Commentary

John Stossel Fails to
“Get It”
When it Comes to American Indians

by Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Condition. Discussion »

Help John Understand

Fox News contributor John Stossel said Thursday on “Fox and Friends” that no other group has been helped by the US government more than American Indians.

Commenting about the what Stossel feels is excessive pay for an advertised job position at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he made these comments:

“Why is there a Bureau of Indian Affairs?”

he said.

“There is no Bureau of Puerto Rican Affairs or Black Affairs or Irish Affairs. And no group in America has been more helped by the government than the American Indians, because we have the treaties, we stole their land. But 200 years later, no group does worse.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, first established under the War Department in 1824, is part of the United States Department of the Interior. See their website.

While his admission that American Indians had land stolen, Stossel misses a key point of the obligation the United States government has to American Indians because of treaties…that he did mention.

Apparently, he feels we, American Indians, should be left stripped of our land and move on with our lives. What Stossel fails to recognize and understand is those treaties, he alludes to, have never fully been fulfilled by the United States.

Broken treaties…have equated to broken promises, which, in turn, have equated to broken lives in many instances throughout Indian Country.

Instead of worrying about the salary grade of a posted job position at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Stossel should worry about the fulfillment of the broken treaties and use his high visibility to correct the ills afflicted against American Indians.

John Stossel fails to “get it”
when it comes to American Indians.

See Stossel video below:

John Stossel needs to do more research on Native American Indians 
John Stossel needs to do more research on Native American Indians and their treaties and US laws concerning Native American Indians

There are specific ...