Content area
Full Text
The Case of Eugene "Bear" Lincoln
"The natives' life was worthless, for no American could be brought to trial for the killing of an Indian... What little property the Indian possessed could be taken or destroyed at the slightest provocation. He had no civil or legal rights whatsever." -- Carranco and Beard, Genocide and Vendetta in Round Valley
The Round Valley Reservation, located in northern Mendocino County, California, has been a cesspool of discrimination and hatred since it was established in the 1850's. Immediately after it was established land was stolen by the superintendent and his cohorts. Tribes who were historical enemies were forced to share the same space. Native Americans were paid six ears of corn a day to do slave labor. People were hanged and burned at the stake, corralled in pens like animals and shot. One gang of government-sanctioned volunteers led by a man named Waiter Jarboe killed over 300 Indians in under three months, not including women and children. He made a fortune in government bounties. Children were forced into a boarding school, not allowed to see their families, and taught to be servants.
Today, we have to wonder just how much things have changed. Round Valley High School was recently visited by an Anglo woman who fired a pellet gun at Native American children on the playground. No legal action was taken. The Native American people have a 20.6% unemployment rate in the county, a 37.5% poverty rate, and only 29% have a high school diploma. On the reservation, the figures are much worse. Government money is controlled by a small percent of the residents, who are affiliated with the Tribal Council, and they do not distribute the funds to the general population. So a couple of families get all the money while the majority live in poverty. The situation has produced a lot of tension and on the evening of April 14, 1995 it erupted into violence. One man, a member of the wealthy class, was shot and killed by a member of the poorer majority. Later that night police, searching for the suspect, hid their car at the top of a hill on the reservation. When two people marched up the hill, the police got out of their...