The article is _completely out of context as the writer obviously
knows nothing about the misdeeds of his ··: country. He is writing purely
u
'
II
frorn an emotional point of view about things that cannot be proven or
disproven about issues that are only conjecture.
In re-reading the article I am again stru9k by the fact that no
one bas attached their names to · anything and it's beganning to look
like several people had a hand in developing the Indian Treaties,
Past, Present and Future. Right?
Since you are a professor of political science did you explain
to your audience of the last paragraph entitled "Whose Guilt" ???
I just want to take a little piece of that last paragraph out
which reads, "dependency on government programs and, thus, government
and agency jobs at all levels"
Who in the hell wrote this anyway?
Did you write it? With tongue in cheek? For Christ sake, white guys
not only fill the federal jobs BUT THEY ALSO COME ON THE RESERVATIONS
AND GET 1HOSE JOBS TOOl! · Hoquiam and Aberdeen area is said to have
30% unemployment - Did you know that if Indian reservations could get
DCWN to 30% ·they would be happy as hell?
I am a Makah Indian and I
am almost a full blood, considerably more than the l/1024th that must
stick in yoor mind (that's part of the inflammatory technique, right?)
I am also a college graduate and I have spent 3-2/3 years at your
University at the same time you had great basketball teams. I saw
what went on ••••••• But that's beside the point' - the point is, that
inspite of my competency, some white guys are holding down high paying ,
jobs on my reservation and I have had to go elswhere to find employment.
'
Just one more issue from that last paragraph. "America was founded
more humanely than most countries in all of history" If you're a white
guy how in the hell do you know this? The intellectual brutality that
was dealt to the , Iridian was devastating. So much so, that many of us
would rather face your cavalry charge than have any more of it. But
you cannot understand this can you, because if you tried to understand
it would be too much of a risk, know what I mean?
At the time Columbus discouverd this country - how ironic - The
Indian people -of this part of Washington had already developed a
ttemendously degree of technology - in Wood, in bone, in antler, in
stone and ' also a fabulous wealth of design - do you understand. We
also owned the land, the rivers, the fishing banks, the mountains,
everything. Who ever got us to sign a treaty did a first class sales
job. Can you ~magine, getting a group of Indians to g~ve up land
without using a common language. Did you know that English, Makah and
~hinook were used at the Neah Bay treaty.
That most of the words and
terms cannot be translated into Makahl The treaty was your lousy idea
and now it has backfired and the judicial system is not willing to be a
part of the "deprived white boys"
\._.,-1
As I am writing this - I know that I was stopped fro. going into this
meeting and I am hoping that you were Not part of this B.s.· - I den 't
know why I feel that way except that I guess I just expect more from a
learned rna~ an? I ~eep thinking about the righteousness,_Q{ reliqj.QVS .
sug~-~J~-~g,.,I:.!:l~B tu~
. .
President Nixon's. message to Co-gress on July 8th 1970, says in part and I
III
quote, "The first Americans - the Indians - are the most deprived and
most isolated minority group in our nation. On virtually every scale of
measurement Employment, Income, Education, Health, the .condition of the
Indian people ranks at the bottom" Unquote. Would you still say, that
equality under the constitution is not so· bad? Do you know that when
the US constitution was written that Indians were considered as savages and
blacks were considered as slaves. Would you say that we were included
under that constitution?
Politically .speaking, the Indian tribes as they are today are not
the product of the constitution but rather the product of .Congress. The
only place that I know where Indians are mentioned in the constitution is
where it says, that the US can make treaties with Indian tribes. In addition it states that those treaties become the law of the land.
Since the announcements (handouts) state that, or identify you as
a professor at Seattle University, does that mean that "Indian Treaties:
Past, Present and Future" is a document accepted and supported by Seattle
University?
I am a Makah Indian and have s .e rved on my · Tribal Council
1973-86_NAS_8D38_02_34