Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–2005)

It seemed like this was "required reading" for folks interested in Native American issues so I bought a used copy and it's been on my shelf for a few years. Well I started reading it and there was a few insights I gleaned but I found a lot of statements the author made that were presented as fact but he never listed his source. One particular statement he presented as fact was that the U.S. government gave Indians blankets infected with small pox. I had thought that this had been debunked and so I googled it. I found that it's a little bit of an ambiguous idea rooted some in fact and some in speculation. Small pox unquestionably was devastating t Native Americans. How the disease was actually introduced to Tribes is the question. I would not doubt the idea that biological warfare was used against Native Americans considering all the other atrocities inflicted but there doesn't appear to be any record of disease infested blankets being handed out. The only thing I could find was a record of British soldiers giving smallpox blankets out but not the U.S. government or soldiers.

I also read that a University of Colorado professor, Ward Churchill, started the "blanket" idea in book titled "A little Matter of Genocide" published in 2001. Vine Deloria Jr., in this book, published in 1969, writes "In the old days blankets infected with smallpox were given to the tribes in an effort to decimate them." Churchill says his source was a 1987 book, "American Indian Holocaust and Survival", by Russell Thornton, an anthropology professor at UCLA. But where did Deloria get the idea?

Also he writes as though every Native American thinks like he does. That's not the case, opinions greatly vary from tribe to tribe, person to person in Indian Country. Maybe I'm missing something because I didn't finish the book but that's the impression I got.

There are more mental notes I made but I'm to lazy to spell it out, lol! Besides, a word of wisdom I hears was "don't disparage the dead", so I wont talk to badly about Mr. Deloria.

One other thing. He mentions the Shoshone Chief Washakie once. I'm a non-enrolled member of the Easter Shoshone Tribe and my Great-Great Grandfather and Washakie's 1st cousin, John Enos, is buried next to him at Ft. Washakie, WY. As I said, he mentions him once in the entire book, only to say that "Washakie, the Shoshone chief who tattled on the other tribes every chance he got and finally received a nice reservation in Wyoming was another early fink who was honored posthumously as a good guy." Dude...I don't necessarily care about what people think about Washakie, I've no dog in the fight, but really? From my understanding, growing up on the Wind River, the "nice reservation in Wyoming" Washakie received, is a little more nuanced. Maybe expand on the guy a little. I think he was a good guy and recognized that fighting the whites was a losing battle and decided to save lives of his braves, women, children and elders by settling down and choosing the white way of life. Pretty wise in my opinion. So yeah, he did get a nice reservation for his people but it's much, much more detailed than Washakie "tattling" on other tribes.

I didn't finish this one, though I might yet still read the chapter on Indian Humor, and I have another book by Deloria "Red Earth, White Lies". I'll pass on reading that one. I've got enough of an idea what I'll be reading.… (altro)

I am a strong proponent of people reading two of Deloria's other works, Custer Died For Your Sins and Red Earth White Lies. Whether or not you agree with his philosophy, these books are insightful, thought-provoking, and illuminating of underrepresented ideas that bolster all of our views on the world. I didn't find the same level of thought (philosophically or pragmatically) in this book. With limited hours in the day, I suggest people focus on his classics, his magnum opus, instead. Engage with his work as a whole - he is a thinker worth engaging.… (altro)