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The White Man & The Indian ...
See Eye To Eye On Immigration
January 9, 2004
By Jim Moore
I'm a white man, so I do not pretend to know how the American Indians feels about many things; but I correspond regularly with a friend of mine, Paul Keeps Horse, a Lakota Indian in Idaho, and he often gives me a fascinating peek inside the Indian mind.
Among the many amazing bits of information that Paul has sent me is a piece on how American Indian's feel about immigration; at least this Indian: Dr. David A. Yeagley of the Comanche Nation in Oklahoma, who also happens to be a gifted writer and a regular speaker for the Young America's Foundation.
I find Dr Yeagley's article uniquely relevant to our times since it has to do, not only with Indians in America, but Indians in an America that is being swamped with both legal and illegal immigrants.
Dr. Yeagley, unlike many Indians, is intrigued with the old "Ellis Island" brand of foreigners, and openly admires their courage and determination in making the perilous trip to America from their homeland. Everything here was new to them, but they, in turn, brought the outside world to him. And he is grateful for that.
But lately, the Indians' view of immigration has taken an unusual turn. Known for their friendliness to the first Pilgrims who landed here, Yeagley says that Indian hospitality had its limits, and he sees America now making the same mistake the Indians made nearly four centuries ago: letting in too many foreigners. "We Indians," says Yeagley, "could end up losing this country all over again." A sobering thought.
According to Project USA.org, the U.S. population will double within our children's lifetime, and all Americans will suffer; but Indians will suffer the most. No, not in land, housing, energy, food, clothing, and other resources, but in the demographic destruction of Anglo-America, "That," says Yeagley, "will bring the final catastrophe to our people---we will wake up one day to find that white people no longer control this country."
Now, why should Indians care about that? Aren't we white people supposed to be their enemies?
"The whites were our enemies," intones Yeagley, "but, as warriors, we found them formidable adversaries. And we respect that. However, if we lose this land to blacks, Mexicans, Asians, and other foreign people it will be like losing this country for the second time.
"Over the years, we have reconciled ourselves to white America. In fact, we Indians, especially my people, the Comanches, recognize a kindred spirit in the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. He is like us in more ways that he knows.
"In the old days, Comanches were known to honor strength in other people. Indians see the white man as na?, reckless, and destructive at times, but nevertheless cut from the same warrior cloth as we were. We do not see blacks, Mexicans, Asians, Arabs, and others in this light. They have their traditions and virtues but they have no history with us. They are strangers."
But, as Indians view it, the white man seems to have lost his spirit. They see us letting the country slip away, and it fills them with fear and anger. Because Indians are part of the land we are giving away. Therefore, the Indians feel that we are turning them over to strangers, the same way medieval barons turned over their serfs when they sold their land.
"We are not serfs," says Yeagley. "We are warriors, and we will not be ruled by people who have never fought us. The white man must regain his warrior soul and take back his land. In that fight, I will stand by his side and offer whatever strength I have to ensure his victory."
Perhaps, we, the white people in America, never thought about how the current mass movement of alien bodies crawling over the borders and inundating our country with strange people would affect our Indian population. Even more of a surprise is how the Indians have chosen to take sides with the whites in protecting the land that we own jointly.
If ever there was a time of reconciliation under crisis, this is it.
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