Editorial: Symposium focuses on race and healing in Montana

Let's be clear: It's a strained, complex relationship. It begins at the southern border of Montana, where the first sign greeting visitors to Montana tells folks that the visitor and information center is 57 miles away -- in Hardin.

And yet, there's Crow Country -- a beautiful expanse of Montana, dotted by painful reminders of poverty. There's not a lot of explanation -- not a lot of conversation.

As the daylong symposium kicks off a week from today, it's exactly the kind of dialogue that is needed the most. We need to talk about our shared histories and we need openness.

Non-natives must talk openly about the almost daily prejudices that exist -- that Indians are the driving force in crime, or that there's nothing that can be done about the poverty; or the jokes about checks ... the list goes on.

Natives must also communicate what leaders want to do about the huge problems that exist within the tribes -- of tribal government squabbles, of more cultural outreach, and dealing with the vexing social problems of addiction and abuse.