P.S. Stop eminent domain abuse!

I just read an article that you wrote for the June 2009 issue of Cowboys and Indians magazine concerning Apache Skateboards.
It seemed rather odd that none of the Indians in the photographs are smiling. I have been around Mescalero Apaches for over a half century and they smile a lot. Same goes for the various Pueblo Indians I’ve known in New Mexico .
They know how lucky they are to have a choice between the culture of the red man and that of the white man. They also get preferential treatment should they choose get a college education and get money from the U.S. Government each month whether they work or not.
Maybe the people of San Carlos are different than other Indians.
There was a statement you made about Miles’ being concerned about “owning the new imagery without being culturally hijacked”. The imagery shown in the magazine isn’t new. It appears to be a combination of ‘70’s era biker graffiti, amateur reproductions of old photos of Geronimo with a touch of Mexican influence, just a touch of the geometrical designs found on Mimbres pottery and one Texas Ranger star.
These people have a lot more to be proud of than painting skate boards. I wish you would give them more credit.
As far as the overall treatment fo the Amerinds is concerned, we have been very charitable in comparison to the way the indiginous people of Argentina were exterminated/exiled.

“The Indians were killing themselves before the White man even got here.”~ True! the American Indian Tribes were battling each other for prestige, hunting grounds & tribal honor. The way in which they conducted their battles is where you lost your case! Study the acts of, “counting coup”. Any blow struck against the enemy counted as a coup, but the most prestigious acts included touching an enemy warrior, with the hand or with a coup stick, then escaping unharmed. Some American Indian Tribes used Lacrosse, originating in the Indian nations of mid-America. In many Native American societies/tribes, the ball sport was often part of religious ritual, played to resolve conflicts, heal the sick, develop strong, virile men and prepare for war.
As you stated in your article, “So we did what they were already doing.” No we did not! The Great White Chief in Washington, killed by an act of attrition or genocide, which US Presidents guised as, Manifest Destiny: A doctrine used to rationalize U.S. territorial expansion in the 1840s and 1850s.
Jim stated, “The Indian’s problem was really their numbers. There weren’t millions of Indians here on the continent, most tribes numbered in hundreds vs. thousands of people. Millions of Europeans and other nationalities resettled in this country and almost immediately outnumbered the indians.” Wrong again! Columbus did not set foot on North America until 1492. It took 350 years for the non-native settlers to outnumber the American Indian population. As for the spred of infectious disease and the use of heinous weaponry now you’re on to something! The US Calvary distributed infectious blankets (chemical warfare of the time) to the American Indians on reservations devastating mass populations. The Gatling Gun of 1861 used at Wounded Knee, burning of whole villages of women & children while sleeping inside their tipis were all methods by which to kill off the American Indian population. All of these methods were commonplace practices for the elimination of the American Indian now considered illegal under the rules established by the Geneva Convention.
Hope that clears things up for you, Jim