My Nonprofit Reviews

When I was a child, my friends and I played "Cowboys and Indians"... this game was always about the cowboys beating the Indians as that's the way it was in the movies. We played "Cops and Robbers," too. And of course, the Cops always won, catching the Robbers and putting them in jail (which was under the grapes in the grape arbor in our back yard). It did not occur to me that in those child games, we were essentially putting the "Indians" (Native Americans) in the same category with criminals. Later, in school, at about the age of 11-12, I started learning about how Native Americans welcomed the Europeans to their shores and I was glad about that. Then at about the age of 15 and on, I began to find some accounts of how the welcoming of foreigners to their lands turned bad for the Native Americans. I thought back to my childhood games of "Cowboys and Indians" and realized that somehow, we had all had a part in subjugating these beautiful people, their culture, their standards, into a low social category, where we, the "White Europeans" took the better part of the lands they had lived on, respected and cared for as it was the Great Spirit who, in the beginning, had loaned all the lands to them to be cared for, as he would want. And then, all of a sudden, the Native Americans were moved to smaller plots of land called "Reservations" in areas that were of no interest to the whites, while the U.S. Government gave their now confiscated lands away to a group of White folks who were to "grow" the west and south. The more I learned about this time in U.S. History, the worse I felt about all of it. And what could I, just a regular not wealthy person, a mother, now grandmother, great grandmother and retired Professional Artist do about any of that? And like a flash out of the blue, or a quick thought with sparks, came the name of St. Joseph's Indian School. I was delighted. A way to do what I can to feel okay again when I see those beautiful children who are Lakota Sioux, Oglala, Cherokee or whatever... those who will grow to be accomplished, cherished and cherishing as they were ever meant to be.

Love and Light to one and all... The children, St. Joseph's full staff, teachers, aids, etc. Thank you.

H. Ann Johnson --