> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of John D. Giorgis
> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 7:27 PM
> To: Brin-L
> Subject: The First Ones
>
>
> A friend of mine passed along an article to me that again highlighted for
> me just how bad the plight of Native Americans in the United States is
> these days. Its funny, because the day before Thanksgiving, the West
> Wing had a great storyline about this subject entitled "Indians in the
> Lobby". I haven't been able to catch The West Wing since then (grmbl,
> grmbl, screwing up my VCR), so I don't know if the storyline has been
> followed-up on, but it was nice to see the issue get some national
> attention. Native Americans are the most impoverished and most destitute
> people in this country, and really, there is no acceptable reason for it.
I don't think it has been followed up, or maybe I missed it.
It's hard to know what should be done, though. I sure have learned a lot
more about this since I got to know my wife's family. She is 1/4 Cherokee
and a bit of other native American from the other side of the family. Just
doing family tree research on her mom's family was an eye-opener. A lot of
her maternal relatives are Indians. Yeah, Indians. As one said at a
meeting, at least Columbus wasn't searching for the Virgin Islands... ;-)
Throw in diabetes and alcoholism to the illnesses you mentioned. Except
that unlike smallpox, they're still rampant.
Knowing how to help at this level is certainly difficult. Offering
resources and letting the surviving people decide how to use them would be a
step in the right direction.
Nick
