Reagan Discusses American Indians

It must be admitted that the American Indian, in his ignorance, did not erode the land, poison the air or pollute the water.

The American Indian did not know how to wage war to subjugate or exterminate entire populations.

But then the American Indian didn’t know that religion should be limited to a single day per week, or that the empty phrase “In God We Trust” should be relegated to money--the white man’s god--for, in his “primitive culture,” the American Indian’s only reason for obtaining wealth was the joy of being able to give it away to those less fortunate.

On his luxuriant reservations, starving in tar-paper shacks or abandoned cars in blizzards, the American Indian may at least take pride in that while the white way of life makes dollars, the red way of life makes sense.

RICHARD L.B. THOMAS

Los Angeles