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COAIM BLOG CO AIM LATEST NEWS MEDIA
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October 4, 1992 To the Editor Denver Post Dear Editor: At a time when there is a critical need for journalists to write articles dealing with issues rather than personalities, Jim Carrier arrives on the scene with an inflammatory attack on one personality involved in the American Indian community's resistance against anti- Indian racism. Essentially, Carrier's article about Russel Means ("Russel Means: Last of the Militants," Oct. 4) announces open season on American Indian activists and placards the fashionableness of cute quincentenary anti-Indian racism (a la Andy Roony). The essay is filled with innuendos and inaccuracies, some of which appear to have been intentional distortions of what Carrier knows to have been the truth. For instance, Carrier knows, since he wrote about it at the time, that Mr. Means did not support Reagan's policy of support for the Contras in Nicaragua. To say that the article was racist is, of course, a stunning understatement. Like most of the media coverage of the planned Oct. 10 activities, Carrier perpetuates the misperceptions of Mr. Means and the American Indian Movement. While we continue to promise non-violent civil disobedience," Carrier cavalierly talks of Mr. Means as "throwing fire bombs." More than racist, it is a dangerous piece of journalism in that it falsely identifies Mr. Means as the "last of the militants" implicitly inviting violence against Mr. Means by those fringe, hate elements of society. To call Mr. Means the "last" of a genre of militant activists is surely false, as the numbers of people from different ethnic communities in Denver involved in resistance efforts and organizing for October 10 amply demonstrates. To the contrary, there are plenty of so-called militants around in the Indian community to continue our struggle for justice and our resistance to all pressure toward assimilation into some amorphous White mainstream. Not only are the numbers of militants sufficient to maintain our struggle, but we are more and more well educated Sporting PhDs and LLDs, contemporary Indian activists know too well the limitations of our participation in the system. We see too clearly the variety of ways in which the system is mitigated against Indian success. We see the failure of social service institutions in addressing the real needs of the Indian community, We know that the only hope is to raise our voices loudly enough to be finally heard. We know that our militancy may be the only hope for the continued survival of Indian peoples. We know all too well that Carrier's racism is only the tip of the iceberg, and that our struggle will necessarily continue throughout our own lifetimes. Last of the "Last of the Militants," |
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