How is life in and around Kamiah? (Orofino, Kooskia: home, rent)

[Marci Bailey]

You guys are so far off the globe when it comes to the Nez Perce Indians.
Walk a mile in my moccasins before you criticize my people. No, we don't
dislike whites, at least not those who judge us without knowing us. I am
married to a "white" and we have a very beautiful daughter. Stick that in
your nazi white skin heads. Mouse

[Marci Bailey]

Stay in Lewiston, you don't know me and you are the kind of people I pray
for when I wake up every morning and thank my creator for another
beautiful day on this earth and ask for the strength to keep my big mouth
shut when I hear from people like you. The Nez Perce people are very friendly, at least to those who are not bigots like yourself.

[my3arabs]

Originally Posted by wildberries61

I diffently don't mean to sound racist but, we all have an equal chance and if you sit around long enough blaming everyone else for your sorrows you soon start to believe it yourself.

What you and Burtal Atack have written is very racist. You may not have meant it that way but that is how it has come across.

What you and many other non-Natives need to do is read the book "Through Indian Eyes" & "God is Red" then maybe you will start to understand where they are coming from. To put out such blanket statements is wrong and until you do walk in their shoes and see what the "whites" have done to their cultures you really have no right voicing an uneducated opinion. Plus it is rude to call them Natives or Indians they are, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Bannock, Sioux, etc.

If you don't like how they run their own Nations then move somewhere else. If they don't want to share what is left of their culture with you than accept it and move on. The "whites" have made fun of and tried to destroy the beauty of the individual cultures for over 200 yrs so why in the world would any of them want to share it with us??

[live2fish]

Let me first start out by saying that I am a "white guy", born and raised in California. 25 years ago, I went to Lapwai Idaho with a friend of mine, Lewis Holt. He had family there, so we stayed with his sister.

Every morning we would go sweat in the sweat lodge in the woods across the highway and then head off to check out the country, fishing, hunting swimming, digging khouse khouse. We would range from the Blue Mountains and the Wallowa Valley on up to the Selway. Lewis had a bar in Culdesac called "Nora's Place". I would help tend bar sometimes. I met a lot of wonderful Nez Perce and made a lot of friends. Gary Greene (G.G., I still have the eagle feather he gave me), Bryce, Shketi, Vick, Dave, Boo-Boo and Lewis' brothers Levi, Maynard and Madias. I remember playing dice (zilch) with Madias on night at his house, by a kerosene lantern because he hadn't had electricity for 6 months.

We would spend three days in Kamiah at the Looking Glass pow-wow, sleeping in the tee pee and playing stick games at night. Horse would drum at the pow wow, and G.G. and Levi would dance.

I met and fell in love with a beautiful Nez Perce woman named Marci Bear. I don't know if she knew it. She had a very special and strong spirit. I seriously considered staying in Idaho and changing my life, but I couldn't. The next year I came back, her mom had died and she was in mourning. I lost track of Lewis and never went back to Lapwai. I never saw Marci again but I hope she is well and strong.

The Ni Mii Puu are a warm and beautiful people. They are God's people. I often wish that I had chosen to spend the rest of my life with them.

[wildberries61]

Originally Posted by my3arabs

What you and Burtal Atack have written is very racist. You may not have meant it that way but that is how it has come across.

What you and many other non-Natives need to do is read the book "Through Indian Eyes" & "God is Red" then maybe you will start to understand where they are coming from. To put out such blanket statements is wrong and until you do walk in their shoes and see what the "whites" have done to their cultures you really have no right voicing an uneducated opinion. Plus it is rude to call them Natives or Indians they are, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Bannock, Sioux, etc.

If you don't like how they run their own Nations then move somewhere else. If they don't want to share what is left of their culture with you than accept it and move on. The "whites" have made fun of and tried to destroy the beauty of the individual cultures for over 200 yrs so why in the world would any of them want to share it with us??

I didn't say anything wrong with the Nez Perce except for the casino's and gambling!! I don't even feel this is good for the white,blacks or brown people. This causes more problems with alcoholic's,divorce, money problems etc. If you and others support this then, you may want to look at all the destroyed families.

There's a lady in Kamiah who is a Nez Perce Indian and has spoke out many times through talks at schools and the paper on the fall of the people due to the existence of the casino's and the divorce rate.

With comments like that above about the white people you are down grading whites so, this must make it fair. Plenty of whites these days do not hate the culture. When I have been up that way their own people speak against the issue so, how is this racist on my part???

They are not stuck on the reservation are they??? You can go were you want in the U.S. and be what you want in life if you have the ambition. Unless, you are told your whole life the white man destroyed you. We are way past that time in life and everyone needs to move and support each other and have respect. But, to build something that ruins people and marriages and families is not the answer!!!

[wildberries61]

Originally Posted by Marci Bailey

You guys are so far off the globe when it comes to the Nez Perce Indians.
Walk a mile in my moccasins before you criticize my people. No, we don't
dislike whites, at least not those who judge us without knowing us. I am
married to a "white" and we have a very beautiful daughter. Stick that in
your nazi white skin heads. Mouse

Doesn't seem like anyone was putting your people down just commenting on casino's being more of a problem for your people then, if they would create tourism in the area that would bring people to your area so, that they can learn about the culture and the people. The museum in Spalding is very interesting and there should be more of these then a casino that is ruining lives and doing nothing to support your people!!! For you too call us all Nazi's is not judging the "White People"? Were I'm at the Native Americans come to our town and sell items and fish and the people here are very accommodating to them and look forward to them catching fish and bringing it too our area.

Most of us work other jobs and don't seem to find any time to fish so we are pleased they will bring it to us!!! When addressing the Indians what do you like to be called since for the most part in Idaho we have the Nez Perce but, there are other Indian cultures and it's hard to know what tribe they are from. I don't believe when someone uses Native American or Indian they are trying to insult you it's just what they know. The same as white people you don't know all about them and could offend by calling them NAZI's!!

My family is from the Cherokee tribe and I don't hear my relatives sitting around complaining the White Man did this and that we have just made a life for our selves and don't feel no one owes US ANYTHING!!! So, I wasn't just speaking from a WHITE GIRLS point of view!!

[live2fish]

Wildberries:

I will agree that Nazi is a little harsh, although there are some people around whom that shoe fits. I wouldn't get so hung up on labels. I don't particularly like being called a sooyapo. Not because I find the term offensive (it originally meant one who wears a hat), but because I don't like being stereotyped with other white people whom I do find offensive. White people can really be ignorant and embarassing. I'd rather think of myself as a light skinned indian from the north. I don't expect people to know that I'm a Swede and call me by my tribe. Hell, indians call each other indians. Stop being so sensative and learn to respect other people as human beings.

No, I don't like casinos but drugs, alcohol, cheating, fighting, gambling and other sins have thrived without the help casinos, so I don't think that's the problem.

[wildberries61]

Originally Posted by live2fish

Wildberries:

I will agree that Nazi is a little harsh, although there are some people around whom that shoe fits. I wouldn't get so hung up on labels. I don't particularly like being called a sooyapo. Not because I find the term offensive (it originally meant one who wears a hat), but because I don't like being stereotyped with other white people whom I do find offensive. White people can really be ignorant and embarassing. I'd rather think of myself as a light skinned indian from the north. I don't expect people to know that I'm a Swede and call me by my tribe. Hell, indians call each other indians. Stop being so sensative and learn to respect other people as human beings.

No, I don't like casinos but drugs, alcohol, cheating, fighting, gambling and other sins have thrived without the help casinos, so I don't think that's the problem.

No, but these casinos have all these things mentioned above involved with people and hard times. They are no different then, a bar probably but, husbands spend time away from home spending the money, seeing other women that are there this gives a chance for affairs,spending money on alcohol doesn't help the pocket book at the cost of drinks these days.

Not to say women don't do these things also just they are usually stuck at home with the kids. Then, there are those that leave their children at home while they gamble that's another story. I am sure plenty of white folks hit the casinos and do the same so, I am not pointing at one culture. Just think there would be a better way to better the family values and the Indian reservations are some of the most beautiful land you would want too see!!! From what I have seen in Washington and Idaho they of Gods best land!!

[live2fish]

I'm not defending casinos. I hate em. But here is the problem. Equally immoral are the mining companies and their cyanide leach ponds, the paper mills and oil companies that poison our rivers, the farmers and hydroelectric companies that choke off our streams and rivers with their fish killing dams, and the developers that scar the land with their condos and shopping centers, on what was once the tribal land of the richest tribe in North America. White America makes billions of dollars off this eco-pornography that they use to buy up the land and build their multi million dollar vacation homes, but you expect the Nez Perce to take the moral "high road" and be "good indians", hang out at the visitor center and take pictures with the dumb-ass tourists and share their culture with stupid sooyapoos for their entertainment. That's a lot to ask. The Mission indians have made billions off their casinos and donate millions to the campaigns of politicians to influence issues effecting the tribe. Would it be better to build a hospital or a youth center? Yes. But if the casino generates the money to build the hospital or youth center, is that so bad? If someone wants to get drunk, cheat on their wife and spend the rent money, they're going to find a way but that hasn't changed in the past 200 years.

[wildberries61]

Originally Posted by live2fish

I'm not defending casinos. I hate em. But here is the problem. Equally immoral are the mining companies and their cyanide leach ponds, the paper mills and oil companies that poison our rivers, the farmers and hydroelectric companies that choke off our streams and rivers with their fish killing dams, and the developers that scar the land with their condos and shopping centers, on what was once the tribal land of the richest tribe in North America. White America makes billions of dollars off this eco-pornography that they use to buy up the land and build their multi million dollar vacation homes, but you expect the Nez Perce to take the moral "high road" and be "good indians", hang out at the visitor center and take pictures with the dumb-ass tourists and share their culture with stupid sooyapoos for their entertainment. That's a lot to ask. The Mission indians have made billions off their casinos and donate millions to the campaigns of politicians to influence issues effecting the tribe. Would it be better to build a hospital or a youth center? Yes. But if the casino generates the money to build the hospital or youth center, is that so bad? If someone wants to get drunk, cheat on their wife and spend the rent money, they're going to find a way but that hasn't changed in the past 200 years.

Hey, you make some very good points. I do realize it's all political and I hadn't heard about the donating of money , all you seem to hear is that they don't pay taxes so, where does the money go if not for the people??

The rich are even doing this damage to fertile farm land. In Valley county the rich have come and they are even changing the names of historical sites, so it doesn't just happen to the Native Americans it's happening to all that don't have the money to stop them. People are just selling out their land and developers are buying it up and putting in sub-divisions and I have noticed it up that way. People just need to realize it doesn't matter what color you there are people in every race that struggle to make it in life and just because, your white does not mean you have the GOLDEN TICKET and it all falls into place for us either. The rich get richer and the rest of us are just trying to make a living and it's really to bad we are all so misunderstood!!

That's what was missing at the Spalding museum I didn't get a picture!! Just kidding!!!