My E-mail
pkgard@bsu.edu

My Address
Pam Gard or Nacha Sua Nighy
3752 North tillotson Apt. 195
Muncie, Indiana 47304

Online Contact Info
pkgard@bsu.edu
Website
www.johnsmith.freeservers.com

Native Americans Ignored by the United States Government

Dear Editor:Daily News-Campus Newspaper

Monday, Jan. 16, was a national holiday for Martin Luther King, who once led one of the greatest marches in the world that forced the government to rethink issues on segregation and the unlawful treatment of African Americans. Like King, there are many more leaders that the government refuses to acknowledge, for fear that if they acknowledge these Native American leaders, they would be looked upon as apologizing for the capture and slaying of millions of Indians. Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph, Plenty Coups, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, The Nations that walked the Trail of Tears who were given blankets that the soldiers who died from small pox had worn, the 250 members of the Cheyenne tribe that were killed at Wounded Knee for participating in the Ghost Dance(a ceremony for peace, strength, and protection), and especially the 61 documented AIM members that were killed by GOONS and the FBI agents from 1973-76 on the Pine Ridge Reservation for protecting their people from starvation, disease, and murder. Some of the bodies have never been found. Why isn't there a holiday for the buffalo who are slaughtered every year in montana or the wolf facing extinction? Anna Mae Pictou (Aquash) Micmac was once an AIM member, mother of two, leader to her people, the Lakota. Her body was found a month after her disappearance, her hands cut off at the wrists, her face down in the snow-she had been raped, and shot in the head. I would say that these proud people, my ancestors, faced extinction with great bravery and strength, dying for a greater purpose, so that others could live.

I am a part of the creation as you are
no more and no less than
each and every one of you
within the sound of my voice.

I am the generation
of generations before me
and the generations to come ...

I am not a citizen of the United States
or a ward of the Federal Government
neither am I a ward of the Canadian Government.

I have a right to continue
my cycle in the universe undisturbed.

Anna Mae Pictou (Aquash) Micmac