Indians Led Away From Promised Land

In the 1950s the federal government decided it had finally figured out the “Indian problem.” In their infinite wisdom, the lawmakers decided to terminate the Indian reservations and ship most of the inhabitants to the big cities of America.

This folly was euphemistically known as “relocation.” Most European Jews learned to fear that word. In the end, most Indian people did likewise. Closing down the reservations became known through the years as the “Termination Era.”

Millions of dollars were expended for this dual purpose. As most of us know, it was a waste of federal dollars. But then again, this is nothing new to this country. Most of the thousands of Indians relocated to cities such as Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Chicago eventually returned home.

Indian families were relocated to the major ghettos of America. Women were sent to secretarial schools, if able, and men were sent to welding schools. I used to joke that there were more unemployed secretaries and welders on Indian reservations than in any other community in America.

So ill-prepared were some of the relocatees that one man spent most of his weekly paycheck taking taxis to and from work because the Bureau of Indian Affairs had not taken the time to show him how to use the city bus system in Dallas. When many Indians returned to the reservations, they brought back many of the vices learned in the inner cities. They also brought back many of the diseases. I count alcoholism and drug abuse among these diseases.

To carry out this program of relocation, the BIA spent millions of dollars setting up relocation centers in the different regions of America. These centers were supposed to serve as drop-off points for the people arriving from the reservations. They were organized to assist in finding housing and jobs or to set the wheels in motion for the relocatees to attend some sort of school. These centers also provided jobs for many of the relocatees.

The promise of a better life prompted many men and women with families to relocate. Times were extremely tough on the Indian reservations following World War II. Many veterans had returned and, having tasted a different kind of life while in the service of this country, did not want to return to herding and raising sheep and cattle. It was these veterans who spearheaded the movement from the reservations to the cities.

Of course, the federal government, in its inimitable way, made relocation appear to be a very attractive proposition. They hung posters in the tribal and BIA offices across the country, praising the merits of relocation. When there are no jobs, no colleges, no housing and no prospects for the future, clutching at straws in order to keep from drowning becomes natural.

Not every government-sponsored program is a total failure. There were those families that thrived in the big cities. As a matter of fact, many of those cities named above now have very large Indian populations because of the relocation program. It is said that Los Angeles and Seattle have Indian populations of nearly 100,000.

As an example, several of my former classmates from Holy Rosary Indian Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation worked their way into good jobs with reputable firms. Others went on to get degrees in higher education. Buddy White Eyes went to work for Lockheed Corp., trained and became a highly paid electrician and eventually retired to Las Vegas with a good pension.

Some found their way to Hollywood and got into the movies. Eddie Little Sky, one of the first recognizable Indian actors, appeared in countless movies and television shows over the years including “Gilligan’s Island” and “Gunsmoke.”

He also made several movies with Audie Murphy.

When Eddie first stepped onto the soundstage, Audie Murphy approached and introduced himself. He asked Eddie’s name, and he replied, “Edsel Little” (his birth name). “That’s not much of an Indian name,” quipped Murphy. Eddie’s reply became a classic story in Indian Country. He said, “It’s better than Chesli Janis.” “Chesli” in Lakota is a colorful word for excrement.

The relocation program had more failures than success stories. Many Indian men and women ended up as members of the homeless community, sleeping in alleys and getting their meals from the garbage cans behind the restaurants. It’s hard to say how many are buried in the pauper’s graves of cities.

Others returned to the reservations, more determined than ever to never allow such disruptive programs ever again into the lives of the Indian people. Many of the former relocatees came home and became the leaders who brought back the spirituality and the determination to make their reservations places that would provide jobs and an education for their own children.

Like the returning veterans before them, the relocatees changed the face of Indian Country.

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