Читать книгу Racing Toward Recovery. The Extraordinary Story of Alaska Musher Mike Williams Sr. онлайн

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At that time the activists Russell Means and Dennis Banks were making speeches and they came to our school. They talked about the American Indian Movement and sovereignty. They really got me thinking when they talked about the history of how the federal government had treated Indians and Alaska Natives. They said, “It’s not right. We need to change that. We need to take our land back. We need to take our rights back. We’ve lost them so far.” What was interesting was that the United States was involved in a war in South Vietnam at the time and they seemed to be making waves.

I was wondering, Gee, how come these guys are saying that? I was strongly affected by it. Most of the Native people I knew were not like that. Our people were healthy. They weren’t like that stereotype. I thought, We’re better than that. I also did a lot of reading, books like Custer Died for Your Sins, and read about the Wounded Knee Movement.

Russell Means and Dennis Banks made a big impression on me and they were right. American Indians had lost their land and they wanted to reclaim some of that land. The American government broke every promise it made to Indians. It broke every treaty.