This week Bill speaks with legal expert Robert A. Williams Jr. about how stereotypes of American Indians have been codified into laws and government policies, with devastating consequences.
In this web extra, Bill speaks with Williams about why none of the Supreme Court justices “wants Indian cases,” Hollywood’s use of “savage” imagery, the Redskins controversy and much more. Williams also talks to Bill about the difference between racist attitudes toward African-Americans and American Indians historically.
“Much of the thrust of federal Indian policy, really until the 1960s, was forcibly assimilating Indians into white models of civilization,” Williams says. “African-Americans were continually asking to be integrated, to be accepted on equal terms. What Indians have consistently asked for is what we call a degree of measured separatism. They want that ability to live on their reservation, to perpetuate their culture, to speak their language.”
That’s something, Williams says, American society was not willing to give them, until recently.
Producer: Candace White. Editor: Rob Kuhns. Associate Producer: Alexis Pancrazi.
