John Trudell opens by sharing articles from the Native Alliance for Red Power newsletter from Vancouver, British Columbia, to show similarities between Native People in the United States and Canada. The article is entitled, “The art of stealing human rights,” taken from a speech given by Gerry Gambill given at a conference on human rights at a Tobique reserve in New Brunswick in August 1968. Trudell then shares NARP’s eight-point program for the betterment of Canadian Indians. Trudell concludes this episode expressing United States Indians’ support of Canadian Indians and their struggle, and promotes next Tuesday’s program with Canadians Jonny Yesno and Shirley Daniels.
Good evening, this is John Trudell inviting you to Indian Land Radio Indian Land Alcatraz Island on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes.
This afternoon I was reading a newsletter from Canada. From Vancouver. The name of it is NARP, which is the Native Alliance for Red Power out of Vancouver, British Columbia. And, we seem to be having problems in the United States today. The Indian people. So I’d like to read some of the articles from the newsletter to show that our Canadian Indian people are basically in the same boat we are in. The first article is on the art of stealing human rights. These articles are taken from a speech by Gerry Gambill at a conference on human rights at the Tobique Reserve in New Brunswick. In this speech Mr. Gamble warned the native people about how the Canadian society goes about taking away the human rights of Native people. He states that…
The art of denying Indians their human rights has been refined to a science. The following list of commonly used techniques will be helpful in “burglar-proofing” your reserves and your rights:
Gain the Indians’ cooperation. It is much easier to steal someone’s human rights if you can do it with his own cooperation, so to do this . . .
Make him a non-person. Human rights are for people. Convince Indians their ancestors were savages, that they were pagans, that Indians are drunkards. Make them wards of the government. Make a legal distinction, as in the Indian Act, between Indians and persons. Write history books that tell half the story.
Convince the Indian that he should be patient, that these things take time. Tell him that we are making progress, and that progress takes time.
Make him believe that things are being done for his own good. Tell him that you’re sure that after he has experienced your laws and actions that he will realize how good they have been. Tell the Indian he has to take a little of the bad in order to enjoy the benefits you are conferring on him.
Get some Indian people to do the dirty work. There are always those who will act for you to the disadvantage of their own people. Just give them a little honor and praise…
Consult the Indian, but do not act on the basis of what you hear. Tell the Indian he has a voice and go through the motions of listening. Then interpret what you have heard to suit your own needs.
Insist that the Indian “Goes through the Proper Channels.” Make the channels and the procedures so difficult that he won’t bother to do anything. When he discovers what the proper channels are, and becomes proficient at the procedures, change them.
Make the Indian believe that you are working hard for him, putting in much overtime and at a great sacrifice, and imply that he should be appreciative. This is the ultimate in skills and stealing human rights, when you obtain the thanks of your victim.
Allow a few individuals to “Make the Grade” and then point to them as examples. Say that the “Hardworkers” and the “good” Indians have made it, and that therefore it is a person’s own fault if he doesn’t succeed.
Appeal to the Indian’s sense of fairness, and tell him that, even though things are pretty bad, it is not right for him to make strong protests. Keep the argument going on his form of protest and avoid talking about the real issue. Refuse to deal with him while he is protesting. Take all the fire out of his efforts.
Encourage the Indian to take his case to court. This is very expensive, takes lots of time…and is very safe because the laws are stacked against him. The court’s ruling will defeat the Indian’s cause, but makes him think he has obtained justice.
Make the Indian believe that things could be worse, and that, instead of complaining about the loss of human rights, to be grateful for the human rights we do have. In fact, convince him that to attempt to regain a right he has lost is likely to jeopardize the rights that he still has.
Set yourself up as the protector of the Indian’s human rights, and then you can choose to act on only those violations you wish to act upon. By getting successful action on a few minor violations of human rights, you can point to these as examples of your devotion to his cause…
Pretend that the reason for the loss of human rights is for some other reason than that the person is an Indian. Tell him some of your best friends are Indians, and that his loss of rights is because of his housekeeping, his drinking, or his clothing. If he improves in these areas, it will be necessary for you to adopt another technique of stealing his rights.
Make the situation much more complicated than is necessary. Tell the Indian you will have to take a survey to find out just how many other Indians are being discriminated against. Hire a group of professors to make a year-long research project.
Also, let the Indian know that when all the Indians in Canada can make up their minds about just what they want as a group, then you will act. Play one group’s special situation against another group’s wishes.
Select very limited alternatives, neither of which has much merit, and then tell the Indian that he indeed has a choice. Ask, for instance, if he could or would rather have council elections in June or December, instead of asking if he wants them at all.
Convince the Indian that the leaders who are the most beneficial and powerful are dangerous and not to be trusted. Or simply lock them up on some charge like driving with no lights. Or refuse to listen to the real leaders and spend much time with the weak ones. Keep the people split from their leaders by sowing rumor. Attempt to get the best leaders into high-paying jobs where they will have to keep quiet to keep their paycheck coming in.
Speak of the common good. Tell the Indian that you can’t consider yourselves when there is the whole nation to think of. Tell him that he can’t think only of himself. For instance, in regard to hunting rights, tell him we have to think of all the hunters, or the sporting-goods industry.
Remove rights so gradually that people don’t realize what has happened until it is too late. Again, in regard to hunting rights, first restrict the geographical area where hunting is permitted, then cut the season to certain times of the year, then cut the limits down gradually, then insist on licensing, and then Indians will be on the same grounds as white sportsmen.
Rely on your reason and logic instead of rightness and morality. Give thousands of reasons for things, but do not get trapped into arguments about what is right.
Hold a conference on Human Rights, have everyone blow off steam and tension, and go on home feeling that things are well in hand.
This is the way Mr. Gambill has stated that the Canadian government is destroying the Canadian Indians. Many of the points he brings out there, they sound awfully familiar. I’ve seen them someplace else, and have seen these methods in action before. And the NARP, the National Alliance for Red Power has an eight point program for the betterment of Canadian Indians. And it goes that…
We will not be free until we are able to determine our own destiny. Therefore, we want power to determine the destiny of our reservations and communities. Gaining power in our reservations and communities, and power over our lives will entail the abolishment of the “Indian Act,” and the destruction of the colonial office The Indian Affairs Branch. [I think that is equivalent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs]
This racist government has robbed, cheated and brutalized us, and is responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of our people. We feel under no obligation to support this government in the form of taxation. Therefore, we want an end to the collection of money from us in the form of taxes.
The history of Canada was written by the oppressors, the invaders of this land. Their lies are perpetrated in the educational system of today. By failing to expose the true history of this decadent Canadian society, the schools facilitate our continued oppression. Therefore, we want an education that teaches us our true history and exposes the racist values of this society.
In this country, Indian and Métis represent three percent of the population, yet we constitute approximately 60 percent of the inmates in prisons and jails. Therefore, we want an immediate end to the unjust arrests and harassment of our people by the racist police.
When brought before the courts of this country, the red man cannot hope to get a fair hearing from white judges, jurors and court officials. Therefore, we want natives to be tried by a jury of people chosen from native communities or people of their racial heritage. Also, we want freedom for those of our brothers and sisters now being unjustly held in the prisons of this country.
The treaties pertaining to fishing, hunting, trapping and property rights and special privileges have been broken by this government. In some cases, our people did not engage in treaties with the government and have not been compensated for the loss of their land. Therefore, for those of our people [who have not made treaties] we want fair compensation. Also, we want the government to honor the statutes, as laid down in these treaties, as being supreme and not to be infringed upon by any legislation whatsoever.
The large industrial companies and corporations that have raped the natural resources of this country are responsible, along with their government, for the extermination of the resources upon which we depend for food, clothing and shelter. Therefore, we want an immediate end to this exploitation, and compensation from these thieves. We want the government to give foreign aid to the areas comprising the Indian Nation, so that we can start desperately needed programs concerning housing, agricultural and industrial cooperatives. We want to develop our remaining resources in the interests of the red man, not in the interests of the white corporate elite.
The white power structure has used every possible method to destroy our spirit, and the will to resist. They have divided us into status and nonstatus, American and Canadian, Métis and Indian. We are fully aware of their “divide and rule” tactic, and its effect on our people.
Red Power is the spirit to resist.
Red power is pride in what we are.
Red Power is love for our people.
Red Power is our coming together to fight for liberation.
Red Power is now.
This was taken from the NARP newsletter in Canada. And I would say that the Canadian government is having their problems right now too. I’d gather from a lot of this material that some of these Canadian Indian people are very militant also in their demands. Their demands are just. And many of the things that they state in this newsletter not only happen in Canada, they happen here. And I for one can sympathize with what they do say. Many of the things they say. I’ve seen it all happen here. And that’s why the Alcatraz Indians of All Tribes want the people in Canada to know that we’re behind them one-hundred percent in their fight for equality. Economic equality. Racial equality. And the right to be Indian. This is what we are trying to do here so we fully understand what they are going through. I don’t know that much about how the Canadian government deals with their Indian peoples on their reserves. But I had been under the impression that things were better, but then it just goes to show my ignorance about Indian Affairs. I don’t know everything about what is going on either.
Being as I did read the newsletter from Canada I would like to mention that next week, I believe it will be Tuesday evening, we will be doing a program with the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s Indian Magazine Program with Johnny Yesno and Shirley Daniels who are the host and hostess of this program. And we will be speaking with various Indians from the Canada area. We will be doing this live. And I believe it hasn’t been definitely set yet, but the tentative working schedule for that is Tuesday evening. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to read this letter from the Canadian side of the border, is to kind of become familiar a little with what the Canadian Indians are going through.
It’s 7:30 so I guess it’s time for me to say good evening. So on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes this is John Trudell wishing you a very pleasant good evening. ~
SOURCE: https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-28-k06ww7798c