Charlot: An Imagined Rebuttal

Perhaps the fictitious perspective I offer below actually existed. I do not know. Governments (people) will attempt to justify their actions, no matter how autrocious. Do I feel the Indians were wronged? Of course. But it may be a fact that I owe my existence to history taking such a course. How can I argue, with any sincerity, that it never should have happened, and consequently that I should not be here in Boise today?

To: Editor of the Missoula Missoulian
Re: Indian Taxation and the Charlot decry

Dear Editor,
Since when does whining about taxes deserve front page headlines? The whole Indian bawling routine has become so overplayed; Certainly you must recognize you owe more to your readers, like taking a look at the Indian taxation issue from a more objective angle. That is what I offer to you, my fellow townspeople, and also my Flathead Indian brothers under one God:

Charlot speaks of an amicable relationship between his ancestors and mine: "Since our forefathers first beheld him, more than seven times ten winters have snowed and melted". He wants his readers to buy that because of this history, the whiteman has somehow committed an immoral act by changing his feathers as changing times demanded. Does Charlot think the same of the North Chinese over the southerns, the Europeans over the Africans, the Spanish over the Aztecs, and on and on and on? Shall we just cease to advance and evolve as a species? I need not illustrate this point: It is both ridiculous and fantastic.

Charlot continues on to cast judgment and suggests the white race should be ashamed of its technology: "....and he stamps them with false ones; yet he is not ashamed.....his course is destruction; he spoils what the Spirit...gave us". Today, technology offers us prosthetic teeth, yesterday it was the printing press, which it seems Charlot "shamelessly" is hereby utilizing to advance his own selfish cause! (For his wise use of tools and technology, I stand up and applaud the man, but is it his reality that he can pick and choose which advancements are good or bad?) . Granted, the road to the future (and technology) is sometimes dark and cold-hearted, casualties abound, but it must be taken. Man, as a species, has never had any choice in this matter. Thousands of history books all come to the same conclusion: the future always arrives -- and with change in tow. This present stretch of road is taxed, so either rewrite history, get off the road, or pay up!

Charlot declares that if Jesus had not died for our sins, the Indians would be better off now. "Were all of them dead then when that young man died, we would be all safe now". The arrogance and self-righteousness associated with this statement is simply stunning. I do not profess a great faith in Jesus, but if He did die for my sins, then I know He died for Charlot's as well. Charlot seems to think that he is of a different mold, a more just, friendly, and charitable God. Charlot is free in this great country of ours to practice whatever religion he chooses. Further, he is free to cast literary stones at my Christ, but for that right he needs to pay his taxes, just as I do mine.

Perhaps my children 150 years henceforth will bawl hysterically for the unfortunate plight of your tribe, Charlot. I will not. My cup of coffee that has gone cold while reading of your truly hopeless cause is all I wish to spare. I, too, have reasons that I should not have to pay taxes. As does the shopkeeper. As does the soldier. As does the pastor. I will grant you that you are indeed a victim of unfortunate circumstance, but that circumstance is as inevitable as, you guessed it, death and taxes.

Postscript: Would the Indians, as a race, be better off today if they had been enslaved in the early 1800's, and consequently freed as a result of the Civil War? I know it is a dark path to consider, but are not American Indians more impoverished than African Americans, statistically speaking? From this, one could draw the conclusion that the autrocities suffered by the American Indian were more impaling and lasting than slavery. Two black eyes.