Dances With Watchtowers - Witnessing to Native Americans

*** g01 11/8 p. 31 Man’s Tyranny Over Man ***

THE course of history confirms the truth of Ecclesiastes 8:9: "Man has dominated man to his injury." Or as the Catholic Jerusalem Bible expresses it, "man tyrannises over man to his hurt." Millions of people have suffered injustice, and this has been so under nearly all the different forms of government that man has experienced. A reminder of this suffering came in a speech by the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of Indian Affairs.

He said that rather than a celebration it was "a time for sorrowful truths to be spoken, a time for contrition." He admitted that the first mission of the institution in the 1830’s was to remove the southeastern tribal nations—the Cherokee, the Creek, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, and the Seminole—from their lands. "By threat, deceit, and force, these great tribal nations were made to march 1,000 miles [1,600 km] to the west, leaving thousands of their old, their young and their infirm in hasty graves along the Trail of Tears."

He continued: "Yet in these more enlightened times, it must be acknowledged that the deliberate spread of disease, the decimation of the mighty bison herds, the use of the poison alcohol to destroy mind and body, and the cowardly killing of women and children made for tragedy on a scale so ghastly that it cannot be dismissed as merely the inevitable consequence of the clash of competing ways of life." He admitted: "This agency set out to destroy all things Indian. This agency forbade the speaking of Indian languages . . . and made Indian people ashamed of who they were. Worst of all, the Bureau of Indian Affairs committed these acts against the children entrusted to its boarding schools, brutalizing them emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually."

He concluded by saying: "Let us begin by expressing our profound sorrow for what this agency has done in the past. . . . Never again will we be complicit in the theft of Indian property. . . . Never again will we attack your religions, your languages, your rituals, or any of your tribal ways." Significantly, he said: "Together, we must wipe the tears of seven generations. Together, we must allow our broken hearts to mend."—Vital Speeches of the Day, October 1, 2000.

The only true and lasting solution to man’s inhumanity to man is God’s Kingdom, which will restore justice for all and "will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away."—Revelation 21:3, 4.

[Footnote]

The history of the American Indians confirms that the tribes were often in conflict among themselves, so that fighting "for territory, horses, and buffalo became constant."—The People Called Apache.

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g96 9/8 pp. 3-4 Native Americans—The End of an Era ***

WHO has not watched a typical cowboys-and-Indians film? People the world over have heard of Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill, and the Lone Ranger and of the Indians Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Chief Joseph, as well as many others. But just how authentic have Hollywood’s renderings been? And how evenhanded have their portrayals of the Indians been?

The story of the conquest of the Native North Americans (Indians) by Europeans raises questions. Have the history books dealt the Indians a fair hand? Are there any lessons to be learned about greed, oppression, racism, and atrocities? What is the true story of the so-called cowboys and Indians?

Custer’s

Last Stand and the Massacre at Wounded Knee

In the year 1876, medicine man Sitting Bull of the Lakota (one of the three main divisions of the Sioux) was a leader at the famous battle of the Little Bighorn River, in Montana. With 650 soldiers, Lieutenant Colonel "Long Hair" Custer thought he could easily defeat 1,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. This was a gross miscalculation. He was facing probably the largest group of Native American warriors ever assembled—about 3,000.

Custer split his 7th Cavalry Regiment into three groups. Without waiting for support from the other two, his group attacked what he thought would be a vulnerable part of the Indian camp. Led by headmen Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, the Indians wiped out Custer and his unit of some 225 soldiers. It was a temporary victory for the Indian nations but a bitter defeat for the U.S. Army. However, terrible revenge was only 14 years away.

Eventually, Sitting Bull surrendered, having been promised a pardon. Instead, he was confined for a time at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory. In his later years, he appeared in public in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West traveling show. The once illustrious leader had become a mere shadow of the influential medicine man he used to be.

In 1890, Sitting Bull (Lakota name, Tatanka Iyotake) was shot to death by Indian police officers who had been sent to arrest him. His killers were Sioux "Metal Breasts" (police-badge holders), Lieutenant Bull Head and Sergeant Red Tomahawk.

In that same year, Indian resistance to the white man’s dominance was finally broken at the massacre of Wounded Knee Creek on the American Great Plains. There, about 320 fleeing Sioux men, women, and children were killed by federal troops and their Hotchkiss rapid-fire cannons. The soldiers boasted that this was their vengeance for the slaughter of their comrades, Custer and his men, on the ridges overlooking the Little Bighorn River. Thus ended over 200 years of sporadic wars and skirmishes between the invading American settlers and the besieged resident tribes.

But how did Native Americans get established in North America in the first place? What kind of life-style did they have before the white man first set foot in North America? What led to their final defeat and subjection? And what is the present situation of the Indians in a country now dominated by the descendants of the early European immigrants? These and other questions will be discussed in the articles that follow.

[Footnotes]

While the term "Native American" is now preferred by some, "Indian" is also still commonly used in many sources. We will be using these terms interchangeably. "Indian" is the misnomer given to the natives by Columbus, who thought that he had reached India when he landed in what is now known as the West Indies.

In these articles we are dealing only with North American Indians. The Amerindians of Mexico, Central America, and South America—Aztecs, Maya, Incas, Olmec, and others—will be considered in future issues of this magazine.

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Burying the dead at Wounded Knee

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Montana Historical Society

*** g96 9/8 pp. 4-7 Where Did They Come From? ***

"WHAT did we call ourselves before Columbus came? . . . In every single tribe, even today, when you translate the word that we each had for ourselves, without knowledge of each other, it was always something that translated to basically the same thing. In our language [Narragansett] it’s Ninuog, or the people [in Navajo, Diné], the human beings. That’s what we called ourselves. So when the [European] pilgrims arrived here, we knew who we were, but we didn’t know who they were. So we called them Awaunageesuck, or the strangers, because they were the ones who were alien, they were the ones that we didn’t know, but we knew each other. And we were the human beings."—Tall Oak, Narragansett tribe.

Theories abound as to the origin of the Native Americans. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, was one of several, including Quaker William Penn, who believed that the Indians were Hebrews, descendants of the so-called ten lost tribes of Israel. The explanation accepted by most anthropologists today is that whether by land bridge or by boat, Asian tribes moved into what is now Alaska, Canada, and the United States. Even DNA tests seem to support this idea.

Native Americans—Their Origins and Beliefs

Native American editors Tom Hill (Seneca) and Richard Hill, Sr., (Tuscarora) write in their book Creation’s Journey—Native American Identity and Belief: "Most native peoples traditionally believe that they were created from the earth itself, from the waters, or from the stars. Archaeologists, on the other hand, have a theory of a great land bridge across the Bering Strait, over which Asians migrated to the Americas; these Asians, the theory maintains, were the ancestors of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere." Some Native Americans tend to be skeptical about the white man’s Bering Strait theory. They prefer to believe their legends and narratives. They view themselves as the original inhabitants rather than as exploring migrants from Asia.

In his book An Indian Winter, Russell Freedman explains: "According to Mandan [a tribe that was near the upper Missouri River] belief, the First Man was a powerful spirit, a divine being. He had been created in the distant past by the Lord of Life, the creator of all things, to act as a mediator between ordinary humans and the countless gods, or spirits, that inhabited the universe." Mandan belief even included a flood legend. "Once, when a great flood swept over the world, the First Man saved the people by teaching them to build a protective tower, or ‘ark,’ that would rise high above the floodwaters. In his honor, every Mandan village had a miniature replica of that mythical tower—a cedar post about five feet high, surrounded by a plank fence."

The Mandans also had as a religious symbol "a tall pole wrapped with feathers and fur and topped with a hideous wooden head, painted black." Who could this represent? "This effigy represented Ochkih-Haddä, an evil spirit who had great influence over humans but was not as powerful as the Lord of Life or the First Man." For the Plains Indians, "belief in the spirit world was an unquestioned part of everyday life. . . . No major decision could be reached, no project undertaken, without first seeking the aid and approval of the sacred beings who governed human affairs."

In his book The Mythology of North America, John Bierhorst explains: "Before there were clans, the Osage, it was said, wandered from place to place in a condition known as ganítha (without law or order). A traditional view held that in those early days certain thinkers called Little Old Men . . . formulated the theory that a silent, creative power fills the sky and the earth and keeps the stars, the moon, and the sun moving in perfect order. They called it Wakónda (mysterious power) or Eáwawonaka (causer of our being)." A similar idea is shared by the Zuni, the Sioux, and the Lakota in the West. The Winnebago also have a creation myth that involves "Earthmaker." The account says: "He wished for light and it became light. . . . Then he again thought and wished for the earth, and this earth came into existence."

For the Bible student, it is most interesting to see some parallels between Native American beliefs and teachings expressed in the Bible, especially with regard to the Great Spirit, the "causer of our being," which is reminiscent of the meaning of the divine name, Jehovah, "He Causes to Become." Other parallels include the Flood and the evil spirit known in the Bible as Satan.—Genesis 1:1-5; 6:17; Revelation 12:9.

Understanding Native American Philosophies

The Native American writers Tom Hill and Richard Hill explain five gifts that they say Native Americans have received from their ancestors. "The first gift . . . is our deep connection to the land." And in view of their history before and since the arrival of the European, who can deny that? Their land, often considered sacred by Native Americans, was systematically taken by force, by trickery, or by unfulfilled treaties.

"The second gift is the power and spirit that animals share with our people." Native American respect for animals has been demonstrated in many ways. They hunted just for food, clothing, and shelter. It was not the native peoples who virtually wiped out the buffalo (bison) but the white man, with his bloodlust and shortsighted greed.

"The third is the spirit forces, who are our living relatives and who communicate with us through the images we make of them." Here is the common theme of so many religions worldwide—the survival of some spirit or soul after death.

"The fourth is the sense of who we are, which is expressed and sustained through our tribal traditions." Today this can certainly be detected at tribal ceremonies, where the people gather to discuss tribal affairs, or at social powwows, where tribal dancing and music take place. The Indian dress, the rhythmic beating of the drums, the dances, the family and clan reunions—all bespeak tribal tradition.

"The last gift is the creative process—our beliefs made real through the transformation of natural materials into objects of faith and pride." Whether it is basketmaking, weaving, shaping and painting pottery, fashioning jewelry and adornments, or any other creative activity, it is linked to their tradition and culture of the ages.

There are so many tribes that it would require many books to explain all the traditional beliefs and practices. What interests us now is, What effect did the influx of millions of Europeans, many supposedly Christian, have on the Native Americans?

[Footnotes]

The term "Native Americans" obviously includes those tribes that live in Canada. Many believe that the early migrants from Asia traveled through northwestern Canada on their way south into warmer climes.

The Bible gives no support for belief in an immortal soul or spirit that survives death. (See Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 18:4, 20.) For more detailed information on this subject, see the book Mankind’s Search for God, pages 52-7, 75, and its index under "Immortal soul, belief in." This book is published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.

*** g96 9/8 pp. 7-12 How Their World Was Lost ***

FOR many years the story of the United States was summed up with the expression, "How the West was won." Hollywood’s films showed white settlers moving across the American plains and mountains, with John Wayne-type soldiers, cowboys, and settlers battling the fierce, savage, tomahawk-wielding Indians. While the white man was looking for land and gold, some of Christendom’s priests and preachers were supposedly saving souls.

How does that history look from the standpoint of the original inhabitants, the native people of America? With the arrival of Europeans, Indians "were forced to cope with the introduction into their environment of the most rapacious predator they had ever faced: white European invaders," states the book The Native Americans—An Illustrated History.

Harmony That Led to Strife

Initially, many of the Europeans who first arrived in the American Northeast were met with kindness and cooperation from the natives. One account says: "Without the aid of the Powhatans, the British settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English colony in the New World, would not have lasted through its first terrible winter of 1607-08. Similarly, the Pilgrim colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, might have failed except for help from the Wampanoags." Some natives showed the immigrants how to fertilize the soil and grow crops. And how successful would the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06—to find a practical transportation link between the Louisiana Territory and what was called the Oregon Country—have been without the help and intervention of the Shoshone woman Sacagawea? She was their "token of peace" when they came face-to-face with Indians.

However, because of the European way of using land and the limited food resources, the massive immigration into North America caused tension between the invaders and the natives. Canadian historian Ian K. Steele explains that in the 17th century, there were 30,000 Narragansett in Massachusetts. Their chief Miantonomo, "sensing danger, . . . sought to build on his Mohawk alliance to create a general Amerindian resistance movement." He is reported to have said to the Montauk in 1642: "We [must] be one as they [the English] are, otherwise we shall all be gone shortly, for you know our fathers had plenty of deer and skins, our plains were full of deer, as also our woods, and of [turkeys], and our coves full of fish and fowl. But these English having gotten our land, they with scythes cut down the grass, and with axes fell the trees; their cows and horses eat the grass, and their hogs spoil our clam banks, and we shall all be starved."—Warpaths—Invasions of North America.

Miantonomo’s efforts to form a united Native American front came to naught. In 1643, in a tribal war, he was captured by Chief Uncas of the Mohegan tribe, who turned him over to the English as a rebel. The English could not legally convict Miantonomo and execute him. They figured out a convenient solution. Steele continues: "Unable to execute [Miantonomo], who was outside the jurisdiction of any of the colonies, the commissioners had Uncas execute him, with English witnesses to prove it had been done."

This illustrates not only the constant conflicts between the invading colonists and the native population but also the internecine rivalry and treachery among the tribes, which had existed even before the white man ever reached North America. The British, in their wars against the French for colonial domination of North America, had some tribes on their side, while others supported the French. No matter which side lost, all the tribes involved paid a loser’s price.

"A Chasm of Misunderstandings"

This is one view of the European invasion: "What leaders of Indian nations did not understand, often until it was too late, was the way the Europeans viewed Indians. They were not white or Christian. They were savages—wild and brutish—in the minds of many, a dangerous and unfeeling commodity for the slave markets." This attitude of superiority resulted in devastating effects on the tribes.

The European viewpoint was incomprehensible to Native Americans. There was, as Navajo counselor Philmer Bluehouse called it in a recent interview with Awake!, "a chasm of misunderstandings." The natives did not view their civilization as inferior but, rather, as different, with entirely different values. As an example, selling land was totally foreign to the Indians. Could you own and sell the air, the wind, the water? Then why the land? It was there for all to use. Thus, Indians were not known to fence off land.

With the arrival of the British, the Spanish, and the French, there came about what has been described as a "cataclysmic meeting of two alien cultures." The indigenous population were people who for hundreds of years had come to terms with the land and with nature and who knew how to survive without upsetting the environmental balance. Yet, the white man soon came to view the native inhabitants as lower, ferocious creatures—conveniently forgetting his own savagery in subduing them! In 1831, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville summed up the prevailing white opinion of Indians: "Heaven has not made them to become civilized; it is necessary that they die."

The Most Deadly Killer

As the new settlers poured west across North America, violence begot violence. So whether the Indians or the European invaders attacked first, atrocities were committed by both sides. The Indians were feared because of their reputation for scalping, a practice that some believe they learned from Europeans who offered bounties for scalps. However, the Indians were fighting a losing battle against superior odds—in numbers and in arms. In most cases the tribes ended up having to leave their ancestral lands or die. Often it was both—they left their lands and then were killed or died of disease and starvation.

Yet, death in battle was not the most decimating factor for the native tribes. Writes Ian K. Steele: "The most potent weapon in the invasion of North America was not the gun, the horse, the Bible, or European ‘civilization.’ It was pestilence." Concerning the effect of Old World diseases on the Americas, Patrica Nelson Limerick, a professor of history, wrote: "When carried to the New World, these same diseases [to which Europeans had had centuries to develop immunity]—chicken pox, measles, influenza, malaria, yellow fever, typhus, tuberculosis, and, above all, smallpox—met little resistance. Mortality rates in village after village ran as high as 80 or 90 percent."

Russell Freedman describes an epidemic of smallpox that struck in 1837. "The Mandans were the first to be stricken, followed in swift succession by the Hidatsas, the Assiniboins, the Arikaras, the Sioux, and the Blackfeet." The Mandans were almost completely liquidated. From a population of some 1,600 in 1834, they dwindled to 130 in 1837.

What Happened to the Treaties?

To this day tribal elders can reel off the dates of the treaties that the U.S. government signed with their forefathers in the 19th century. But what did those treaties actually provide? Usually an unfavorable exchange of good land for a barren reservation and government subsistence.

An example of the disdain with which the native tribes were treated is the case of the Iroquois nations (from east to west, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) after the British were defeated by the American colonists in the war of independence, which ended in 1783. The Iroquois had sided with the British, and all they got in repayment, according to Alvin Josephy, Jr., was abandonment and insults. The British, "ignoring [the Iroquois], had ceded sovereignty over their lands to the United States." He adds that even the Iroquois who had favored the colonists against the British "were set upon by rapacious land companies and speculators and by the American government itself."

When a treaty meeting was called in 1784, James Duane, a former representative of the Continental Congress’ Committee on Indian Affairs, exhorted the government agents "to undermine whatever self-confidence remained among the Iroquois by deliberately treating them as inferiors."

His arrogant suggestions were carried out. Some Iroquois were seized as hostages, and "negotiations" were conducted at gunpoint. Although considering themselves unconquered in war, the Iroquois had to give up all their land west of New York and Pennsylvania and accept a reservation of reduced dimensions in New York State.

Similar tactics were used against most of the native tribes. Josephy also states that American agents used "bribery, threats, alcohol, and manipulations of unauthorized representatives to attempt to wrench land away from Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas [or Ojibwa], Shawnees, and other Ohio nations." Little wonder that the Indians soon came to mistrust the white man and his empty promises!

The "Long Walk" and the Trail of Tears

When the American Civil War (1861-65) broke out, it drew soldiers away from Navajo country in the Southwest. The Navajo took advantage of this respite to attack American and Mexican settlements in the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico territory. The government sent in Colonel Kit Carson and his New Mexico Volunteers to suppress the Navajo and to move them to a reservation on a barren strip of land called Bosque Redondo. Carson pursued a scorched-earth policy to starve and drive the Navajo out of the awesome Canyon de Chelly, in northeastern Arizona. He even destroyed more than 5,000 peach trees.

Carson gathered together some 8,000 people and forced them to take the "Long Walk" of about 300 miles to the Bosque Redondo detention camp at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. A report says: "The weather was bitterly cold, and many of the ill-clad, underfed exiles died along the way." The conditions at the reservation were terrible. The Navajo had to gouge out holes in the ground in an effort to find refuge. In 1868, after realizing its crass blunder, the government granted the Navajo 3.5 million acres of their ancestral homeland in Arizona and New Mexico. They went back, but what a price they had been forced to pay!

Between 1820 and 1845, tens of thousands of Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creeks, and Seminoles were driven from their lands in the Southeast and forced to march westward, beyond the Mississippi River, to what is now Oklahoma, hundreds of miles away. In cruel winter conditions, many died. The forced march westward became infamous as the Trail of Tears.

The injustices committed against Native Americans are further confirmed by the words of the American general George Crook, who had hunted down the Sioux and the Cheyenne in the north. He said: "The Indians’ side of the case is rarely ever heard. . . . Then when the [Indian] outbreak does come public attention is turned to the Indians, their crimes and atrocities are alone condemned, while the persons whose injustice has driven them to this course escape scot-free . . . No one knows this fact better than the Indian, therefore he is excusable in seeing no justice in a government which only punishes him, while it allows the white man to plunder him as he pleases."—Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

How are Native Americans faring today after more than a hundred years of domination by Europeans? Are they in danger of disappearing as a result of assimilation? What hope do they have for the future? The next article will consider these and other questions.

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A Tough Life for the Women

While the menfolk were the hunters and the warriors in most tribes, the women had endless tasks, including raising the children, planting and harvesting the grain, and pounding it into flour. Colin Taylor explains: "The major role of Plains women . . . was one of maintaining the established household, bearing children and preparing the food. In the horticultural societies they also tended the fields, . . . while, in the case of the nomadic buffalo-hunting western tribes, they helped butcher the animal, brought the meat into camp and subsequently prepared the meat and hides for future use."—The Plains Indians.

Another source says regarding the Apache people: "Farm work was women’s work and there was nothing degrading or menial about it. Men helped out, but women took a more serious view of farming than men. . . . Women always knew how to keep up with the agricultural rituals. . . . Most women prayed while irrigating the land."—The Native Americans—An Illustrated History.

Women also made the temporary dwellings called tepees, which usually lasted about two years. They raised them and dismantled them when the tribe had to move. Without a doubt, the women led hard lives. But so did their menfolk as guardians of the tribe. The women were respected and had many rights. In some tribes, such as the Hopi, even today property is held by the women.

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An Animal That Changed Their World

The Europeans introduced one animal into North America that changed the life-style of many tribes—the horse. In the 17th century, the Spanish became the first to bring horses to the continent. Native Americans became brilliant bareback riders, as the invading Europeans soon discovered. With horses, the natives were able to hunt the bison much more easily. And the nomadic tribes were better able to raid their neighbor tribes living in fixed villages and thus pick up plunder, women, and slaves.

[Map/Picture on page 7]

The 17th-century locations of some of the tribes in North America

Kutenai

Spokan

Nez Perce

Shoshone

Klamath

Northern Paiute

Miwok

Yokuts

Serrano

Mohave

Papago

Blackfoot

Flathead

Crow

Ute

Hopi

Navajo

Jicarilla

Apache

Mescalero

Lipan

Plains Cree

Assiniboin

Hidatsa

Mandan

Arikara

Teton

Cheyenne

Sioux

Yankton

Pawnee

Arapaho

Oto

Kansa

Kiowa

Comanche

Wichita

Tonkawa

Atakapa

Yanktonai

Santee

Iowa

Missouri

Osage

Quapaw

Caddo

Choctaw

Ojibwa

Sauk

Fox

Kickapoo

Miami

Illinois

Chickasaw

Alabama

Ottawa

Potawatomi

Erie

Shawnee

Cherokee

Catawba

Creek

Timucua

Algonquian

Huron

Iroquois

Susquehanna

Delaware

Powhatan

Tuscarora

Micmac

Malecite

Abnaki

Sokoki

Massachuset

Wampanoag

Narragansett

Mohegan

Montauk

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Artistic Navajo weaving and jewelry

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Canyon de Chelly, where the "Long Walk" began

*** g96 9/8 pp. 12-16 What Does Their Future Hold? ***

IN AN interview with Awake!, Cheyenne peace chief Lawrence Hart said that one of the problems affecting Indians "is that we’re faced with the forces of acculturation and assimilation. For example, we are losing our language. At one time this was a deliberate government policy. Great efforts were made to ‘civilize’ us through education. We were sent to boarding schools and prohibited from speaking our native tongues." Sandra Kinlacheeny recalls: "If I spoke Navajo at my boarding school, the teacher washed my mouth out with soap!"

Chief Hart continues: "One encouraging factor lately is that there has been an awakening by different tribes. They realize that their languages will become extinct unless an effort is made to preserve them."

Only ten people remain who speak Karuk, a language of one of the California tribes. In January 1996, Red Thunder Cloud (Carlos Westez), the last Indian who spoke the Catawba language, died at the age of 76. He had had no one to speak to in that language for many years.

At the Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona, nearly everybody speaks Navajo or Hopi and English. Even non-Indian Witnesses are learning the Navajo language. The Witnesses need to know Navajo in order to do their Bible educational work, as many Navajo are proficient only in their own tongue. The Hopi and Navajo languages are still very much alive, and the young people are being encouraged to use them at school.

Native American Education

There are 29 Indian colleges in the United States, with 16,000 students. The first opened in Arizona in 1968. "This is one of the most wonderful revolutions in Indian Country, the right to educate on our own terms," said Dr. David Gipp, of the American Indian Higher Education Committee. At the Sinte Gleska University, the Lakota language is a required subject.

According to Ron McNeil (Hunkpapa Lakota), president of the American Indian College Fund, unemployment figures for Native Americans range from 50 percent to 85 percent, and Indians have the lowest life expectancy and the highest rates of diabetes, tuberculosis, and alcoholism of any group in the United States. Better education is just one of the measures that may help.

Sacred Lands

To many Native Americans, their ancestral lands are sacred. As White Thunder said to a senator: "Our land here is the dearest thing on earth to us." When making treaties and agreements, Indians often assumed that these were for the white man’s use of their land but not for outright possession and ownership of it. The Sioux Indian tribes lost valuable land in the Black Hills of Dakota in the 1870’s, when miners flooded in, looking for gold. In 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the U.S. government to pay about $105 million in compensation to eight Sioux tribes. To date the tribes have refused to accept the payment—they want their sacred land, the Black Hills of South Dakota, to be returned.

Many Sioux Indians are not pleased to see the faces of white presidents carved on Mount Rushmore, in the Black Hills. On a nearby mountain, sculptors are creating an even bigger carving. It is of Crazy Horse, the Oglala Sioux war leader. The face will be completed by June 1998.

Today’s Challenges

To survive in the modern world, Native Americans have had to adapt in various ways. Many now have a good education and are college trained, with abilities that they can put to good use in the tribal context. One example is soft-spoken Burton McKerchie, a Chippewa from Michigan. He has filmed documentaries for the Public Broadcasting Service and now works at a high school on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona, coordinating college video classroom sessions across the state. Another example is Ray Halbritter, a Harvard-educated tribal leader of the Oneida nation.

Arlene Young Hatfield, writing in the Navajo Times, commented that the young Navajo do not have the experiences or make the sacrifices that their parents and grandparents did as they were growing up. She wrote: "Because of [modern] conveniences they have not ever gathered or chopped wood, hauled water, or tended sheep like their ancestors. They do not contribute to our family’s livelihood as children did long ago." She concludes: "It is impossible to escape the many social problems that will inevitably influence our children. We cannot isolate our families, or the reservation from the rest of the world, nor can we return to the life that our forefathers had."

Therein lies the challenge for Native Americans—how to hold on to their unique tribal traditions and values while adapting to the rapidly changing world outside.

Fighting Drugs and Alcohol

To this day, alcoholism ravages Native American society. Dr. Lorraine Lorch, who has served the Hopi and Navajo population as a pediatrician and general practitioner for 12 years, said in an interview with Awake!: "Alcoholism is a severe problem for men and women alike. Strong bodies fall victim to cirrhosis, accidental death, suicide, and homicide. It is sad to see alcoholism take priority over children, spouse, and even God. Laughter is changed to tears, gentleness to violence." She added: "Even some of the ceremonies, once held sacred by the Navajo and the Hopi, are now at times profaned by drunkenness and lewdness. Alcohol robs these beautiful people of their health, their intelligence, their creativity, and their true personality."

Philmer Bluehouse, a peacemaker in the Justice Department of the Navajo nation, at Window Rock, Arizona, euphemistically described the abuse of drugs and alcohol as "self-medication." This abuse serves to drown the sorrows and to help one to escape the harsh reality of a life without work and often without purpose.

However, many Native Americans have successfully fought the "demon" drink that was introduced by the white man and have struggled to gain victory over drug addiction. Two examples are Clyde and Henrietta Abrahamson, from the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. Clyde is of stocky build, with dark hair and eyes. He explained to Awake!:

"We had grown up on the reservation most of our lives, and then we moved to the city of Spokane to attend college. We did not care for our life-style, which involved alcohol and drugs. This kind of life was all we knew. We grew up hating these two influences because of the problems we had seen them cause in the family.

"Then we came into contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses. We had never heard of them before we went to the city. Our progress was slow. Perhaps it was because we did not really trust people whom we did not know, especially white people. We had about three years of hit-and-miss Bible studies. The hardest habit for me to quit was marijuana smoking. I had smoked since I was 14 years old, and I was 25 before I tried to quit. I was high most of my young adult life. In 1986, I read the article in the January 22 issue of Awake! entitled "Everyone Else Smokes Pot—Why Shouldn’t I?" It made me think how stupid smoking pot is—especially after I read Proverbs 1:22, which says: ‘How long will you inexperienced ones keep loving inexperience, and how long must you ridiculers desire for yourselves outright ridicule, and how long will you stupid ones keep hating knowledge?’

"I broke the habit, and in the spring of 1986, Henrietta and I were married. We were baptized in November 1986. In 1993, I became an elder in the congregation. Both of our daughters were baptized as Witnesses in 1994."

Are Casinos and Gambling an Answer?

In 1984 there was no Indian-run gambling in the United States. According to The Washington Post, this year 200 tribes have 220 gambling operations in 24 states. Outstanding exceptions are the Navajo and the Hopi, who have resisted the temptation so far. But are casinos and bingo halls the pathway to prosperity and more employment for the reservations? Philmer Bluehouse told Awake!: "Gambling is a two-edged sword. The question is, Will it benefit more people than it harms?" One report states that Indian casinos have created 140,000 jobs nationwide but points out that only 15 percent of these are held by Indians.

Cheyenne chief Hart gave Awake! his opinion on how casinos and gambling affect the reservations. He said: "My feelings are ambivalent. The only good thing is that it brings jobs and income to the tribes. On the other hand, I’ve observed that a lot of the customers are our own people. Some I know have got hooked on bingo, and they leave home early to go there, even before the children come home from school. Then these become latchkey children until their parents return from playing bingo.

"The major problem is that the families think that they are going to win and increase their income. Generally they don’t; they lose. I’ve seen them spend money that had been set aside for groceries or for clothing for the children."

What Does the Future Hold?

Tom Bahti explains that there are two popular approaches when discussing the future of the Southwestern tribes. "The first flatly predicts the imminent disappearance of native cultures into the mainstream of American life. The second is more vague . . . It speaks gently of the acculturative process, suggesting a thoughtful blending of ‘the best of the old with the best of the new,’ a sort of golden cultural sunset in which the Indian may remain quaint in his crafts, colorful in his religion and wise in his philosophy—but still reasonable enough in his relations with us (the superior [white man’s] culture) to see things our way."

Bahti then asks a question. "Change is inevitable, but who will change and for what purpose? . . . We [the white men] have a disturbing habit of regarding all other peoples as merely undeveloped Americans. We assume they must be dissatisfied with their way of life and anxious to live and think as we do."

He continues: "One thing is certain—the story of the American Indian is not yet finished, but how it will end or if it will end remains to be seen. There is still time, perhaps, to begin to think of our remaining Indian communities as valuable cultural resources rather than simply as perplexing social problems."

Life in a New World of Harmony and Justice

From the Bible’s viewpoint, Jehovah’s Witnesses know what the future can be for Native Americans and for people of all nations, tribes, and languages. Jehovah God has promised to create "new heavens and a new earth."—Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1, 3, 4.

This promise does not mean a new planet. As Native Americans know only too well, this earth is a jewel when respected and treated properly. Rather, Bible prophecy indicates a new heavenly rulership to replace mankind’s exploitative governments. The earth will be transformed into a paradise with restored forests, plains, rivers, and wildlife. All people will share unselfishly in the stewardship of the land. Exploitation and greed will prevail no more. There will be an abundance of good food and upbuilding activities.

And with the resurrection of the dead, all the injustices of the past will be annulled. Yes, even the Anasazi (Navajo for "ancient ones"), the ancestors of many of the Pueblo Indians, who reside in Arizona and New Mexico, will return to have the opportunity of life everlasting here on a restored earth. Also, those leaders famous in Indian history—Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Tecumseh, Manuelito, Chiefs Joseph and Seattle—and many others may return in that promised resurrection. (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15) What a wonderful prospect God’s promises offer for them and for all who serve him now!

[Picture on page 15]

Typical Navajo hogan, made of timber covered with earth

[Picture on page 15]

Model of Crazy Horse, basis for sculpture on the mountain in the background

[Credit Line]

Photo by Robb DeWall, courtesy Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation (nonprofit)

[Picture on page 15]

Hopi and Navajo Witnesses in Keams Canyon, Arizona, meet at their Kingdom Hall, a former trading post

[Picture on page 16]

Anasazi dwellings from over 1,000 years ago (Mesa Verde, Colorado)

[Picture on page 16]

Geronimo (1829-1909), famous Apache chief

[Credit Line]

Courtesy Mercaldo Archives/Dictionary of American Portraits/Dover

*** w97 8/15 pp. 23-25 Pasturage for Sheeplike Ones in Navajo Land ***

HÓZHÓNÍ, in the language of the Navajo Indians, means "beautiful," and that is how the Navajo people describe their land. Since 1868 the United States government has apportioned to the Navajo some 24,000 square miles [62,000 sq km] of reservation land in northeastern Arizona, around what is called four corners, where the four states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. Monument Valley, made famous by Western movies, is now preserved as a Navajo Tribal Park and attracts tourists from all over the world. The valley features spectacular thousand-foot-high [300 m] red sandstone monoliths that tower in splendid isolation over the high desert plains. Aptly, the Navajo term for the valley means "the space between the rocks."

The Navajo people as a whole are known for their humble manners, warm hospitality, and close-knit extended families. The 170,000 residents on the reservation live mainly in isolated settlements, following traditional ways. Some still raise sheep and occupy earth-covered log huts called hogans. Navajo arts and crafts have gained widespread popularity. Especially prized are their rugs and blankets with colorful geometric or traditional designs, woven from sheep’s wool. Equally well-known is the Navajo silver jewelry with turquoise and other natural materials.

Bringing the Good News to Navajo Land

For more than 30 years, Jehovah’s Witnesses have come to Navajo land not just to sightsee but also to bring the good news of God’s Kingdom to the people in this remote area. (Matthew 24:14) Regular and special pioneer ministers of Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken the lead in the preaching work. Many of them have come in response to calls from traveling overseers and local Witnesses to help where the need has been greater. Some have come from congregations nearby, while others, including members of different Native American tribes, have come from various parts of the United States.

These self-sacrificing men and women have compared their ministry here to a missionary assignment. Why? First of all, the native languages are extremely difficult to learn because of their complex sounds, structure, and expressions. Then, the native people, in large measure, have clung to their traditional ways in religion, family structure, and living close to the land. In addition, housing and work are scarce for non-Indians, making it hard for those who have moved in to remain here. Finally, the long history of mistreatment of these people at the hands of the white man has understandably instilled in them a degree of distrust of outsiders.

At first, when the Witnesses went calling from house to house dressed up and wearing neckties, they were mistaken for Mormons, and many would not open the door. When they switched to wearing more casual attire, they were welcomed in, often for an hour or more. Now the people recognize Jehovah’s Witnesses, even though business attire is once again used in the ministry.

Just getting to the people who live on the Navajo reservation is a real challenge. Driving many miles over unmarked roads that may be rocky, sandy, and muddy is the norm. Naturally, this puts extra wear and tear on the vehicles and the passengers. Vehicles may also get stuck, but passersby are usually ready to lend a helping hand. Calling on interested ones, going to a home Bible study, or taking someone to a Christian meeting often requires a round-trip of several hours. But the Witnesses willingly expend themselves, thus demonstrating their love for the native people.—Compare 1 Thessalonians 2:8.

The Navajo enjoy having Bible discussions. Usually they will gather together the whole family—children, parents, and grandparents—to hear about the hope of a future paradise home for mankind. When asked what he thought Paradise would be like, one Navajo man answered, "Green, with lots of sheep," reflecting their love of the land and their flocks. They also appreciate Bible literature, showing this at times by donating beads, a bar of soap, canned milk, and the like in support of the Kingdom ministry. One special pioneer obtained some 200 subscriptions to the Watchtower and Awake! magazines in a year, including two from a man on horseback.

Setting Up a "Sheep Camp"

When summer comes, it is time for a Navajo shepherd to move his or her flock to a sheep camp. This summer home for the sheep, chosen for its proximity to green pastures and a good water source, helps the flock to thrive. In a figurative sense, a Kingdom Hall can be likened to such a camp—a spiritual pasturage and a source of waters of truth. People who come can find spiritual nourishment that makes them spiritually healthy and strong.

For some time, meetings were held in a school classroom in Kayenta, Arizona. Then in August 1992, with the help of hundreds of Witness volunteers from several states, a new Kingdom Hall was built in Kayenta. This Kingdom Hall and several others in the region impart a sense of permanence to the preaching work in the minds of the local people. Other Kingdom Halls serving this vast territory include those in Tuba City and Chinle, both on the reservation, one in Keams Canyon on Hopi tribal land within the Navajo reservation, and several others in towns bordering the reservation. What has been the outcome?

Overwhelming Response to the Kingdom Message

In Kayenta more than a dozen local people have been baptized since the Kingdom Hall was built, indicating Jehovah’s blessing on this place of true worship. The hall gives evidence that Jehovah’s Witnesses are here to stay and builds confidence in the Kingdom good news they preach. Recently the first public Bible discourse in the Navajo language was given there. The 40 members of the congregation were pleased to welcome 245 to the talk on the responsibilities of parenthood. With appreciative hearts, one family of eight traveled three hours each way to hear this talk—their first visit ever to a Kingdom Hall.

Another useful tool that Jehovah has provided is the brochure Enjoy Life on Earth Forever! in the Navajo language. Translating the brochure into Navajo, an extremely complex language, posed a formidable challenge. The translators collectively spent more than 1,000 hours to ensure that the brochure properly conveys the Kingdom message. Since its release in late 1995, local Witnesses have placed several thousand copies of it, resulting in dozens of Bible studies with truth seekers.

Increasingly, the Navajo language is being used in the ministry as Kingdom publishers learn it. Congregations in the area have begun to use Navajo in the Theocratic Ministry School, and Navajo language classes are held to train the publishers. In addition, the program at local assemblies is also translated into Navajo. All these efforts will surely lead to even greater response on the reservation.

Not to be overlooked among the Kingdom fruitage on this Indian reservation are the sterling spiritual qualities manifested by our Navajo brothers. For seven years, Jimmy and Sandra brought their five children 75 miles [120 km] each way to attend the weekly meetings. The family has fond memories of singing Kingdom songs and studying the Bible together during their long journeys. The parents’ love and zeal for the truth motivated the children to follow their example in becoming dedicated praisers of Jehovah. Four of them now serve as regular pioneers, and Jimmy is an elder. To add to this family’s joy, Jimmy’s sister Elsie recently became the first person who speaks only Navajo to be baptized.

Local shepherds and their flocks add a touch of pastoral serenity to the stone monuments that adorn the Navajo reservation. The prophet Isaiah long ago foretold of Jehovah: "Like a shepherd he will shepherd his own drove. With his arm he will collect together the lambs; and in his bosom he will carry them. Those giving suck he will conduct with care." (Isaiah 40:11) Through his Fine Shepherd, Jesus Christ, Jehovah is gathering into his spiritual pasturage all those on the Navajo reservation who desire to hear the Kingdom good news and to come in line for his everlasting blessing.

[Footnote]

See May 8, 1948; February 22, 1952; June 22, 1954; and September 8, 1996, issues of Awake!

[Picture on page 24]

Navajo shepherdess hears the good news

*** w86 6/1 p. 4 Have You Found the Key? ***

Remember, too, the Roman Catholic conquistadores who carried their religion to the New World. They must have had a strong faith and a fierce zeal to accomplish what they did. But it was certainly not tempered by love. Otherwise, they would never have robbed, tortured, raped, and killed the native inhabitants of the American continents.

*** g04 11/8 pp. 20-23 I Was a Kickapoo Spiritual Leader ***

AS TOLD BY BOB LEE WHITE, SR.

I was born in a wickiup, a small, Native American frame hut covered with a matting of tree bark and cattail reeds, at McLoud, Oklahoma, U.S.A., in 1935. My Kickapoo Indian name is Pay-MEE-Ton-Wah, which means "Water That Goes By." I was introduced to an Indian spiritual life as a little boy. How did that come about?

FOR many years my mother’s father, like his father before him, was the spiritual leader of a Kickapoo tribe of the Water clan of Native Americans in Oklahoma. When he died without a son, the 12 clan leaders, or elders, determined that the oldest son of the oldest daughter of their fallen spiritual leader should fill that vacancy. I was that son.

How I Became a Spiritual Leader

Normally a new spiritual leader would not take up that role until he was 30 years of age and then only after a period of fasting, during which time he would see visions or otherwise become enlightened for carrying out the spiritual functions. From the time I was a little boy, I was taught the traditional religion of the Kickapoo. I inherited the religious garments and the MEE-shon, or sacred bundle. Sometimes called a medicine bundle, it is a collection of religious articles wrapped in animal skin. About two feet [60 cm] long, it resembles an oval-shaped American or rugby football. I spent much time in the most holy compartment of their spiritual tent, where I listened to the revelations of tribal leaders. Thus as a youngster I became the new spiritual leader of the Kickapoo tribe.

All these details were vividly impressed on my young mind. Since none of these secrets were written down, the religious traditions of many generations were now entrusted solely to me. If the clan leaders back then had their way, I would have stayed right there with the tribe, officiating over every spiritual function until this day.

However, I went away to school in Kansas. This worried the older men, as they feared losing me to "the white man’s world." After leaving school, I went to Los Angeles, California, where I was reunited with my childhood sweetheart, Diane. Her Indian name is Tu-NO-Thak-Quah, or Turning Bear, of the Bear clan. Our mothers and grandfathers had been longtime friends. We were married in September 1956. Diane had a religious background too. Her grandfather introduced the Peyote religion into the Kickapoo tribe.—See the box on page 22.

The Peyote Religion

The Peyote religion is found in many different Indian tribes today. It was Quanah Parker (about 1845-1911), a spiritual leader and chief of the Comanche Kwahadi division, who "was influential in the development and diffusion of the peyote religion in Indian Territory." (The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions) By enthusiastically proclaiming the hallucinogenic virtues and supposed medicinal powers of the peyote cactus, he gained converts to Peyotism from many North American Indian tribes. Thus, among the Kickapoo, as in other tribes, the traditional religion and Peyotism existed side by side.

Attracted to Hollywood

While in the Los Angeles area, I became quite active in Indian social clubs and societies, becoming president of several of them. Among these were the Drum and Feather Club, the Indian Bowling Association, and the National Indian Athletic Association. I was also on the board of directors of the Indian Center in Los Angeles.

I made my way into Hollywood circles. Among my acquaintances were Iron Eyes Cody, well-known for television public-service announcements about ecology, and Jay Silverheels, who played the Indian named Tonto in the TV series The Lone Ranger. Most notable of the movies I appeared in were Westward Ho, the Wagons! starring Fess Parker, and Pardners, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

Both Diane and I worked at Disneyland for a while. I acted in ten-minute skits every hour throughout the day. Diane says with a smile: "All I had to do was dress up and walk around among the crowd all day ‘acting’ like an Indian."

A Different Spiritual Approach

In 1962, Diane was contacted by one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and was given a small booklet. The Witness kept coming back, but Diane kept giving her excuses. When the Witness asked if she really wanted her to stop calling, Diane thought to herself, ‘Yes! Yes!’ But wanting to be kind, she said: "Oh, no! No!" So the visits continued. She always told me what she had learned. When she sometimes forgot to mention it, I would ask: "Did that Jehovah’s Witness lady come by? What did she say?"

On one occasion the lady told Diane of a special talk at a meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses at the Los Angeles Forum. She offered to watch our four children while we went to hear the talk. Thinking that I would never go, Diane even failed to mention it to me. But after persistent urging from the Witness, she did. To her surprise I said: "You mean she’ll stay here and watch our kids and feed them? This white woman?"

Thus we went to our first meeting in 1969. I did not understand everything that was presented from the platform. However, what really impressed me was the organization—how 20,000 people could be fed lunch in such a short time through their volunteer cafeteria arrangement. I also noticed the lack of racial prejudice—black people and white people calling one another brother and sister.

In August of 1969, the Witnesses started a Bible study with me in the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. I admit that I had ulterior motives when I agreed to study the Bible. I was in a number of Indian organizations, and I saw a political career in my future. I thought I should get to know the Bible because the politicians seemed to know it and quote from it. Now I realize how little many of those men really knew about God’s Word.

A Big Change in My Life

Once I began to study the Bible, things progressed rapidly. I resigned from all the clubs and associations I had joined, and I knew I had to sever ties with my former Native American religion. I recall sitting down to write my letter of withdrawal. I put the date at the top of the page, wrote "Dear," and then paused for a long time, trying to figure out whose name to write. I finally realized that the letter should be written to the traditional spiritual leader—me! I quickly resolved this quandary by writing "Dear Mom." I then proceeded to inform my mother that I would no longer be practicing that religion or serving as its spiritual leader.

Both my wife and I were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses on January 3, 1970. In 1973, I became an elder in the congregation. There I was, a former Kickapoo spiritual leader, now taking the lead in our local congregation in true worship of Jehovah, the Universal Sovereign. In July 1974 we moved back to McLoud, Oklahoma, in an effort to help the Native Americans learn the true hope for all mankind, as set forth in God’s Word, the Bible.

Like other tribes, the Kickapoo used tobacco in their worship. Interestingly, they did not smoke it. The Kickapoo sprinkled tobacco on the fire as incense, believing that their prayers would go up to the heavens by means of the resulting smoke. The oldest leaders among the Kickapoo felt that it was malicious to smoke tobacco, that using a pipe to do so was a mockery, and that the use of a pipe had European origins.

I have been asked if I have any pictures of myself in my former religious dress. Actually, there were never any pictures allowed because of fear of what practicers of witchcraft could do with them. Throughout those years, when my hair was cut, it was always buried, and no one else was allowed to touch it. Thus it could not be used in witchcraft, which is taken very seriously by the Indians.

After I withdrew from the Kickapoo religion, the clan leaders took over the spiritual functions of the tribe. When the 12 who originally selected me died off, new clan leaders arose, and in the course of time, they have made changes in the religion. At present, only one clan leader is still living, and he is quite old. I have no intention of passing on to others what I was taught as a little boy.

I am now busy endeavoring to teach God’s Word to people of all nations and tribes. As a full-time pioneer minister, I have had the privilege of teaching the Bible on many Indian reservations throughout the United States. I have visited, among others, the Osage in Oklahoma and the Mohave, Hopi, and Navajo in Arizona. I enjoy telling my fellow Native Americans that the "Happy Hunting Ground," an expression long used by us to refer to the hope of life after death, draws attention to "ground." Therefore, the implication is that they are really anticipating living here on earth rather than in heaven. I look forward to the resurrection of many Indians of past generations so that I might have opportunity to teach them about God’s new world.—John 5:28, 29; 2 Peter 3:13.

[Footnotes]

The name Kickapoo comes from the word kiikaapoa, "people who move about."—Encyclopedia of North American Indians.

Published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

[Box/Picture on page 22]

What Is the Peyote Religion?

The Peyote religion has now come to be known as the Native American Church. Peyote is a small spineless cactus (see right) found principally in the Rio Grande valley in Mexico and also in Texas. The Peyote religion has over 200,000 members in the North American tribes. "Originating in prehistoric Mexico, Peyotism today incorporates elements of Christianity while remaining a pan-Indian affair." (A Native American Encyclopedia—History, Culture, and Peoples) The two primary ceremonies in the Peyote religion are the Half-Moon and the Big Moon. Both incorporate "aspects of Indian culture and Christianity." The peyote ceremony is an all-night ceremony, usually begun on a Saturday, wherein a group of men sit in a circle in a tepee. They experience hallucinations while eating quantities of bitter-tasting buds or nodules of the peyote cactus and chanting sacred songs to the beating of a drum and the rhythmic rattle of a gourd.

[Credit Line]

Courtesy TAMU Cactus Photo Gallery

[Picture on page 21]

Dressed as a Kickapoo warrior

[Picture on page 23]

With my wife, Diane, today

*** g01 7/8 pp. 20-24 God’s Name Changed My Life! ***

AS TOLD BY SANDY YAZZIE TSOSIE

TRYING to hide, my sisters and I were under the bed giggling and hitting each other when the Mormons knocked at our door. When I finally answered the door, I rudely told them that we were traditional Navajo and did not want them talking to us about any white man’s religion.

Our parents had gone to the trading post for necessities. They were due back at sunset. On their return they learned that I had been rude to the Mormons. They gave me good counsel never to treat anyone with disrespect again. We were taught to treat people with respect and kindness. I remember when an unexpected visitor arrived one day. My parents had cooked a meal outdoors. They hospitably invited the visitor to eat first, and then we ate afterward.

Life on the Reservation

We lived at Howell Mesa, Arizona, nine miles northwest of the Hopi Indian Reservation, far away from congested cities and towns. This is in the southwestern United States, where there is spectacular desert scenery, punctuated by unusual red sandstone formations. There are many mesas—high, steep-walled plateaus. From these we could watch our sheep graze five miles in the distance. How I loved the serenity of this country, my homeland!

During high school I became very close to my cousins who supported the American Indian Movement (AIM). I was very proud of being a Native American and voiced my opinions to white people about the decades of oppression, which I believed were caused by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Unlike my cousins, I did not openly display my hatred. I kept it secret in my heart. That led me to hate anyone who possessed a Bible.

I reasoned that it was because of the Bible that the white people had the power to take away our land and rights and our freedom to practice our own sacred rites! I even forged my father’s signature to get out of the Protestant and Catholic religious ceremonies when we were forced to attend church during my boarding school days. Those schools were intended to assimilate us and make us forget our Indian heritage. We were not even allowed to speak our own language!

We had a deep respect for nature and our surroundings. Each morning we faced the east, uttered our prayers, and gave thanks by sprinkling the sacred corn pollen. This was my formal training in worship the Navajo way, and I wholeheartedly accepted it with pride. Christendom’s idea of going to heaven did not appeal to me, nor did I believe in a fiery torment in hell. My heart was set on living on the earth.

During school vacations I enjoyed my close-knit family. Cleaning the hogan—our Navajo dwelling—weaving, and caring for the sheep were my daily routine. We Navajo have been sheepherders for centuries. Each time I cleaned our hogan (see photo below), I noticed a little red book that contained the Bible book of Psalms and several books of the "New Testament." I kicked it here and there, never giving any thought to its contents and meaning. But I never got rid of it.

Marriage—Illusion and Disillusion

After graduation from high school, I planned to attend trade school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. However, I met my husband-to-be before I left. I returned to the Navajo reservation, which we call the Rez, to marry. My parents had been married for many years. I wanted to follow in their footsteps, so I married. I loved being a homemaker and enjoyed our domestic life, especially with the birth of our son, Lionel. My husband and I were very happy—until one day when I heard heartbreaking news!

My husband had another woman! Our marriage was shattered by his infidelity. I fell apart and became very hateful toward him. I wanted revenge! But during the course of our divorce battles over our son and financial support, I simply became sad, feeling worthless and without hope. I used to run for miles to ease my grief. I broke down in tears readily and lost my appetite. I felt totally alone.

Some time later, I started a relationship with a man who had similar marital problems. We were both hurting. He showed me fellow feeling and provided the emotional support I needed. I told him of my innermost thoughts and feelings about life. He listened, which showed me that he cared. We made plans to get married.

Then I found out that he too was unfaithful! As difficult and painful as it was, I forced him out of my life. I felt rejected and deeply depressed. I became bitterly angry, revengeful, and suicidal. I made two attempts to end my life. I just wanted to die.

My First Inkling of a True God

I shed many tears while praying to a God whom I did not know. Yet, I tended to believe that there was a Supreme Being who had created the awesome universe. I was intrigued with the beautiful sunsets and meditated on how wonderful that Someone was to allow us to enjoy these marvels. I grew to love that person whom I did not know. I started saying to him: "God, if you really exist, help me, give me direction, and make me happy again."

Meanwhile, my family was worried, especially my father. My parents hired medicine men to heal me. My father said that a good medicine man would never quote you a price, and he would practice what he preached. To please my parents, I went through the Navajo Blessing Way religious ceremonies on several occasions.

I spent days secluded in the hogan with only a radio by my bedside. I listened with abhorrence to a clergyman’s condemnation because I didn’t accept Jesus in my heart. I was so turned off! I had had it with the white man’s religion and even with my own religion! I made up my mind to find God in my own way.

During my seclusion I noticed that little red book again. I discovered that it was part of the Bible. By reading the Psalms, I learned about King David’s sufferings and depression, and I felt comforted. (Psalm 38:1-22; 51:1-19) However, because of my pride, I quickly dismissed everything I read. I would not accept the white man’s religion.

Despite my depression, I managed to take good care of my son. He became my source of encouragement. I started watching religious TV programs that offered prayers. I picked up the phone and made a desperate call to an 800 number for help. I slammed the phone down when I was told to make a pledge of $50 or $100!

The divorce court trials depressed me, especially seeing my husband not being truthful to the tribal judge. It took a long time to finalize our divorce because of battles to get custody of our son. But I won. My father, without a word, lovingly supported me during the trials. He saw that I was deeply hurt.

My First Contact With the Witnesses

I decided to take life one day at a time. On one occasion I noticed a Navajo family talking to my neighbors. I could not resist spying on them. The visitors were involved with some type of door-to-door work. They came to my home also. Sandra, a Navajo, identified herself as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The name Jehovah caught my attention more than anything else. I said: "Who is Jehovah? You must be a new religion. Why was I not taught God’s name in church?"

She kindly opened her Bible to Psalm 83:18, which says: "That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." She explained that God has a personal name and that his Son, Jesus Christ, was a witness for Jehovah. She offered to teach me about Jehovah and Jesus and left me the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. Excited, I said: "Yes. I would like to try this new religion!"

I finished the book overnight. Its contents were new and different. It explained that life has a purpose, and it was what I needed to rekindle my interest in life. I started studying the Bible, and to my delight, many of my questions were answered from the Bible. I believed everything that I learned. It made sense, and it had to be the truth!

I started teaching Bible truth to Lionel when he was six years old. We prayed together. We encouraged each other with the thought that Jehovah cared and that we needed to trust him. Sometimes I had no strength to cope. Yet, his little arms around me, together with the confident and reassuring comment, "Don’t cry, Mummy, Jehovah will take care of us," made a world of difference. How that comforted me and gave me determination to continue studying the Bible! I prayed incessantly for guidance.

The Effect of Christian Meetings

Our appreciation for Jehovah inspired us to travel 150 miles [240 km] round trip to attend the meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Tuba City. We attended twice a week during the summer and all day on Sunday during the winter months because of the inclement weather. On one occasion when our car broke down, we hitchhiked to the Kingdom Hall. The long drives were tiring, but a comment Lionel made that we should never miss a meeting unless we were dying impressed upon me the importance of not taking for granted spiritual instruction from Jehovah.

At the meetings my tears flowed easily when we sang Kingdom songs that emphasized living forever without life’s miseries. I drew comfort and encouragement from Jehovah’s Witnesses. They followed the course of hospitality by inviting us to their homes for lunch and refreshments, and we participated in their family Bible studies. They showed an interest in us and listened. The elders in particular played a key role in empathizing with us and reinforcing our conviction that Jehovah God cared. I was happy to gain real friends. They were refreshing and even wept with me when I felt I could continue no longer.—Matthew 11:28-30.

Two Big Decisions

Just when I felt content with Jehovah’s provisions, my boyfriend returned to make amends. I still loved him and could not refuse his pleas. We made plans to get married. I thought that the truth would change him. That was the biggest mistake of my life! I was not happy. My conscience bothered me terribly. To my dismay, he did not want the truth.

I confided in one of the elders. He reasoned with me from the Scriptures and prayed with me over my decision. I concluded that Jehovah would never hurt me or cause me pain but that imperfect people would, no matter how much we adore them. In fact, I learned that there is no security in so-called common-law marriages. I made a decision. It was very difficult and painful to end this relationship. Even though I would be suffering financially, I needed to trust in Jehovah with all my heart.

I loved Jehovah and resolved to serve him. On May 19, 1984, I symbolized the dedication of my life to Jehovah God by water baptism. My son, Lionel, is also a baptized Witness of Jehovah. We received much persecution from my family and ex-husband, but we continued to put matters in Jehovah’s hands. We were not disappointed. My family calmed down and accepted our new way of life after 11 long years.

I love them very much, and all I want is for them to give Jehovah a chance so that they can be happy too. My father, who thought that he had lost me to depression and suicide, defended me courageously. He was content to see me happy again. I found that praying to Jehovah, attending the meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and applying God’s Word are vital to the healing process.

Hope for the Future

I look forward to a time when all traces of suffering, imperfection, falsehood, and hatred will be completely gone. I imagine our Navajo land blossoming with endless vegetation, with the peach and apricot trees that used to be here. I see the joy of different tribes taking part in transforming their arid homelands into a beautiful paradise with the help of rivers and rain. I see us sharing land with our Hopi neighbors and other tribes instead of being rivals as we have been in recent history. I now see how God’s Word unites all races, tribes, and clans. In the future I will see families and friends united with their dead loved ones by means of the resurrection. It will be a time of great rejoicing with everlasting life in view. I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to learn about this wonderful prospect.

Theocratic Expansion in the Land of the Navajo

It has been a thrill to see a Kingdom Hall in Tuba City and to watch the growth of four congregations on the Navajo and Hopi reservations—Chinle, Kayenta, Tuba City, and Keams Canyon. When I first enrolled in the Theocratic Ministry School in 1983, I only imagined that one day it would be conducted in Navajo. It is no longer a product of my imagination. Since 1998, the school has been conducted in the Navajo language.

Telling others that God has a personal name has brought endless blessings. Being able to read and share the faith-strengthening expressions in our own native tongue that are found in the brochures Nihookáá’gi Hooláágóó liná Bahózhoóodoo! (Enjoy Life on Earth Forever!), Ha’át’fíísh éí God Nihá yee Hool’a’? (What Does God Require of Us?), and the latest, Ni Éí God Bik’is Dííleelgo Át’é! (You Can Be God’s Friend!) is too overwhelming to explain in words. I am grateful to the faithful and discreet slave class for spearheading this Bible education work so that all nations and tribes and languages can benefit, including the Navajo people, the Diné.—Matthew 24:45-47.

I work full-time to support myself but enjoy the auxiliary pioneer service regularly. I appreciate my singleness and desire to serve Jehovah without distractions. I am content and happy to tell my people and others, especially those in despair, that "Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves."—Psalm 34:18.

I no longer feel that the Bible is the white man’s religion. God’s Word, the Bible, is for everyone who wishes to learn and apply it. When Jehovah’s Witnesses call on you, let them show you how to be truly happy. They are bringing you good news of God’s name, Jehovah, the name that changed my life! "Aoo,’ Diyin God bízhi’ Jiihóvah wolyé." ("Yes, God’s name is Jehovah.")

[Footnotes]

For detailed information on the Mormon religion, see Awake!, November 8, 1995.

AIM is a civil rights organization founded by a Native American in 1968. It is often critical of the BIA, which is a government agency established in 1824, ostensibly to promote the welfare of the nation’s Indians. The BIA often leased mineral, water, and other rights on the reservations to non-Indians.—World Book Encyclopedia.

Pollen is considered to be a sacred substance and is used in prayer and rituals, symbolizing life and renewal. Navajo believe that the body becomes holy when one travels over a trail sprinkled with pollen.—The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions.

Published by Jehovah’s Witnesses but now out of print.

For more information see the series "American Indians—What Does Their Future Hold?" in the September 8, 1996, issue of Awake!

[Picture on page 21]

A typical Navajo hogan

[Picture on page 21]

With my son, Lionel

[Picture on page 23]

With Russian friends at the international convention in Moscow in 1993

[Picture on page 24]

With my spiritual family in the Kayenta Congregation, Arizona

*** g99 5/8 p. 25 Native Americans and the Bible ***

EVER since Europeans invaded the Americas, many have tried to teach the Native Americans the Bible.

Since the 17th century, the complete Bible has been translated into six North American Indian languages. The first was John Eliot’s Bible, printed in 1663 for the Massachusett Indians near Boston and Roxbury, Massachusetts. Writing in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Harvey Markowitz states: "Though many historians now question the sincerity with which most of the colonists entered into [a] compact [that is, "to ‘civilize’ the New World’s ‘savages’"], the depth of Eliot’s commitment is witnessed by the fifteen years he toiled in learning Massachusett and devising an orthography to transcribe the Bible. Eliot viewed this difficult undertaking as ‘a sacred and holy work, to be regarded with fear, care, and reverence.’"

Although portions of the Bible were translated into other Native American languages, it took two hundred years before the next complete Bible was published, a version in Western Cree (1862) by associates of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Other translations soon followed: Eastern Arctic Inuit (1871); Dakota, or Eastern Sioux (1880); and Gwich’in, a subarctic American language (1898).

The latest complete Bible is the Navajo translation, published in 1985 after 41 years of preparation and collaboration between two Bible societies. Portions of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures now exist in at least 46 Indian languages.

Who Have Taken the Lead?

Markowitz says: "It is significant . . . that the work of translating the Bible has been an overwhelmingly Protestant endeavor." The same writer goes on to say that prior to the Second Vatican Council (1962), the Catholic Church "discouraged the dissemination of Bibles among the laity, believing that laypeople lacked the proper . . . training to achieve correct interpretations of biblical texts."

Various Bible societies are presently involved in at least 20 projects for translation into languages of the Native Americans of North America, including Cheyenne, Havasupai, Micmac, and Zuni. A new version of the Greek Scriptures is being prepared for the Navajo nation. Other translations are being prepared for the Indians of Central and South America.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not affiliated with any Protestant organizations. However, they are active among all the Native Americans, and as a result, many Native Americans are responding to the Bible’s truths regarding the "new heavens and a new earth," in which righteousness is to dwell. (2 Peter 3:13) The Witnesses are using the Bibles that are currently available in the native languages of the Americas. They also use Bible literature translated by the Watch Tower Society in several Native American tongues, including Aymara, Cree, Dakota, Guarani, Inuktitut, Iroquois, Navajo, Quechua, and nine other languages.—See Awake! of September 8, 1996.

[Picture on page 25]

"Jehovah" appears in the Navajo Bible at Psalm 68:4

*** g97 1/8 pp. 11-15 Music, Drugs, and Drink Were My Life ***

I AM a Native American. Father, who died four years ago, was Chippewa, from Sugar Island, Michigan, U.S.A. My mother, from Ontario, Canada, is of the Ottawa and Ojibwa Indian nations. Through my father I am a member of the Sault Sainte Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians. Because of the influence of the Catholic mission and boarding schools, we were raised Catholic, which meant attendance at Mass every Sunday.

My childhood on the Indian reservation was simple and happy. From a child’s viewpoint, the summers were long, lazy, and peaceful. We lived in a remote area—we had no running water and no indoor toilets, and we bathed in the lake or in a washtub. Our playground was the outdoors. Horses, cattle, and other farm animals were our toys. At the time, I wished the whole world could be like that forever.

The Challenges of Growing Up

When I grew older and went to public school, my visits to the reservation were infrequent. School, sports, and music began to occupy most of my time. As a teenager in the 1960’s, I was shaped by the spirit of the times. By the time I turned 13, drugs and alcohol were a regular part of my life. Rebellion against society was the fashion, and I hated everything that the system stood for. I couldn’t understand why people did inhumane things to one another.

About this time, I got my first guitar. Ours was a musical family. My father was a piano player and a tap dancer, and his brothers were also musically inclined. So when Dad and my uncles got together, we played jigs and had hoedowns till the early morning hours. I loved it. Soon, I learned to play the guitar and joined a rock-and-roll band. We performed at school dances and other events. That led to bars and nightclubs, which naturally meant more alcohol and drugs. Marijuana and methamphetamine (speed) were part of my life-style.

Military Service in Vietnam

By the time I was 19, I was married and an expectant father. At that same age, I was inducted into the U.S. Marines. It was all too much pressure for me. In order to handle it, I stayed stoned on drugs and alcohol 24 hours a day.

I was assigned to boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, and then to advanced infantry training at Camp Pendleton, California. I became a trained field wire and radio operator. This was at the end of 1969. Now, the real test was to come—service in Vietnam. Thus, at the age of 19, a few months out of high school, I found myself standing in the red dirt of Vietnam. As was true of so many Native Americans, patriotism had moved me to serve in spite of the injustices society had committed against us as members of a minority.

My first assignment was to the 1st Marine Air Wing, just outside Da Nang. About 50 men—boys, really—were responsible for maintaining the communications systems for the military compound. We covered the area from the DMZ (demilitarized zone) between North Vietnam and South Vietnam to about 50 miles [80 km] south of Da Nang.

Refugees were flocking to Da Nang, and shantytowns were springing up all around. There were also many orphanages. Seeing the young children, many maimed, had a deep impact on me. It struck me as strange that they were nearly all girls or small boys. I soon found out why. The boys from 11 years old and up were fighting in the war. Later, I met a young Vietnamese soldier, and I asked him how old he was. "Fourteen" was the answer. He had already been in combat for three years! This staggered me. He reminded me of my 14-year-old brother, except that my brother’s preoccupation was not killing but Little League baseball.

During my service in the marines, I began to have questions that needed answers. One night, I went to the church in our compound. The Catholic chaplain gave a sermon on Jesus, peace, and love! I wanted to scream. His sermon was contrary to everything that was happening there. After the ceremony I asked him how he could justify being a Christian and at the same time fighting in this war. His answer? "Well, Private, this is how we do our fighting for the Lord." I walked out and said to myself that I never wanted to have anything to do with the church again.

When my tour of duty ended, I knew I was fortunate to be alive; but mentally and morally I had suffered a great deal. Hearing, seeing, and smelling war and death on a daily basis left a deep impression on my young mind and heart. Even though it all happened over 25 years ago, the memories seem to be only a day old.

Struggle to Adapt to Civilian Life

On returning home, I started to put my heart into my music career. My personal life was a mess—I was married and had a child, and I was still consuming large quantities of drugs and alcohol. My relationship with my wife became tense, and the result was a divorce. That was probably the lowest point of my life. I started to isolate myself and found solace outdoors, trout fishing in remote areas of Minnesota and Upper Michigan.

In 1974, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, with the aim of advancing my music career as a guitarist and singer. I played in many nightclubs, always hoping to break into the mainstream of music. But it was a tough challenge—there were so many talented guitar players, all trying to make it to the big time.

However, just when it got to the point where things were really beginning to go my way and I smelled the possibility of professional success, something happened that shook me up.

Dangerous Life-Style

I went to visit an old acquaintance with whom I had had drug dealings. He greeted me at the door with a 12-gauge shotgun. He was in a partial body cast, and his mouth was wired shut because of a broken jaw. Speaking through his clenched teeth, he told me what had happened. Unknown to me, he was involved with a drug cartel in Nashville, and a large quantity of cocaine had disappeared. The drug barons pointed the finger at him. They sent enforcers, or thugs, to beat him up. They told him to return the cocaine or pay its $20,000 street value. Not only was he threatened but his wife and child were in jeopardy. He told me that it was not safe for me to be seen with him and that maybe I should leave. I took the hint and left.

This incident made me a little fearful for my life. Without realizing it, I had become part of a violent world. The majority of the people I knew in my music and drug circle carried a handgun. I had almost bought a .38 revolver for my own protection. I realized that the closer I got to the mainstream of the music industry, the higher the price to be paid. So, then, I decided to quit Nashville and was planning to go to Brazil to study Latin-American music.

Many Questions, Few Answers

In spite of my negative experiences with religion, I had a strong desire to worship God. And I still had unanswered questions. So I started my search for the truth. I attended various nondenominational church groups but remained dissatisfied. I recall one church I attended in Minnesota. The pastor cut the sermon short because the Minnesota Vikings football team was playing that day. He encouraged all of us to go home and pray for victory for the Vikings! I got up and walked out. Shallow thinking that relates God to superficial sports activities annoys me to this day.

While I was working in Duluth, Minnesota, a friend left a Watchtower magazine in my apartment. I read its discussion of Matthew chapter 24, and it all rang true. It made me think, ‘Who are these Jehovah’s Witnesses? Who is Jehovah?’ I did not get the answers until 1975. That same friend left me the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life and a Bible.

That night I read the book. By the end of the first chapter, I knew that I had found the truth. It was as if a veil had been removed from my mind. I completed the book, and the next day I went across the street to some Witness neighbors and asked them to study the Bible with me.

I abandoned my plans to travel to Brazil and started to attend the meetings at the Kingdom Hall. With Jehovah’s help, I quit drugs and alcohol cold turkey, breaking free after 12 years of dependence. Within a few months, I was participating in the house-to-house ministry.

However, there was a problem I had to face. I had never held a steady job, and the very idea of being tied down to a schedule was repugnant to me. Now I had to become a responsible person, since Debi had again entered my life. I had been dating her earlier; but she went on to college to study to be a teacher, and I was going to be a musician. Now she too accepted the Bible truth, and we were drawn to each other again. We got married and then were baptized as Witnesses in Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, Canada, in 1976. In time, we had four children—three boys and a girl.

To provide for my family, I opened up a music store and taught jazz improvisation and guitar. I also ran a small recording studio and occasionally played in supper clubs. Then, of all things, opportunities came my way to get back into the big-time professional music world. I was approached three times to play backup for famous recording artists. Here was my big chance—in fact, my third in two years. I was offered the opportunity to go to Los Angeles, California, to play with a well-known jazz group. But I knew it would mean going back to frequent travel, concerts, and recording sessions. I thought about the offer for about five seconds and respectfully said, "No thanks." Just remembering my past life of drugs, alcohol, and danger from thugs made me realize that it just wasn’t worth it. My new Christian life with my wife and children meant much more to me.

For several years I worked as a broadcast engineer for educational and documentary programs that were shown on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) television. In my present work, I coordinate video communication to the Hopi Reservation for a university in northern Arizona.

Back With My Own People

Twenty years have passed since I made my dedication to Jehovah God. I have also had twenty years of happy marriage. Debi, our son Dylan, aged 19, and our daughter, Leslie, aged 16, are all in full-time service. In fact, Dylan is now serving at the Watchtower Society’s printing and farm complex at Wallkill, New York. Our two younger boys, Casey, aged 12, and Marshall, 14, made their dedication to Jehovah and were baptized recently.

Three years ago we accepted the invitation to move where the need for Christian preaching was greater and came to Keams Canyon, Arizona, to serve among the Navajo and Hopi Indians. I am an elder in the congregation. It is a pleasure to be living once again among Native Americans. Because of the contrast between culture and living conditions here and those in typical American suburbia, we get the sense of being in missionary work. We left a large, comfortable home to come to live—six of us—in a much smaller mobile home. Life here is harder. Many homes have no indoor plumbing, only outdoor toilets. Some families travel miles in the winter just to get wood and coal. Water is hauled from community wells. Many roads are just dirt and are not marked on a map. As a child on the reservation, I took all of that in my stride. Now, my family and I appreciate how much hard work and energy are required just to do the necessary chores of daily life.

Even though Indians have their own jurisdiction on the reservations, they are still faced with the same problems that afflict all governments—internal conflicts, favoritism, lack of funds, misappropriated spending, and even crime among their officials and leaders. Indians face the scourges of alcoholism, drug abuse, unemployment, domestic abuse, and marriage and family problems. Some still blame the white man for their present situation, but the white man is afflicted with the same plagues. However, in spite of pressure from family, friends, and fellow clansmen, many Native Americans are responding to the Bible educational work of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They see that friendship with God is worth any price. Many travel more than 75 miles [120 km] each way to attend Christian meetings. We are happy to be sharing the good news of God’s Kingdom with the Navajo and the Hopi.

I look forward to the day when Jehovah’s rule will "bring to ruin those ruining the earth" and when all obedient mankind will live together in peace and harmony as one united family. Then life will be as I wished it to be as a Chippewa boy in Canada. (Revelation 11:18; 21:1-4)—As told by Burton McKerchie.

[Footnote]

Published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.; now out of print.

[Picture on page 13]

I was searching for the answers to my questions about God

[Pictures on page 15]

Top: My family and, at left, a Navajo friend

Bottom: Our mobile home near the Kingdom Hall

*** g97 6/8 p. 27 From Our Readers ***

You never see a Native American teacher or lawyer on the front page of a magazine. Primitive images, comparable to the front page of your issue, are consistently promoted. The perpetuation of these images hinders our efforts against stereotypes.

K. M. T., United States

Certainly it was not our intention to perpetuate any harmful stereotype. The cover art was designed to present Native Americans in a positive and dignified way. Traditional garb was used because it was appropriate to the subject and could easily be identified by our global readership. Interestingly, many Native American readers expressed appreciation for both the articles and the artwork. Some are desirous of keeping some of the ancient ways alive and will still don traditional dress on certain occasions.—ED.

*** g94 12/8 pp. 20-22 A New Message for a New World ***

Missionaries Agents of Light or of Darkness?—Part 5

THE Western Hemisphere was first called the New World about the beginning of the 16th century. When Columbus "discovered" it in 1492, he also discovered that people were already living there and had been for hundreds of years. But then for the first time, Native Americans got a taste of nominal Christianity. What would this mean for the New World?

For centuries the Catholic Church had exercised almost complete control over the lives of Europeans. It set standards and dictated rules in nearly every field of human endeavor, including government. Such collaboration of Church and State, the alliance that had spawned the Crusades, also came to dominate the New World.

Sidney H. Rooy of the Educación Teológica in Buenos Aires writes that by the end of the 15th century, Spanish kings were convinced that "the Spanish crown was the divinely chosen instrument for the salvation of the New World." The papacy drew an imaginary north-south line in the Atlantic dividing the rights of discovery between Spain and Portugal. In 1494 the two governments signed a treaty moving the line farther west. Thus, while Spain proceeded to settle most parts of Central and South America, Portugal moved into Brazil, whose east coast now lay east of the demarcation line. According to Rooy, both countries interpreted the papal decree to mean that "the right to the lands was coupled with the duty to evangelize the native peoples."

Conquest of the New World

Columbus was accompanied on his second voyage in 1493 by a group of friars especially chosen to convert the natives. From then on, European conquistadores and missionary priests worked side by side in the conquest of the New World.

In 1519, Hernán Cortés reached what is now known as Mexico accompanied by a chaplain and other priests. Within 50 years, the number of missionaries had grown to 800. Another 350 were in Peru, which Francisco Pizarro had reached in 1531.

Papal bulls issued in 1493 gave secular authorities the moral justification they wanted for their campaign of conquest. They thought that they could count on God’s support because they felt that colonialism was his will. Church officials, eager to please, moved in to confer legitimacy on the colonial system. In fact, a Jesuit of the 17th century named António Vieira, born in Portugal but reared in Brazil, praised colonization, saying that without it evangelization would have been impossible.

The missionaries saw nothing amiss in using colonialism as an instrument for spreading their religion. However, this made them an integral part of the world of which Jesus said his followers should be no part.—John 17:16.

Making Converts

Christendom’s missionaries began at first, according to Rooy, "to uproot old rites and most external manifestations of Indian religion." He added: "Although force was still used when necessary, many Indians were converted by peaceful means through the direct approach of the priests."

Of course, some missionaries believed force was never really justified. For example, a Spanish Dominican missionary and priest named Bartolomé de Las Casas came to disapprove of the cruel methods used. He repeatedly pleaded in Spain in behalf of the Indians, for which reason the government gave him the title "Defender of the Indians." His efforts met with mixed reactions, however. Some have called him a crusader, a prophet, a servant of God, and a visionary; others have called him a traitor, a paranoiac, an anarchist, and a pre-Marxist.

The goal of uprooting old rites was later discontinued. Once the natives had been pressured into accepting the name Christian, they were permitted to retain their heathen beliefs and practices. Thus, "many Christian festivals among the Sierra Indians of Peru," says Man, Myth & Magic, "contain practices which are relics of forgotten Inca beliefs." The Cambridge History of Latin America explains that Mexican Indians took from Christianity "those elements which suited their own spiritual and ritualistic needs and blended them with elements of their ancestral faith."

True, hundreds of thousands of Native Americans were baptized. But the "Christianity" imposed upon them was superficial at best. Little time was spent teaching them the foundations of Christianity upon which to build a strong faith. The Cambridge History of Latin America notes: "There were alarming indications that Indians who had adopted the new faith with apparent enthusiasm still venerated their old idols in secret." In fact, some Indians reportedly placed pagan idols behind "Christian" altars in case the "Christian God" failed to respond. They were also slow in giving up long-established patterns of behavior such as polygamy.

The members of Roman Catholic orders did not always act the way one would have expected "Christian" missionaries to act. Quarrels between the orders were frequent. The Jesuits in particular were often criticized for their policies and actions. In fact, in 1759 they were expelled from Brazil.

The arrival of Protestant missionaries did not change things significantly. As the missionary ranks grew, so did the disunity typical of nominal Christianity. Catholics accused the Protestants of fostering imperialism; Protestants accused the Catholics of spreading pagan beliefs and of being responsible for keeping the people in poverty. All these claims contained more than just a grain of truth. Christendom’s missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, failed to follow the example of Jesus.

Throughout the New World, according to The Encyclopedia of Religion, "conversion went forward as an arm of the colonial ventures of the Spanish, French, and English governments." Whereas Spain and Portugal concentrated on Latin America, France and Britain were more involved in what later became the United States and Canada.

Like those missionaries in Latin America, the French and British missionaries set wrong priorities and became entangled in political matters. Thus, notes The Encyclopedia of Religion, "by the close of the French era in Canada, the missionaries had been more successful in making the Indians loyal to France than in converting them."

For God or for Gold?

Some may claim that "the extension of the kingdom of God was the goal" pursued by the early conquistadores. But more realistically, The Cambridge History of Latin America says: "Above all, they wanted gold." It was thought that once converted, the Indians "would meekly deposit large quantities of gold."

Some of Christendom’s missionaries thus let themselves become willing instruments of those who had base motives. One of the first Europeans to recognize this was Bartolomé de Las Casas, mentioned earlier. The New Encyclopædia Britannica quotes him as writing in 1542: "The reason why the Christians have killed and destroyed such an infinite number of souls is that they have been moved by their wish for gold and their desire to enrich themselves in a very short time."

European conquerers brought little in the way of spiritual enlightenment. In his book Mexico, James A. Michener says that Christian apologists claim that when Cortés invaded Mexico, "he found it occupied by barbarians to whom he brought both civilization and Christianity." However, Michener says the Mexican Indians, even in 900 C.E., "were not barbarians, but they became so lax in guarding their marvellous civilization that they allowed real barbarians to overrun them." These "real barbarians" were some of the so-called Christians.

A Work of Preparation

Christendom’s missionaries did not obey Jesus’ instructions to "make disciples . . . , teaching them to observe all the things" he had commanded. (Matthew 28:19, 20) New converts were not taught to manifest the fruitage of God’s spirit. They were not united in the one faith.

Even those of Christendom’s missionaries who were sincere could do no better than spread an apostatized form of Christianity. The "light" shed upon the New World was dim indeed. However, by introducing the Bible to some extent, Christendom’s missionaries performed a preparatory work for the vital missionary campaign that Jesus prophesied would take place in the time of the end. (Matthew 24:14) It would be a unique campaign, the most successful ever conducted in Christian history, benefiting people of all nations. Read about it in the next issue in the article "Making True Disciples Today."

[Footnotes]

Spanish influence was, of course, felt in Florida and the southwestern and far western part of what is now the United States, especially California.

[Picture on page 21]

Missionaries came to the Americas with European conquistadores

[Credit Line]

From the book Die Helden der christlichen Kirche

*** yb03 pp. 26-27 Highlights of the Past Year ***

In the United States, many Native Americans are receiving a witness in their own tongue. Several publications are now available in the Navajo language, including audiocassettes of the brochure What Does God Require of Us? One publisher wrote: "At Navajo Mountain, in the farthest corner of our territory, there is a former sheepherder in his eighties who can no longer see well. His granddaughter asked him if he would like to hear a tape about the Bible, in the Navajo language. He said yes. He got out of his sickbed and went to the couch to listen. If only you could have seen the look on his face as he listened to scriptures from the Bible in his own language. It brings tears to my eyes to relate it. Then he said, ‘Nizhoni,’ which means ‘beautiful.’"

Dances With Watchtowers - Witnessing to Native Americans

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