Tuesday, December 2, 2014

"I don't know what their (American Indians) complaint might be" - Ronald Reagan

1st woman in the Marines - Minnie Spotted Wolf



“Let me tell you just a little something about the American Indian in our land.  We have provided millions of acres of land for what are called preservations – or reservations, I should say… And (the Indians are) free also to leave the reservations and be American citizens among the rest of us, and many do.  Some still prefer, however, that way – that early way of life.  And we’ve done everything we can do to meet their demands as to how they want to live.  Maybe we made a mistake.  Maybe we should not have humored them in that wanting to stay in that kind of primitive lifestyle.  Maybe we should have said, no, come join us; be citizens along with the rest of us.  As I say, many have; many have been very successful…  And you’d be surprised:  Some of them become very wealthy because some of those reservations were overlaying great pools of oil, and you can get very rich pumping oil.  And so, I don’t know what their complaint might be.”

-  Ronald Reagan, speaking to students and faculty at Moscow State University (apparently unaware that the Citizenship Act of 1924 had already granted citizenship to American Indians) on May 31, 1988. 

-  Taken from:  Understanding Prejudice.org





No comments:

Post a Comment