Article: 851 of sgi.talk.ratical
From: (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Subject: The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance
Summary: new book details Native challenges to reasons for "celebration"
Keywords: human compassion, alternative answers, change of consciousness needed
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 13:54:25 GMT
Lines: 82

  It is time to acknowledge the native people's rights to "sovereignty, self-
  determination, and self-sufficiency" that were lost as a direct result of 
  the accomplishment of what is officially called "Western Civilization's 
  highest expression of Freedom and Democracy."
      The eighteen essays and table of laws and cases outline the anguish 
  experienced by every tribe in reaction to such injustices as the 
  expropriation of 95% of their original land base while being made to suffer 
  the highest poverty of any segment of the U.S. population.

from alt.books.reviews:

Article: 249 of alt.books.reviews
From: sbrock@teal.csn.org (Steve Brock)
Subject: The State of Native America by M. Annette Jaimes (Native Am.)
Date: 5 Oct 92 17:32:17 GMT
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Lines: 56

      THE STATE OF NATIVE AMERICA: GENOCIDE, COLONIZATION, AND RESISTANCE
        by M. Annette Jaimes.  South End Press, 116 St. Botolph Street,
        Boston, MA  02115.  Notes, index, index of Indian nations.  460
        pp., $16.00 paper.  ISBN # 0-89608-424-8
      
      
                                   REVIEW
      
           One in a continuing South End Press series called "Race and
      Resistance," this book is generally the work of several American
      Indian professors and scholars of the Center for the Study of
      Ethnicity and Race in America at the University of Colorado at
      Boulder.  Contributors include Vine Deloria, Jr., Ward Churchill,
      Glenn T. Morris, M. Annette Jaimes, Jim Vander Wall, and Winona
      LaDuke.
           The publication of this book is appropriate for the 500th
      anniversary of Columbus' navigational error that brought him to the
      shores of North America, as it details Native American challenges
      to the reasons for celebrating the event.  It is time to acknowl-
      edge, these writers say, their rights to "sovereignty, self-
      determination, and self-sufficiency" that were lost as a direct
      result of the accomplishment of what is officially called "Western
      Civilization's highest expression of Freedom and Democracy."
           The eighteen essays and table of laws and cases outline the
      anguish experienced by every tribe in reaction to such injustices
      as the expropriation of 95% of their original land base while being
      made to suffer the highest poverty of any segment of the U.S.
      population.  While this goes on, most Americans remain oblivious or
      believe that it is the tribes' fault for refusing to assimilate. 
      The book's goal is to create an understanding that this is part of
      the governmental indoctrination process and that needed changes can
      only be brought about by a fundamental "change of consciousness" by
      the American public.
           The book opens with an event that shows our need to understand
      Native American's view of history.  Whites show a lack of compas-
      sion when they commemorate events that are tragedies to Indian
      tribes.  Three years ago, a building on the University of
      Colorado's Boulder campus was renamed from that of an active
      participant of the Sand Creek Massacre (Captain David Nichols) to
      that of the victims, the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
           The essays address the major issues that have shaped present
      realities:  treaty rights, the reservation system, self-determina-
      tion, land disputes, water and fishing rights, uranium extraction
      and dumping, religious freedom, the Leonard Peltier case, the role
      of women in the indigenous resistance, American Indians in the
      military, education (otherwise called subordination), modern Native
      American art and literature development, and an especially painful
      conclusion which says that Indian tribes are suffering from
      theological, scientific, and ecological racism that can only be
      alleviated by human compassion and alternative answers.
           "The State of Native America" is disturbing, and it means to
      be.  It is also one of the most scholarly and coherent statements
      yet to be produced on the injustices that we are perpetuating. 
      Many professors of classes on Native Americans will have a hard
      decision whether to include this book as a text.  The wise ones
      will do so.
      
      
--
  "I lean on what I learn about our guidelines as to how we should live.  And 
  the bottom line is always respect.  It is what causes you to think about not 
  hurting or bringing about suffering to any living thing."
                                                 --Audrey Shenandoah, Onondaga