In my previous column leading up to August 28, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, I sketched a prosperous nation built with stolen black labor on stolen Indian lands. I talked about how, in the violent resistance to the colonists, the Indians were much more effective than the black slaves.

After World War II, a new phase of resistance came forward, and when the struggle became nonviolent, Indians lost their claim to greatest effectiveness. Even though violence as a political tactic had long faded, WWII seemed to make all exploited non-whites more “uppity.”

Historically black colleges filled up in no time, and blacks demanded entry to other state institutions to use their GI Bill entitlements. Denied, they filed lawsuits that forced integration of graduate schools, undergraduate schools, and finally K-12.

Indian GIs returning from the war headed up the litigation that opened up the right to vote for Indians living on the reservations in New Mexico and Arizona and they, too, moved to use their GI Bill rights.