"Colonial governments generally have a Holy Grail. They differ only in methods of pursuing it. We know it by the name “termination.”

At first, the conservatives wanted to kill us and the liberals wanted to assimilate us. Which did the most damage is a valid question.

In our times, the conservatives want to declare victory and withdraw. The liberals can’t go along with the predictable and genocidal outcome, so they are willing to continue paying for their sins and let their presumed cultural superiority take its natural course.

The leading intellectual of my generation, Vine Deloria, Jr., gave us a clear analysis of where we fit in the principal conflict of the times, the Civil Rights Movement."

Get the Story:
Steve Russell: Assimilating the Terminators (Indian Country Today 12/9)

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