BOOK REVIEW, ‘THE SACRED BUFFALO VISION’ AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM.

BOOK REVIEW, ‘THE SACRED BUFFALO VISION’ AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM.

I am a Blackfoot Indian, a veteran, and an American patriot who believes the subjugation of all Americans is today’s reality wrought by corporate rule over the economy and the political systems. The roots of Blackfoot sorrow go deep into American history. The Sacred Buffalo Vision is an account of the courage and intelligence of the Blackfeet people, who are holocaust survivors. United States Indian Agent Henry Reed wrote in 1862, “There are many whites who are here and throughout the mountains because they cannot be tolerated in any civilized society. They need care and attention.” Agent George B. Wright wrote in 1866, “A party of eleven Piegans [Blackfeet] desirous of crossing over to the Benten side was seen, whereupon a body of twenty whites, residents of Fort Benton, and returning miners to the States, ran up to the bend in the river, and as the Indians touched the shore, these men fired into them, wounding three and killing six. The Indians left for the opposite shore, leaving the dead ones who were immediately scalped for the $50 bounty on Indian scalps. It might be argued that in a repetition of Indian wars, the race would not only in name, but in fact, be exterminated, and there would be no further need for agents or agency buildings. Yet, practically it would meet with embarrassments, for experience has thus far proven, unless there be an uprising of the people, sanctioned by Congress, the Indian would maintain his existence and the tradition of his death in Montana Territory would seem an absurdity.” The small pox epidemics, massacres, whiskey trade, starvation and famine caused by extermination of tribal buffalo herds could not exterminate the Indians. Father Scollen wrote in 1884, “Formerly, they had been the most opulent Indians in the country, now they walked without horses, clothed in rags, as the survivors of the small pox epidemics, massacre, and famine went more and more for the use of alcohol to drown their grief in the poisonous beverage, sold their horses and robes for whiskey and had begun Killing each other under the influence of whiskey.” Agent Young wrote in 1886, “The starvation of the Indians should make this nation blush with shame. The Indian tents contained food in only two, all bore the marks of suffering, but the little children seemed to suffer most; so emaciated it did not seem possible for them to live long, and many have passed away. The rations last for two days, barely, the rest of the week the people live on wild berries and air, until Friday evening when the Indians flock to the stockade to receive the entrails of the beeves butchered for Saturday issue of beef, and most disgusting contests occur for possession of entrails. Their physical appearance is that of a slowly starving people.” Inspector Howard reported, “It was my first experience witnessing actual starvation, yet the cattle herds of white men were trespassing on the ground owned by these Indians, and could be seen and heard but these Texas cattle kings would not sell any beef to the agency to relieve the Indians suffering.” The agency “pimp” trader S.P. Horr was found to be operating a brothel at the store, admitting squaws to the store at night to trade sex for food for their starving children. The Sacred Buffalo Vision is a story of a treaty people entrusted to the care of the United States Government and robbed and abused by officers of the government, corporations, and border-whites. It is also a story of intelligence in securing a place in American politics that defies the age old savage stereotype promoted by those who exploit. I fear the rest of Americans are caught in the political-corporate trap that robs the labor of mankind for not a living wage but a starving wage and a slow death type of genocide of the spirit and body. The Blackfeet Indians live in poverty, but it is a poverty that is built into the fabric of America, insoluble.  I fear separation of corporate oligarchs from Congress is more important than separation of church and state. The history of the Blackfeet people may be the future of the American people-more poverty.