Durham Urges Independence At Start of Indian Conference

Unless Indians organize to achieve self-determination, they will be wiped out within 20 years, Jim Durham, executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council, warned about 35 people in Science Center C yesterday.

Calling the U.S. government wolves and the Indian peoples sheep, Durham said the government's policy has been to divide poor minority groups racially and to foster a sense of inferiority among them

White Flour

"The Indian people are afraid to do anything that would jeopardize their federal funds. And they have a right to be afraid--that bleached, determined white flour is their daily bread," Durham said.

Universities, the government and the churches have acted as Indians' enemies because they make puppets of the Indian people, Durham said, adding, "They plan to wipe us out or control us the way they did 100 years ago."

Repression

University education is a form of repression for Indians, Durham said. The government pays for the education of a few students, and exposes them to better living conditions than those in their homes, he said.

When they return to cities or reservations, they are shocked by the squalor and illiteracy of their people, and, as a result, the educated Indians often paternalize their own people, he added.

Indians should begin seeking independence by developing their land and resources, through mining or raising cattle or poultry, Durham said. By mobilizing world-wide support and enlisting the help of human rights organizations, Indians could possibly pressure the U.S. government into recognizing their self-determination, he added.

Durham's lecture opened the annual Harvard Indian Conference, sponsored by the American Indians at Harvard-Radcliffe (AIH). The conference continues today with several lectures and workshops on self-determination.