Print
Subscribe
Tim Giago: Happy Birthday to Van Cliburn and me
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
"I have something in common with the great concert pianist and virtuoso, Van Cliburn. He won a piano competition in Texas when he was 12 years old. That same year I failed miserably in my efforts to play “Chopsticks” on an aging piano at Holy Rosary Indian Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
So what do we have in common? We were both born in the wee hours of July 12, 1934. This week we both turned 72 years of age. I doubt very seriously if Van Cliburn knows about me, but by virtue of our birth dates I have followed his illustrious career from its outset.
We were born the year of the Indian Reconciliation Act of 1934. This was an Act of Congress to allow Indian tribes to establish a Constitution and to hold free elections in a lesson in self-government. Of course, most tribes practiced a form of democratic rule long before 1934 and long before they received Congressional approval to do what they had always done.
Many tribal elders referred to the IRA governments as “New Deal governments” and some of the tribes such as the Navajo Nation, refused to endorse the Act. My tribe, the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) ratified the Act in July of 1934. I don’t suppose Van Cliburn showed much interest in this piece of legislation that changed the complexion of Indian country forever.
We were born on the cusp of the Great Depression and Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s. We rode in Model A Fords and saw the airplane go from a two-winged fence jumper to powerful jets that could fly three times the speed of sound. We witnessed the mushroom clouds that darkened the skies over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
While Van Cliburn was winning piano concert awards in Texas in the 1940s, I was playing war games and cursing Adolph Hitler and Tojo with my boyhood friends at the Indian mission boarding school on the reservation.
He was 17 when he entered Julliard, a school for outstanding performers, and I was 17 when I enlisted in the United States Navy. While Van Cliburn was sniffing the perfumed air of Carnegie Hall, I was freezing in the winter and swatting flies the size of hummingbirds in Korea."
Get the Story:
Tim Giago: Sharing a birthday beyond the seventh decade
(The Native American Times 7/10)
More Tim Giago:
Tim Giago: South Dakota tilting further to the
right (7/3)
Tim Giago: Americans still
the invaders in Iraq (6/27)
Tim Giago:
Tribal colleges in Bill Gates' backyard (6/21)
Tim Giago: Gaming brings new wealth, new problems
(6/13)
Tim Giago: 'Oz' author called for
genocide of the Lakota (6/6)
Tim Giago:
Too much uncertainty in gaming (5/30)
Tim Giago: Deny gaming to newly recognized tribes
(5/23)
Tim Giago: Congratulations to the
class of '06 (5/16)
Tim Giago: Rich
tribes should help poorer tribes (5/9)
Tim Giago: Fighting substance abuse at Pine Ridge
(5/2)
Tim Giago: Censorship in the
mainstream media (4/25)
Tim Giago:
Brainwashing on Pine Ridge Reservation (4/18)
Tim Giago: The growing pains of tribal sovereignty
(4/11)
Tim Giago: Indians most affected
by immigration (4/4)
Tim Giago: Little
attention for Native American Day (3/28)
Giago: Oglala Sioux president on state abortion law
(3/21)
Tim Giago: The road to true
tribal sovereignty (3/14)
Tim Giago: The
basketball miracle of 1936 (3/7)
Giago:
Real problem in South Dakota is race relations (2/21)
Tim Giago: Yes, Virginia, Indians do pay taxes
(2/14)
Tim Giago: Gas-guzzlers, Indian
cars and the Big Three (2/7)
Tim Giago:
Lions, Tiger, Bears and Indian mascots (1/31)
Tim Giago: Christians and Muslims still at war
(1/24)
Tim Giago: Bush started Iraqi war
over 'dark lie' (1/17)
Tim Giago: Fire
Thunder out of limbo after 66 days (1/10)
Tim Giago: The Olympics of Indian basketball
(12/20)
Tim Giago: BIA schools turned
abused into abusers (12/13)
Tim Giago:
Fire Thunder shakes up establishment (12/6)
Tim Giago: Della Warrior steps down from IAIA
(11/29)
Tim Giago: Deloria gave Indian
people a voice (11/22)
Tim Giago:
Indians never forced religion on others (11/15)
Tim Giago: Exposing false medicine men (11/8)
Tim Giago: Government ignores Indian health
problems (11/1)
Tim Giago: Indian
newspapers revise history (10/25)
Tim
Giago: Two friends make journey to spirit world (10/18)
Tim Giago: Politicians need to know Indian law
(10/11)
Tim Giago: Doors opening to
Indians in South Dakota (10/4)
Tim
Giago: 'Indian' myths and misconceptions (9/27)
Tim Giago: Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina
(9/20)
Tim Giago: NCAA loses its spine
on mascot policy (9/13)
Tim Giago: The
Indian 'scandal sheet' phenomenon (08/30)
Tim Giago: Indians became refugees in own land
(8/23)
Tim Giago: Censor tribes for
supporting mascots (8/17)
Tim Giago: New
addiction takes over in Indian Country (08/02)
Tim Giago: Tribes trade sovereignty for dollars
(7/26)
Giago: Seminole Tribe wrong on
Indian mascots (7/19)
Giago: Underground
Railroad to escape boarding school (7/12)
Giago: Skeletons hidden in Rapid City's closet
(07/07)
Tim Giago: Air Force base not a
blessing to Lakotas (6/30)
Tim Giago:
Tribes to claim downsized military bases (06/07)
Tim Giago: First revolutionary was a Native man
(5/31)
Tim Giago: Many 'wannabe' tribes
seek recognition (05/17)
Tim Giago:
South Dakota press censors Indian writers (05/10)
Tim Giago: White lawyers growing fat off tribes
(04/26)
Tim Giago: Gay marriage debate
killed Democrats (4/19)
Tim Giago: It's
time for wealthy tribes to think Indian (04/05)
Tim Giago: Wealthy tribes don't need federal
funds (03/31)
Tim Giago: Gaming leads to
addiction, crime (03/22)
Tim Giago:
Discrimination in the media and advertising (03/08)
Tim Giago: Black Hills land theft a dishonest
deal (03/01)
Tim Giago: Committing slow
suicide with foods (02/15)
Tim Giago:
Bush probably still against Indian gaming (01/25)
Tim Giago: Calvary re-enactors should know
better (01/18)
Tim Giago: Racism
continues in South Dakota (11/30)
Tim
Giago: Should we listen to Osama bin Laden? (11/23)
Tim Giago: GOP moral values will hurt Indian
Country (11/09)
Tim Giago: Indian
reformists stamped out tribes (11/02)
Tim Giago: I'm not a racist and I haven't seen NMAI
yet (09/29)
Tim Giago: Eastern tribes
are African-American (09/15)
Tim Giago:
Indians have cause to fear Republicans (07/21)
Tim Giago: Casinos create culture of 'us' and
'them' (06/30)
Tim Giago: Boarding
schools cause of many ills (06/14)
Tim
Giago: 'Real' Indians don't fight over money (04/05)
Tim Giago now plans to run for Senate as
independent (03/31)
Tim
Giago: Indians pay no taxes, and other myths (01/26)
Giago: Indian gaming erodes tribal
sovereignty (01/07)
Giago: Gays were
highly respected by Sioux Nation (09/22)
Tim Giago: I'm a fully recovered Catholic
(09/11)
Giago: State should refund tax
money first (08/06)
Giago: Oprah show
changed minds on Indian mascots (07/31)
Copyright © 2000-2006 Indianz.Com
