"'Indians are so lazy,' snapped my grandmother. 'We can't get them to come to the program meetings on time!' She shook her head dismissively.

My mother became very still as she looked at her mother thoughtfully. But she didn't say a word. It was 1957; I was 10 years old and my sister was seven.

One day I asked my mother, 'Why did grandmother say the Indians were lazy?"

Mother looked at me thoughtfully. 'Your grandmother is an old woman, Louise. When she was a little girl, people were afraid of the Indians. When people are afraid, they sometimes do things they shouldn't.'

I learned about the deadly cycle of prejudice from my mother's lessons: don't be afraid of new things. Rather, learn about new things. Don't accept others' opinions about things; rather, learn and form your own opinions."

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Louise Engelstad: Give the light of knowledge (The Rapid City Journal 2/2)