PAGE 2 WARM SPRINGS, OREGON APRIL », 1976
To My People
DAVE WILLIAMS (left). Warm Springs Fireman
of the Year, is congratulated by Jack Fiala.
Williams has been on the volunteer fire force
since
Photo by Sandy Rangila
Fireman of The Year Honored
Dave Williams, a member1
of the volunteer fire depart
ment since 1966, was ^namMf*
Warm Springs Fireman of the
Year last Monday. He received
an engraved award from Jack
Fiala, facilities manager, for
his outstanding work over the
years for the fire department.
He was honored for several
reasons according^to Fiala.
‘Dave is down here every
Monday night to attend COFA
meeting (Central Oregon Fire-*
mans Association), and he goes
to all the chiefs meetings.”
Williams also just finished
designing .and building a hose
rolling apparatus for the Warm
Springs fire department. “He
takes an active part in teach
ing and training all the fire
men so each will know as
much as possible about all the
equipment and safety mea
sures.
The honored fire fighter
claims he’s never been injured
during a fire. He5 did admit
that he was scorched pretty
good when the wind* changed
while he was wetting down a
burning trailer house. “Unpre
dictable winds and gusts are
the fireman’s worst enemy,”
said Williams.
He added that the roof is a
dangerous place during a fire.
“You never know if it’ll cave
in or where it might break
through.” He said that he usu
ally tries to stay on a ladder
up against the building when
ever possible.
Williams works as a for
estry technician and has been
working with forest and range
fires since about 1946. He said
that the range fire season in
this area is usually from June
to October.
Among his other qualifi
cations as a fireman, Williams
is also an Emergency Medical
Technician. He stresses safety
measures, though, and tries to
teach the men in the depart
ment precautions so they won’t
get themselves into trouble.
Williams said that he de
rives satisfaction from saving
a house and precious belong
ings of the occupants. “Even
with insurance,” he said, you
cannot compensate for ir-
repldbeable articles.”
I know that throughout this
nation there are red brothers
and sisters who feel as I do. I
am currently incarcerated and
I wonder if my other brothers
and sisters do not see and feel
the mistreatment that can so.
feel.
Like our people in society
we also suffer, for the word
discrimination is not only a
word used in society, but, also
against the fallen inside pri
son walls. When my brothers
stand.up and speak, and show
proudness of who they are,
they are labeled by institution
personnel as, “Radical, Mili
tant Indians.” When my sisters
speak and try to regain the
privilege of once again going
out into society, they are
quietly pushed aside, with the
answer, “You have a drinking
problem or a drug problem
that needs to be conquered
before we let you go.” But I
ask, how can you show the
changes of responsibility if not
given responsibility.
It’s so hard to understand
the whiteman’s way of justice,
when you see others who are
not Indian, moving faster to
the freedom of . society and
also having the same problems
you have.
Do the white man really
believe that, because we were
born Indian, our probelms of
alcohol and drugs are more
difficult to cure? Do they
really believe what they start
ed saying so long ago “Indians
cannot drink socially?” To you,
my brothers and sisters, I
know this is as confusing as it
is to me. It makes me sad to
think of all the brothers and
sisters who are .incarcerated
like me, who are daily strug
gling to show their white peers
that they are just as capable
of responsibility as any other
person inside the prison walls.
I wasn’t fortunate enough
to be born in the days of Chief
Joseph’s wars, df Sitting Bull’s.
But from what I know«of those
days it was certainly like these
modern times. I learned of the
hard times of our people from
older Indians, that had seen
the broken trails of treaties,
the rape of our mother Earth,
and the bringing of Alcohol, I
didn’t learn these things
through the Whiteman text
book. They were written by the
whiteman. What more Can I
say?
A brother incarcerated at
the Boise, Idaho prison once
wrote “We are forbidden to
worship and practice Indian
religión, are forbidden to have
a medicine man to minister
our spiritual needs, but yet all
the other religious groups are
permitted to have their Bishop,
Chaplain, etc. Where is this
so-called right for the Indian
and his religion?” I have to
agree with this brother, there
is no equality.
The whiteman is so con
fused about our ways, that
they think if we asked to have
a medicine man come inside*
the walls to smoke a sacred
pipe, we would be smoking
goofy weed like their mara-
juana smoke.
It’s a shame that so many
young Indians do not know
their native tongue. I, for one,
am not aware of my own. I
can speak various words in
different Indian languages. It
makes me sad in my heart
that I don’t know my own. It’s
a shame that years ago, old
Indians were beat, because
they only knew how to speak
, v * %- *■ v.x
v v w
-w *•
their own tongue, and that
most Indians learned to speak
only tbis English, like all other
trademarks of the whiteman
that were pushed on us.
| We all know to gain free
dom once again we must “re
habilitate ourselves”. What
really is rehabilitation for our
fallen brothers and sisters?
I mean to say, to every
ladder there is an “UP”. But
with the games played on you,
it’s up’s and down’s, when you
do reach the top in a place like
this, they find a way to bring
you back down to the bottom.
Like our ancestors we are at
war. Only we are not equipped
with bows and arrows, only
words, and the belief in our
Great Spirit. And He, I am
proud to say, is one thing they
cannot take away from each
and every one of us.
Periodically they may have
taken our rights to be free, but
they cannot take our belief’s
that we each hold onto.
The penal staff may have
the upper hand in how long we
must stay inside these stone
houses they have built, but
they cannot erase our proud
ness of being Indian. The way
I look at it, there were Indians
long before the whiteman ap
peared and there will be In
dians long after they are gone.
The whiteman celebrates
his BICENTENNIAL with the
mockery of wagon train am
bushes, with whites painted to
be Indians, Of course they
wrote the history, where every
time they massacred, it was a
victory; and every time we
won, it was. a massacre. How
could they expect any Indian
inside prison or out to cele
brate with them? To their
BICENTENNIAL, I say “bah”.
It was the beginning of the
Indians mistreatment, of the
loss of our ancestors, for tak
ing our lands. Do they really
want us to salute them for
killing our ancestors, for tak
ing our lands? Why they ex
pect us to be happy for all the
wrongs they’ve committed
against us, is beyond me. We
are still a proud people. Whe
ther we be locked up or not,
we must always maintain the
courage that our ancestors had
so long ago. We must never be
ashamed of who we are. We
must always remember that
we are the children of the
Great Spirit. We must stand up
and fight for our rights like
our ancestors did, for we must
never let our ancestors deaths
be in vain.
They believed. They died.
We believe. We live! We will
carry on where they left off!
So, in this message to all my
brothers and sisters, whether
they be locked up in prison or
locked up in the whiteman’s
society, I say, “Have faith in
the Great Spirit, keep yoiir
beliefs, and may the eagle fly
high for each of you, the grass
be green, and the sun always
shine on your faces.
............. Thelma Broncheau,
........ Colville Tribe