Who is Leonard Peltier? Why is the incident at Wounded Knee considered a massacre and not a battle? What are the contemporary repercussions of American Indian boarding school atrocities? Why is there an ongoing debate about tribal sovereignty?
For the majority of students who matriculate at Tufts University, the answers to these pertinent historical and societal issues will never be addressed during their four years on the Hill. To deny students the option of pursuing the area of Native American Studies is to deny the importance of one of the seven major racial groups in America.
We are students currently enrolled in ENG 148: American Indian Writers, taught by Professor Elizabeth Ammons. This is one of only four courses that Tufts currently offers in the area of Native American Studies. Additionally, neither of the two professors who teach these courses is indigenous. They strive to research and present material in an objective light, but they both stress that the addition of indigenous faculty members would shed light on the material from a different and important perspective.
For example, one such overlooked aspect of American Indians is the case of political prisoner Leonard Peltier, who has been called the "American Indian Nelson Mandela." On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents stormed the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and opened fire on innocent American Indians. Unfortunately, when the ambush was over, the FBI realized that both agents were dead from gunshot wounds. They devised an elaborate plan to pin the blame on Peltier, who had been under FBI surveillance for several years as a result of his involvement with the American Indian Movement.
Peltier realized that he was being used as a scapegoat and, doubting his chance of a fair trial, fled to Canada. Eventually, the United States extradited Peltier from Canada using fabricated evidence and a false affidavit. As expected, Peltier did not receive a fair trial and is now currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the deaths of the two agents. Since his trial, numerous documents have surfaced proving that the FBI intimidated their main witness, basically forcing her to commit perjury against Peltier. Ballistics reports conclude that Peltier was almost certainly innocent. Indeed, the FBI has admitted that they do not actually know who killed the agents. Regardless of these admissions, Peltier is repeatedly denied presidential pardons, retrials, appeals for parole or the opportunity to serve his two sentences concurrently.
In his 1999 book "Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance," Peltier chronicles what it is like to be imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. This book can be read in a few hours, yet its lessons are life-altering. Although summer reading is the furthest thing from everyone's mind right now, we encourage all Tufts students to consider reading this important text in their free time.
To read Peltier's work is to realize the gross injustices the American government has enacted against indigenous people. Ignorance of this injustice merely enables state-supported racism to continue to disenfranchise minority groups. Peltier's plight is furthered by the lack of media attention and general conscience. We highlight this incident in contemporary American Indian issues to demonstrate that ambivalence toward indigenous people has tangible and devastating effects.
For a "liberal" university that prides itself on its so-called "global perspective," absence of this field of study perpetuates misunderstanding of and apathy toward historically overlooked and misrepresented people. Harvard University and Dartmouth College have offered Native American Studies programs since the 1970s. Scores of other institutions across the country, both small and large, offer majors and minors in this critical academic field. In an April 6 Daily article ("Lack of Native American courses troubles some"), Dean of Undergraduate Education Jim Glaser stated that he did not view the lack of Native American course offerings "as a big problem." Glaser went on to note that he had not heard of any dissent among members of the Tufts community. Although we may be small in number, we respectfully submit this editorial as evidence of our dissent.
Peltier's poem "The Message" contends that "silence screams. / Silence is a message, / just as doing nothing is an act." By not including the study of American Indians in the curriculum, Tufts silently sends the message that this continually marginalized population is insignificant. The university prides itself on sparking intellectual debate and setting academic standards. For 153 years, it has called itself the "Light on the Hill." It is time for Tufts to give Native American Studies the light it deserves.
For more information on Peltier, consult www.freepeltier.org and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee at www.leonardpeltier.org.
Katie Winter is a freshman majoring in English and American Studies and Perrin LaPlante is a senior majoring in English.
