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MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2002

"I cannot BELIEVE the amount of letters I received after last week's dissertation (i.e., my rantings and ravings) about Christopher Columbus, and about our educational system's disenchanting perpetuation of the hero-myth surrounding the man's supposed "discovery" of America.

To be honest, I kind of expected to have my arse handed to me in a (very large) basket by teachers and educators.

Quite to the contrary, teachers rallied behind my ramblings, even voicing their own frustrations about being forced to teach patriotic propaganda over the truth about Columbus.

One writer, however, voiced extreme disappointment with me in discovering that I am not the Indian he'd always wanted me to be. "Until (last week's column), I liked reading you because you didn't seem to be like all the rest of our Indians around here, always whining and complaining about Columbus and what the white man has supposedly done to you. Now I see I was wrong," he wrote. . ."

Get the Story:
Potter Column: Charting a course for Indian holiday (The Billings Gazette 4/27)

Relevant Links:
John Potter - http://hometown.aol.com/indinartist/jpotterhome.html

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