Customer Reviews

Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide in Native North America

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought the book, read it, and really loved it. There are a few high-lights. First, its style is very informal and informative -- not stuffy like a typical academic book. This is a complement not a criticism. Second, the content is very very broad, covers some very important aspects of Native American feelings and emotions. Especially, after reading this book, the so-called Columbus day never seemed the same again.

It also provides an interesting comparison of the abused Native American "logos" of various sports groups and the Jewish-caricatures that decorated several walls and newspapers earlier this century. You will never look at "Red Skins" "Cleveland Indians" "Chief Wahoo", "Tomahak Chop" etc., in the same light. They are genuine signs of sickness in the society -- sickness which implores one to make fun of another society in order to generate humor.

Every white person needs to read this book. A real eye opener for us white people raised in the USA and educated in the public system where they blatantly disregard and brush over topics about Native Americans. We owe it to ourselves and the indigenous nations to attempt to understand these perspectives.

Finally! A book that tells the truth of how it was like to a Native American in a racist and bigoted Amerika. This book tells us about what Native Americans went through, how they lived, and how they were dealt with by a country that didn't want them. This is a tell-all book that pulls no punches. It is not for the faint of heart or flag-waving fools that never question Amerika's history. A real eye-opener. Highly Recommended.

This book was my first Native American Political book. I first purchased it in 1997 in Boston. I am full blood, but was not raised in the light of my ansestors. I knew nothing of any traditions exept what Kevin Coster told me in Dances With Wolves. The fact of the matter is, when you can't beat em, join em. I decided in order to beat the white man at his own game, I must educate myself. This book offers information no one knows about. It is a good basis of information to come to an understanding of my people, and I feel it can help educate anyone who is ignorant to the fact. We need more books like this. We need them in our schools and need to have them readily available for the taking. Ward Churchill represents the facts that oppress today's Native Americans. I suggest it to anyone who wants an understanding of todays underlining issues for Native Americans and even the people of old.

Although Churchill highlights issues that are important in the struggle for Indian rights, the substance of much of this book is inaccurate and misleading. In several of the book's essays, Churchill appears to be interested in convincing the public that Indian tribes are nothing more than puppets of the federal government, and that "real" Indian rights activism stands in defiant opposition to the very existence of Indian tribes. To support this controversial and counterintuitive propostion, however, Churchill provides an erroneous and misleading analysis of the history of relations between Indian tribes and the U.S. government. For instance, Churchill suggests that Indian tribes' blood quantum standards for tribal membership is an imitaation of a similar blood quantum standard in the 1887 General Allotment Act (or Dawes Act); but in reality the General Allotment Act never contained any blood quantum standard for Indians to be eligible for allotments under the Act. One cannot help but conclude that Churchill is attempting to use false propaganda about federal Indian law and history to cast Indian tribes in a negative light in the public eye. Obviously, this does nothing to advance the cause of Indian rights. Moreover one cannot help but be suspicious of Churchill's vicious attacks on Indian rights advocates, beginning with his scathing remarks in the book's "Acknowlegments" denouncing leaders of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Clearly, there is a deeper, subversive agenda involved here that casts much additional doubt on the integrity of Churchill as a writer and scholar. Readers who rely on Churchill's peculiar, angry "spin" on Indian political matters will be proceeding at their own risk. In the final analysis, this book is interesting as a study in the art of propaganda; but as informative social and political commentary, it is of suprisingly little value.

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Now regarding the book....If you are a white person who wants to feel that they have learned something about Native oppression and want to get all angry at the mistreatment of Natives, then this is the book for you. If you are looking for an intellectual stab that falls along the lines of bell hooks, Cornell West then I suggest you read something else. Ward's facts about Native portrayals in mascots, movies and general exploitation are dead on, but his commentary regarding those facts is hard to stomach. His recycled prose is tiresome. He comes off as a whiner and of course defensive. When you read one of his books, you have read them all.

Now regarding the book....If you are a white person who wants to feel that they have learned something about Native oppression and want to get all angry at the mistreatment of Natives, then this is the book for you. If you are looking for an intellectual stab that falls along the lines of bell hooks, Cornell West then I suggest you read something else. Ward's facts about Native portrayals in mascots, movies and general exploitation are dead on, but his commentary regarding those facts is hard to stomach. His recycled prose is tiresome. He comes off as a whiner and of course defensive. When you read one of his books, you have read them all.