Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990                   TAG: 9003062120
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RECALL THE PAIN, CONTRIBUTIONS OF FIRST AMERICANS

For a fact, if it were not for the first American, the red man, the Caucasians and African-Americans would not be strolling around this land. Those people kept the first white settlers from starving to death. Sometimes I wonder if this country really knows the meaning of gratitude, even though we're all trespassing on their land.

In our time there will always be discrimination, and I would like to remind our black brothers and sisters that the American Indians have experienced this oppression more in severe terms of atrocities. They are among the few people in history who have been vanquished and remain admitted by their conquerors. No doubt these people have left us an enduring legacy.

From reading about slavery conditions it seems that slaves did work hard, but had a place to lay their heads and food to eat. In comparison, Indians were quartered in an inhuman environment, suffered from disease and starvation, and were slaughtered. Black men at the time were not resettled, as Indians were by the U.S. Army, and placed on deplorable reservations.

Our distinguished ex-President Nixon in 1971 described the Indians as the "most deprived, most isolated, most neglected minority in our nation." Self-determination is an inalienable right. The noted reporter Paul Harvey states, "the American Indians have been bum-rapped longer than any minority in American history."

February, according to the calendar, was Black History Month. How about that for a winner? Checking it over, one does not find recognition for our native Americans, and it is a shame to this country. We should have at least one day set aside for what they have contributed to this nation.\ LEWIS HAGY JOHNSON CITY, TENN.