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None of these Christian missionaries, he continues, "could possibly foresee the long-term demoralizing effects his missions would have on Indian people" nor have "understood his role in the process of pacification that enabled, simplified, and enhanced the ultimate conquest of [the] tribes. Thoroughly blinded by their own acculturation and their implicit acceptance of the illusion of European superiority, these apostles of the church, and indeed virtually every missionary of every denomination, functioned one way or another as a participant in an unintended evil." |
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According to the school of thought George Tinker represents, whites are castigated out of hand as aggressors, while raiding, slaving, and killing on the part of native groups are passed without comment because "it was their cultural heritage to act in this way. It is time we stop viewing these injustices as simply white processes and begin viewing them as human processes. Its is time to apply the same yardstick to both groups--compassionately seeking to understand human actions in the past without flailing old wounds by "unabashedly" taking sides. Without confronting and owning our past, as white Americans, as Europeans, as American Indians, as African Americans, we cannot hope to overcome the past and generate a constructive, healing process, leading to a world of genuine, mutual respect among peoples, communities, and nations." But that "mutual respect" must begin by seeking to understand the history and human motivations of all these "peoples and communities, and nations" with a spirit of equity, balance, and compassion.
While many of the Indian tribes were decimated or even obliterated by unfamiliar European diseases (sometimes deliberately introduced among them), by slaughter, by dispossession, and by exhaustion of traditional game, whites flourished and moved inexorably westward, taking over even lands contractually deeded to various tribes or confederacies. In the face of such obstacles, including the relentless erosion of traditional ways, and even by the outlawing of native religions, one is surprised that the Indian peoples have survived and preserved as much as they have." The Elements of Native American Traditions -Cited from Utah's Black Hawk War by John Alton Peterson
History. The Ute occupied the region above indicated when they came to the knowledge of the Spaniards, who were the first Europeans to encounter them. Their warlike disposition was early accentuated by the introduction of horses among them. Our first intimate knowledge of them is derived from the diary of Fray Silvestre Velez de Escalante, who penetrated 'their country in 1776. For a brief period they were organized into a confederacy under a chief named Tabby (Taiwi). The first treaty between the United States Government and the Ute was concluded December 30, 1849. By Executive order of October 3, 1861, Uintah Valley was set apart for the Uinta Band, while the remainder of the land claimed by them was taken without formal purchase. By a treaty of October 7, 1863, a reservation was assigned to the Tabeguache, and the remainder of their land was taken without formal purchase. On May 5, 1864, various reserves, established in 1856 and 1859 by Indian agents, were ordered vacated and sold. By a treaty of March 2, 1868, a reservation was created in Colorado for the Tabeguache, Moache, Capote, Wiminuche, Yampa, Grand River, Uinta, and other bands, who relinquished the remainder of their lands, but by an agreement of September 13, 1873, a part of the reservation, was ceded to the United States. When it was found that a portion of this last cession was included in the Uncompahgre Valley, the part so included was retroceded to the Ute by Executive order of August 17, 1876. By Executive order of November 22, 1875,the Ute Reservation was enlarged, but this additional tract was restored to the public domain by an order of August 4, 1882. By Act of June 18, 1878, a portion of the Act of May 5, 1864, was repealed, and several tracts included in the reservations there under established were restored to the public domain. Under an agreement of November 9, 1878, the Moache, Capote, and Wiminuche ceded their right to the confederated Ute Reservation established by the 1868 treaty, the United States agreeing to establish a reservation for them on San Juan River, a promise which was finally fulfilled by Executive order of February 7, 1879. On March 6, 1880, the Southern Ute and the Uncompahgre acknowledged an agreement to settle respectively on La Plata River and on the Grand River near the mouth of the Gunnison, while the White River Ute agreed to move to the Uinta Reservation in Utah. Sufficient agricultural land not being found at the point designated as the future home of the Uncompahgre, the President, by Executive order of January 5, 1882, established a reserve for them in Utah, the boundaries of which were defined by Executive order of the same date. By Act of May 24, 1888, a part of the Uinta Reservation was restored to the public domain. The tribe has since been allotted land in severalty.
This was our land.The land that the mountain needed in orderTo raise in majesty.The land my people needed in orderTo roam its secrets in reverence.This land was the landOf our great watersThe beating heart of nature flowing through timeThat we could not remember.This was our land.The land that provided everything good for my people.The land was always our landAnd the sun set upon itThe rain washed itAnd the fire was kind in its fury.It was so for all time.Then the land was taken from us.It is your land.Do you know how to speak to the land, my brother?Do you listen to what it tells you?Can you keep its secrets to yourself?Sell the land, my brother?You might as well sellThe sun, the moon, the stars.
