Native Americans: The American Indian Today
| Date | 01 March 1981 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271628145400112 |
| Author | Vine Deloria |
| Published date | 01 March 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
139
Native
Americans:
The
American
Indian
Today
By
VINE
DELORIA,
JR.
Vine
Deloria,
Jr.
is
a
professor
of
political
science
at
the
University
of Arizona
where
he
developed
the
American
Indian
Policy
Studies
program
at
the
graduate
level
in
political
science.
He
is
a former
executive
director
of
the
National
Congress
of
American
Indians,
the
founder
of
the
Institute
for
the
Development
of
Indian
Law,
and
a
frequent
speaker
and
commentator
on
the
contemporary
affairs
of
the
American
Indian.
His
latest
book,
The
Metaphysics
of
Modern
Existence,
offers
a
non-Western
outline
of
philosophical
views.
He
is
an
enrolled
member
of
the
Standing
Rock
Sioux
Tribe
of
North
Dakota.
ABSTRACT:
American
Indians
have
finally
emerged
into
public
consciousness
as
a
distinct
minority
group.
Both
government
policies
in
the
postwar
decades
and
personal
choices
have
produced
a
large
urban
Indian
population
and
have
increased
economic
and
political
opportunities
for
reser-
vation
Indians.
The
social
welfare
programs
of the
sixties
were
in
general
ill-conceived
because
they
were
amendments
to
larger
pieces
of
national
legislation
and
were
often
unsuited
to
the
needs
and
capabilities
of
reservation
Indians.
Edu-
cation
in
particular
has
become
a
mixture
of
programs
that
serves
few
Indians
well.
Higher
education
has
become
a
routine
and
badly
administered
field
that
produces
little
of
value
for
American
Indians.
Recent
political
slogans
such
as
tribal
sovereignty
have
made
some
inroads
into
the
traditional
federal
relationship,
but
in
general
the
term
has
been
mis-
understood
and
misused.
Energy
needs
have
made
Indian
natural
resources
an
important
area
for
Indian
concern.
Two
basic
philosophies
compete
to
attract
Indian
allegiance:
development
according
to
traditional
means
with
royalty
income
and
futuristic
agricultural
projects
that
create
mini-
mum
disruption
and
exploitation.
Indians
stand
at
the
cross-
roads
in
identifying
and
establishing
their
relationship
to
the
institutions
of the
larger
society.
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