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city we lose in loss of heritige." According to Momaday 20 percent of the relocated Indians return to the reservation . "We are better off in our own world than another. At least in our world an Indian has a fighting chance." Indians, according to Momaday , hav e an " incomplete existence in two worlds and security in neither." "Moved Like Glacier"
'Morality of piety' current Indian fight, Momaday tells group
"White civilization has moved like a glacier over Indian culture making it so that nothing can ever be the same agai n ." According to Momaday , the result of this is alcoholis m, juvenile deliquence and despair. Indians must, according to Momaday , figh t against the ' 1 immorality of indifference." He said that Indians could be the leaders in many of today's movements because they have thre e basic qualities. First a regard for the land. Indians Momaday noted, have an "Earth ethic." Second, Indians know who and what they are where as many whites are searching tor their answers. Third , " Indians have a capacity for wondering, finding delight and beli ef." " Instead of asking where we are going it may behove you to follow us ." Alcatraz Residents Speak Bill Sherman and Samuel El members of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island , said that "Alc~traz is a beginning."
Reporting:
Preston Peterson 'Life Writer Indian culture and its r ete ntion was the subject of Wednesday's Indian Emphasis Week events . Wednesday morning Pulitzer Prize winner Scott Momaday called the "immorality of indifference" one of the main problem facing Indians . He said that in the past Indians fought to survive against the "civiliza tion " of the explorers and settlers - now the Indian is fighting 'against the " m orality of piety ."
Indians ''Debased'' Indians, according to Momaday, are being "debased" by white m<0n's culture . "White men are pushing the Indian onto reservations while they strip them of their land and accelerate integration "by relocation." According to Momaday , since 1887 when the Allotment Act was passed, Indians have been victims of " land robbery." Momaday said that only a sma ll percent of the land on the reservation is given to Indians, with .the rest being sold to white land owners. Momaday said that up to 1933, 100 million acres of land had been given to Indians with most of the rest under white ownership. Cultural Assimilation ''It is abs urd to think that cultural assimilation
will take place in downtown Chicago," was Momaday ' s answer to the government's plan of relocation. "With relocation what we gain in the
Speaking as part of Indian Emphasis Week Sherman and El stressed that the occupation of Alcatraz Island is the "on ly barg aining power that we ha ve with the federal government." They stated that they are trying to break away from the "colonia l system imposed on Indians by the federal government ." Under this system they say that the government appoints a ll the managers of Indi an af fairs "giving the tribal council limited power." Sherman said that one of the major objectives of the occupation of Alcatraz is to develop a uni versity a nd cultural center. "We don't want to melt with the melting pot." Sherman and El outlined a development plan for the universi ty. First, they hope to collect volunteers from the professional communi ty to help with the planning. Second a council of Indian tribes will gather on the Island and draw up the third part: plans for the university. "We and other Indians will decide our future." Indians Educating Indians Sherman said that Indians can better educate their children because the children will be more at ease with Indians relate better with their teachers, and learn culture that they "can't learn from white teachers teaching with textbooks written by whites ." Presently the group on Alcatraz Island is holding school for 15 children. Sherman stressed the value of technical education. "You can't fight something you can't understand." Sherman and El said that the ultimate goal of the Indian movement is to get back some of the land taken by the government. "We can't get all of America that would be impossible. "
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Samuel Ell
Bill Sherman