Midday; Learning, the white people way

Dan Wilson here best friend by my side the countdown is underway we'll get to Stephen Smith's documentary report in just a short time as you say we have a bit of big news from the membership department. It appears it looks as though when you hold control over this as you're listening to us it appears as though you will draw close to this fall membership campaign today if you continue on the pace that you're headed on right now. You've been calling in with memberships just 20 minutes ago we had hoped to hear from about eight hundred twenty people to reach our goal of 7000 brand new or renewing members this fall membership campaign. Well you brought it down to seven hundred seventy one in just a few minutes time. Those of you having 70 There you go. Those of you who are listening and calling in. That sounds like a big big number 771 it is of course but actually it's a rather manageable number because there are tens of thousands of you listening right now who haven't bought a year's worth of radio listening in Minnesota Public Radio. And that's what we're after we're after you. Quite frankly when we want to encourage you to call this number because you could bring it to a close today. We had planned to go until into December if we had to just 24 hours a day on Wall to wall pledging all pledge radio all the time doing it. If I had to actually I

don't think we would have done that you can bring it to a close today looks like you can do it. We need to hear from you now with some speed though if you're going to do it. We hope to have you get right on the line anywhere you can hear us in the Minnesota public radio listening area at 1 800 2 2 7. Twenty eight eleven we're going to help you with the numbers here keep you right up to date on where you stand and how quickly are drawing this fall membership campaign to a close. Anywhere you can hear us 1 800 6:58. Twenty eight eleven. Or in the Twin Cities area simply two to seven twenty eight eleven. The other numbers that you should know about is that you can join at many levels become an active listener member of Minnesota Public Radio. The level that most people choose often is the $45 level which is sort of the basic membership level call to more calls. They're coming they're coming so join your friends and colleagues folks. 60 dollars is the household level which translates into a mere five dollars a month which folks we know is not all that much money for this kind of valuable product. If you join at the $60 household level you will receive an know it all T-shirt

with know it all in bold black letters across the front. And if you join at the hundred twenty dollar level which is only $10 a month you will get the long sleeve version of the nouse T-shirt all these numbers 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 included which is the telephone number is a way for us to sort of just engage you invites you urge you and to come and join us to be an active listener member in this partnership that we call Public Radio 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 is the number it's a lot of talk we know to keep going on and on about membership but the message is really a critical one. Oftentimes you sitting and listening to the radio and you think tomorrow tonight we think the other person will do it there are plenty of people who can afford it better than I and they'll join. But we need each and every one of you. This is those kind one of those efforts where every little person every little bit helps it is really one of those like it's a very populist kind of deal we've got going here every person. Is important to the success of the overall effort here of public radio. Every person picking up the phone and

dialing 2 2 7 2 8 1 1. Yeah you got to know dollar is too small to help support mid day to help support the kind of documentary work you're about to hear in just a few minutes here but with 10 of you calling you have gotten the message that you are in command. Now you have the power to close down this day as the final day of our fall membership campaign and really ring in a big success for you and all the other listeners anywhere you can hear us. 1 800 to 2 7 twenty eight eleven is the telephone number that works anywhere in the Minnesota public radio listening area in the Twin Cities area two to seven twenty eight eleven if you subscribe to US West cellular telephone service. Go ahead and dial pound 6 6 9 and that will get you right straight to the volunteer reallife people who know all of the membership categories they know that gives available the T-shirt all the all the other stuff the reporter's bag and so on. And they can explain it to you get a billing procedure worked out for you it's a very short transaction with your Visa Mastercard or American

Express or Discover card if you like but most importantly do it now because every call is counted down there the new count. Seven hundred sixty eight it's down now from about eight hundred twenty say about 20 minutes ago now down to seven hundred sixty three volts we hope to hear from as newer renewing members towards the goal of seven thousand people in membership started on Saturday of this week the goal was seven thousand six thousand two hundred thirty two of you have called in a great big thank you to those of you have called in now we are waiting for 768 Morgan to call you will bring this membership to a close probably today if you go to the telephone to call. The most important thing is to not wait for someone else to do it just go ahead and do it now at 1 800 2 2 7. Twenty eight eleven in just a few minutes you will be hearing a documentary by my colleague Steven Smith the white people way about experiences in the Indian boarding schools and the suppression of Native American culture this is the kind of subject matter and the kind of. Of programming that you do not hear elsewhere on the dial. You know there has been so much talk in the

last decade or so about broadening the way we think about American culture and American history about who we are as a people what our heritage really consists of. And I think that this documentary is an important contribution to that discussion to also to the effort that's ongoing going on in schools in the on the elementary school level and high school level in the universities to broaden the discussion to broaden really the subject matter of American history and who and how we learn you know. So when you get the opportunity to hear a documentary like the white people way you're getting a chance to really sort of be part of that process as well to really learn something you may not have known before. To get a whole new way of looking at American history and at culture and society here in Minnesota as well. All this for really a very very low price I think it For example if you join at the basic membership level of $45 to 2 7 2 8 1 1 is your entree into this kind of programming that you hear every day. A Minnesota Public Radio with its long form radio during midday

or a call in from midday or a speaker of note on midday to 2 7 2 8 1 1 is your way of ensuring yourself that you will continue to get this kind of quality programme. It will always be at your fingertips but you need to make that move. Make the call to ensure that it will be and that it will grow and that it will get better and better and keep on addressing the issues and the subjects that you want to hear about. Now the number is down to seven hundred sixty five. We hope to hear from 765 of you in the next few hours feel like a horse race to physical horse racing. We now that we are talking about numbers going down in the phone is ringing in the lights are lighting up you know it sort of like well you know going here for the finish line we are neck and neck you know the finish and the prize the prize is a great prize thats the great thing about this race of membership week the prize is really something quite wonderful the the flourishing of public radio in your community. The in the you know sort of the flourishing of the dialogue our community dialogue together about our lives about what it means about where we want to go as a community and as a nation

so you know as the saying goes and as the series said Keep your eyes on the prize we are doing that right here at the prize is public radio alive and growing. And what we need to do to keep heading towards the finish line and getting to that prize is your call 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 so join the race you know. There are a lot of what we call the lanes. There are lot of lanes on the strategy. One for many horses and many riders room for you 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 is the number to call if you're calling from outside the Twin Cities but a 100 in front of the 2 2 7 2 8 1 1. Settle up get on the horse join the race get into jockey position push the little cap on your head down to 2 7 2 8 1 1. 10 of you calling with calls of support this noncommercial radio service brings you mid day and with $60 that's $5 a month a volunteer will give you a billing procedure that works for you. It takes about 90 seconds. Go ahead and find your Visa or MasterCard American Express or Discover Card has come to the telephone if you want to use plastic to pay for a

years worth of membership. Then you will have a very good feeling of success and support for this noncommercial service for this spot on your dial the FM News Service. It brings you mid day with carry on and all the voices from National Public Radio. Tom Gjelten who's reporting from the former Yugoslavia has been so important and has been a calling guest with Kerry on midday. Governor Arnie Carlson other state leaders who have come into the studio to talk with you wherever you may be living in Minnesota giving you reaction in response to concerns that listeners call and you know I bet that there are many people out there we've had that wonderful experience of tuning into midday and then there's a speaker on that that they really want to hear from whether it's the pediatrician T Berry Brazelton or it's the writer Amy Tan and you think I can talk to them I could pick up the phone and talk to them and I can ask Dr. Brazelton a question about my son and he will answer me best friend now that I'm an amazing wonderful thing that's Access folks that's access to the best and the brightest. And that's what public radio offers each of us access

not only to the conversation that's going on by listening in to it but also by engaging very directly in dialogue. When you call into TALK OF THE NATION you connected to all your fellow fellow citizens all across the country. You have a feeling about what they're talking about you feel passionately you have an opinion you get to express it you have an urgent question. You get to ask it again. That's another beauty of public radio all that continues all that will always be there for you if you join you know if you support it. If we all get together get on this wagon you know join the race whatever you know metaphor you'd like to use to get yourself to the phone. Use it. But it's all about the same thing. High quality public radio for you seven days a week 24 hours a day if you call 2 2 7 2 8 1 1. It's down to seven hundred sixty two now we hope to hear from seven hundred sixty two new or renewing members in the waning hours here of this Fall membership campaign we are hearing from you one by one that's exactly the way it happens when you call with your pledge

of support. Toll free anywhere in the Minnesota public radio listening area we've had up to 11 of you on the line just a couple of seconds ago. The transaction is very short so we have the little lights in front of us which indicate how the calls are coming in downstairs. I've been coming in very well with pledges of support from midday anywhere in the Minnesota public radio listening area this is the toll free number that works 1 800 to 2 7 twenty eight 11. Now the numbers just changed again it's down to seven hundred fifty nine The goal. For this fall membership campaign is to hear from 7000 new or renewing members. Can you believe it. Six thousand two hundred forty one people have called already with pledges of support for brand new memberships or renewing memberships. Now the last seven hundred fifty nine of you were hoping to hear from you. The membership people who do these numbers tell us yes it can be done you can shut it down today this can be the last day of a successful fall membership campaign. You have the power now in your hand and with a minute remaining 50 seconds remaining We hope to hear from those of you who will simply step forward if you've been procrastinating go find your

Visa or MasterCard American Express or Discover card and take the time now to call us at 1 800 to 2 7 twenty eight 11 or in the Twin Cities 2 2 7 28 11 with 30 seconds remaining. OK I understand if you want to progress and you have a lot to do. You have a to do list thats a mile long. I know in your million things going on but it will only take a few seconds youll feel really good that you did it afterwards. And then you will be really be able to enjoy what's coming up which is learning the white people way documentary by Stephen Smith. And as I said before if you're not convinced now to pick up the phone and dial 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 I know that you will be doing it convinced totally after you hear this documentary because this is what public radio is all about. 2 2 7 2 8 1 1. Give us a call. My name is Ted moto. I'm 67 years old. I'm a retired teacher and a Native American from the Red Lake band of Chippewa in northern Minnesota. When I was seven. My father killed my mother so I got sent to government boarding schools operated just for

Indian children. My brothers and sisters went to. The boarding schools were in Pipestone Minnesota and find new South Dakota far from my home. It's not a well-known part of American history but the government set up an extensive system of boarding schools to bleach the red out of Indian children to make us into white people. Nearly half a million Native American children went to those schools. Indian people are forever changed. Burning the white people. Documentary essay on the history of federal Indian boarding school by Stephen Smith and Ted motto. At my childhood home in northern Minnesota. People were always speaking on a

language we had relatives and most of us spoke English as well. There were always discussions on how to tan a deer hide. How to Make a bow and or how to cook a muskrat. But the federal boarding schools wanted me to forget all that the Pipestone Indian training school where I got sent first was located in the southwestern corner of Minnesota. It opened in 1893 and closed 60 years later. I went back to visit Pipestone recently but there's not much of the school left. A curator at the County Historical Museum showed me some papers and photos from the place. Yes I know. Here's Harry buck and get along. When he finished. Kids ran away almost every day almost every day. And the farmers

especially north of here north of Port St.. All of them looked out for runaways because they got five bucks when they got back. Those pictures were not starving to look at. But life at the Pipestone Indian School was pretty harsh. Each morning the boys advisor would bark at us to wake up. He carried a large bottle of ice water with them to dump on us if we were too drowsy. We marched to meals marched to school. I think the matrons treated girls a bit better but when boys misbehaved we got a whipping. I drove around what's left of the Pipestone Indian school with a couple of companions old memories visited me like the memory of my fifth grade teacher. I used to sing in her class the last hour in the day was singing and I would get up and real loud I'm a loud bugger and she loved it. So when I got in the seventh grade she sent word up to the teacher that she wanted me still to

come down and sing for her. What no one knew was that once a week when we sang as on Friday last day she would always give me two candy bars and I had to eat them at her desk standing next to her while she played with me. And I thought she loved me. So the next year you know they are sending all eighth grader little Flandria new program. So I get to go to Flanders of eighth graders. And one time we walk from final over here to see my. I want to see my brother and sisters. I remember walking in front of the school building and I saw her and I thought she loved me. See I ran up behind her and I put my hands over her eyes thinking Oh she'd be so glad to have her lover back you know. She slapped me told me never to touch her again. Blew me away for a couple weeks at least.

In the early 1900s. The federal government sponsored a project to capture traditional Indian music on wax cylinders. At the same time government boarding schools were busy trying to erase that culture from Indian memory. In fact. Schooling the savages as we Indians were called had been going on for hundreds of years. Jesuit missionaries established the first European style schools in Florida around fifteen sixty eight churches spread the work and the U.S. government eventually joined in. In 1819 Congress directed the federal Indian service a branch of the War Department to teach native children how to be European style farmers. The US made war on Indians to get at tribal land as

compensation. Washington offered treaties including a promise of education for Indian children. The first men to head the Indian service made it clear in their annual reports that boarding schools made a most effective weapon. These establishment go further in my opinion towards securing our borders from bloodshed and keeping peace among the Indians themselves and attaching them to us than with the physical force of our army. The dark clouds of ignorance and superstition in which these people have so long been envelops seemed to be breaking away and the light of Christianity and general knowledge to be dawning upon their moral and intellectual darkness. It is indispensably necessary that Indians be placed in positions where they can be controlled and finally compelled by stern necessity to resort to agricultural labor or starve. The Bureau of Indian Affairs began building its own system of boarding schools in the 1870s every state in the northwest and many states

elsewhere in the country had at least one school. Clara SU Kidwell is a professor of Native American Studies at the University of California Berkeley Kidwell says that from the start boarding schools maintained a stern military tone. RICHARD PRATT for instance who established Carlisle The First off reservation school was a military man and he had fought when on the planes and he ended up being I guess working with prisoners at Fort Marion in Florida. And that's where he felt strongly that the only way to really save these Indians as people was to take the indigenous out of them. And he set up Carlisle specifically is that kind of training ground. RICHARD PRATT embrace the idea called outing my father and other Indian students at Carlisle were kept with white Christian families during holidays in the summer. Historian Leonard Brewer of the University of South Dakota. Says Indian children could do

little to retain their native ways. They didn't have family to rely on they were so far away from home they couldn't run away and so they were really prisoners. And Pratt always thought that the best way to get the savageness out of the savages was to turn it into a farm. In training these would be farmers the U.S. government's first target was language language is really the heart of any culture. Hundreds of native languages and dialects were to be replaced by English. Children were whipped or had their mouth washed with soap for speaking Indian. Cornelia L or a Dakota and Josephine Robinson and Ojibwe went to Pipestone at the turn of the century. They were interviewed by historians in the 1960s. The letter used to be that white people were not supposed to be Indian So that was almost too much. And I

think as I got older you know party 66 where I was I was the next time I was puzzled why can't I be here you know why can't I do things I want to do what can I talk about what I am. And yet I was a little bit shy phrases like I don't know what I had to be. It was a joke. Now I couldn't talk a word of English was the language. And when I went to the kindergarten I couldn't understand why the teacher always made me sit in the corner chair. I never knew what she was talking to because I couldn't understand her and I wasn't doing anything no just sitting there trying to listen you know she thought of the stuff and I said because I never answered her letter which your. Historians say that many Indian families became eager for their children to get a boarding school education. But other families refused in the early years government

agents withheld rations of food and clothing to hungry families forcing their cooperation in other places. Indian children were taken from reluctant families at gunpoint parents were thrown in jail. Charles dog with horns the Cheyenne River Sioux was born in one thousand to one policeman come here on their way home. School children. Picked him up. Police. Most missionaries and government school teachers thought they were doing good Christian service boarding schools far away from the reservation were considered most effective that indoctrinating young Indians. Father Ben a watchman worked with the Indians in northern Minnesota for many decades. He said sending children off to boarding school was like pulling teeth. Father Benwell was interviewed in 1968.

You know I mean you can't speak anything but what he can hardly get hold a job. That's right that's right. I did in a government school. They learned to wash dishes. They learned to handle themselves. How do the kids when they got back from the government schools did you work enough with children to have some idea of the effect that the schools had on them. There was a Cabo tendency from the government also from our cafe Union schools. That when they got home they dropped back to their old Indian ways. You know that's that was that. There was a terrible letdown after a year to. Them what they learned in the government schools. Except for I don't know when I've got a job. Course for Indian children of the turn of the century boarding schools were often a scary new world by sacred custom. Most native people lived in communities based on the circle our wigwams and tepees were circular villages were pitched in circles. It all reflected the hoop of life. But federal schools were designed along rigid right

angles. The rooms and hallways and windows were all rectangles strict Victorian discipline at the schools also shocked many Indian children. Rosemary Christiansen is director of Indian Education for the Minneapolis Public Schools. Now I don't believe that that we can talk too harshly about what we have suffered. We Indian people have suffered from that particular point in our history I call it the negs Sackey and Hiroshima. Indian education because it basically destroyed the fiber of our family life. Virtually every Indian family has boarding school stories to tell. Yvonne Leith as a 52 year old Dakota she lives in St. Paul probably my mother and her her brothers and sisters were the first in our family probably to go to boarding school I think it was either Pipestone or Wahpeton. And the stories she told were horrendous. They were beatings they were. A very young classmate I don't know how old they were probably preschool or grade school

who lost a hand and having to clean this machine that bake bread or cut doll or something and having to kneel for hours on cold basement floors as punishment. Leith runs a shelter for battered Indian women. She believes the violence and isolation in boarding schools crushed her mother's traditional maternal instincts. My mother lived with a rage all her life and I think the fact that they were taken away so young was part of this region and how it is fall out was on us as a family. I think our cousins and all of us endured beatings. It wasn't that that that family love or caring affection that was something we never knew. University of Minnesota historian Roger buffalo head says most tribal people did not traditionally use physical punishment to discipline their children. Yet you find by the 30s and 40s in most native

communities with large numbers of young people had in the previous years attended boarding schools an increasing number of parents who utilize corporal punishment in the raising of their children. So that although I don't think you can prove a direct connection I think you can certainly see that boarding school experiences where. Corporal punishment was the name of the game. Had its impact on the next generations of Native people. As hard as I tried to get away from that environment I recreated it again. Yvonne Leith I could hear my mother's voice. I could see my mother acts with the way I treated my children. I think I try to be totally nonviolent now but I was very yeah. I used to you know not beat beat beat my children but. I think the the yelling the screaming the things that my mother used to say to us came

out my voice. And I apologized to my children today. I said things don't have to be always be that way but you can make a difference for the coming generations. Not all of us Indian elders are bitter about the federal boarding schools. Not everything the schools did was bad. One day recently I talked over old times with Beulah Roberson woman I know in Minneapolis back in the 30s and I went to the same schools she disagrees with me on how cool it was to send Indian children so far from home. Don't you think that was for the kids good because I know in my time we went hungry a lot of times we didn't have no shoes to wear. And when my dad took me to the school we got three meals a day. We got good education we got clothes like I said you know because our

parents didn't have any money to buy us anything. And I'm glad that my dad took me there. I'm going to be. Probably 99 98 percent of the Indian people had no jobs on the reservations in the tens twenties and thirties. And this was a neat way to solve a problem from a white man's standpoint what are we going to do with these Indians. We can't kill them. But we can take them and put them in Indian schools and teach them how to be better. Americans. I know and when I went to school I pipes. You know for all the buses that go out to different reservations and bring the kids into school and then in the spring they took them home for the summer. And no we didn't have no place to go so we stayed right at the school and then we got paid like a dollar a day for work

either in the kitchen or the boys who worked in the garden. And that's only the only money we ever seen you know I mean it was a good deal and I could go to school get something to eat. Everybody gone bad. For you. Over the years the U.S. government built hundreds of Indian schools. Most of the 31 remaining be-I operated boarding schools are located on reservations only five off reservation boarding schools still exist. One of them is the Flandria Indian School near Sioux Falls South Dakota. I graduated from Finder when one thousand forty one. Almost all of the old buildings have been replaced except this gymnasium. This is where the spectators stood during the basketball games. It would be packed. I met my first wife standing on a stage right

there singing a song and she was on the floor right in front of me. I saw this pretty little face. I asked my brother who is that someone a meter. Yeah he was we ended up getting married. It's kind of a good story. My visit to Flanders showed how much the school has changed and how much it's still the same each year Flandria admits more than 600 students by year's end. Nearly half of them go back home to school or drop out altogether. A 1969 Senate investigation found the Flandria and other government boarding schools had become dumping grounds for troubled Indian children. Assistant principal Ron Garner says more of today's students aren't flying through because of emotional or family problems. Garner urges visitors to see behind Flanders rather bleak statistics for a new school that 600 kids and 250 from dropped out. My

God that's bad. That's horrible on paper. On paper that's really terrible. But of those two hundred fifty two hundred of them are back in school from place. In the 50 that let's say just as just the 50 that actually dropped out. There dropped out anywhere. Students at Philander live in dry brick and block buildings on a wide treeless yard. As in my area their daily lives are still dictated by clocks and bells. But the students are no longer obliged to spend half their day doing manual labor. Many of the kids say they're glad to be at 400. Patricia Peters is a senior from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Well when I was. In Pine Ridge going to school there the eighth grade. They mentioned this place to me and said it be better for me because. It's just too smart for the school back home. I got straight

A's so I came here and. It was a little more challenging. But like many of Landrieu students Patricia was also escaping self-destruction back on the rez. I was always just drinking you know and didn't really care for school I skipped a lot. Because it seemed like everybody my age all they did was drink and do drugs. I don't know it was all different when I came up here. Because it seemed like a lot of people cared up here and they paid attention to what you did. The education these young people get at Flandrau is much different than in my time. The Ojibway trickster one of them anyway years out when the book is you. And that's how it's pronounced. Looks like. But this is a Native American literature class a subject unheard of back in the 30s. It's a fairly recent addition to the curriculum. There's a traditional drum group on campus called young voice. There was no drum

group in my days apply Andrew Scott to Mars from cest and South Dakota student council president. He's also a singer in the group. Like many students one of the things Scott likes best about Flandria is being among so many American Indians like you knew me people from different tribes different religions and different stories and backgrounds gets kind of neat after a while. Here some lighter old legends and it's just fun. Yes but the spiritual and cultural power of the drum doesn't seem to play as big a role on campus as it could as only some people like it into a lot of people are too cool I guess you know to be Indians you know I don't know that is sweet. They don't get into you know they make they walk around making fun of us like we walk around singing our songs you know like will be just think of a song you know will be humming it or something and you know they'll be real buttholes and say something and then no one really gives us too much crap about it because. We're doing an Indian thing and they're in institute you know they can't hide the fact that I was going to be in.

Federal boarding schools have long been criticized for providing substandard education. Most of the Indian staffers at Flandrau send their children to the local public school. Over the last 50 years the government closed many of its boarding schools as public and tribal schools open closer to reservations. Now about 90 percent of Indian children go to local public schools. Flandria assistant principal Ron Garner insists that the five remaining off reservation schools including Flandrau are needed now more than ever. Gordon says they're the last chance for many Indian students to taste success. Success to us is simply coming to school a success. It's completing the school year passing agreed. That's success. Success is getting up. At the appropriate time making your beds are functioning over in the

dormitories functioning well and coming over to class and and getting it done. You can look at it this way. Boarding schools like Landrieu are now struggling to repair the damage they did to Indian people generations ago. If our traditional families were still intact Indian kids might not have the highest dropout rate in the nation. But not all Indian scholars agree. My name is Janina Lomo Aima and I'm an assistant professor in the anthropology department an American Indian Studies Center at University of Washington in Seattle. The thing that most people have talked about is the legacy of boarding school experience has been a new sense of Pan tribal pan indian identification in the forging of ties across tribes across very different groups of people. And that that has been a powerful force in sort of mobilizing Indian political strength Indian activism the evolution of teaching

methods and an aggressive attempt by the BFI to get out of the education business. Forced government boarding schools to change. Claris who Kidwell at the University of California suggests that for Indian people boarding schools were not entirely evil because if you look at the networks of people who made their initial contacts with each other during boarding schools who then went on. Like my parents to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to carve out professional careers to get college degree. I had to go back to work for Indian communities. You see that they're they're using the mechanisms of the boarding schools as ways of really furthering their own ends and the ends of their communities. While many other ethnic minorities now see school as the road to a better life. MIKE HIRST of South High School in Minneapolis observes that it's not so true for his own Indian people. Her first target finder for eight years. The school is that

now South High has one of the largest urban Indian student populations in the country. Education has been the enemy it's been the means of destruction rather than the means of getting up and out. And I think we suffer from that in that there's still a feeling of kind of and antagonism toward education even though most of us when you really get into it know that education is very important to success. Indian parents are still sending their children to boarding schools because that is the only choice and that is what I consider to be a real tragedy. Again Rosemary Christiansen of the Minneapolis Public schools in the 60s the reports that were done out of these schools were part of what was called a tragedy and that tragedy continues. It's become however commonplace now. It's just taken for granted these kind of horrible statistics about our children are just shrug. So that's

the way it is. That's what I think is incredibly uncivilized about you Americans. When I left find Union School in 1041 I wanted to be a pilot. But I found out my boarding school education wasn't good enough. So I started life in the white world as a welder. A trait I learned in the shop at Flanders. My boarding school teachers did little to inspire me. The most important teacher to me was my second grade teacher in the public school I went to before I got sent away. She taught me to love reading a gift I never would have gotten at the boarding school. Eventually I made it to college then taught in public schools for 40 years. I vowed never to send any of my six children away to government school. Perhaps some day boarding schools will outlive their current purpose because Indian children will be able to survive and

succeed in their schools at home. Until that day. Let's hope those young Indians that find you and at the other boarding schools. The same with all the breath they've got. And pound that drum till someone here this is tomato. Learning the white people way was written by Stephen Smith and Ted motto reporting in production by Stephen Smith and Chris Jewell and technical director John Sure. Historic recordings provided by the Institute of American Indian Studies at the University of South Dakota and the Library of Congress support for this program was provided by the northwest area foundation. Learning the white people enjoyed the program found it interesting. We should note by the way that

it was originally broadcast in 1991. Joining us now to bring us up to date on the membership week activities on what could be the last day of this membership week. Yes it could be the last day of membership week. This is true this is no law if your calls keep coming in at 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 at the rate that they have been coming in this afternoon and since this morning really. Then we will be able to call a halt to this month's membership drive 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 of the magic numbers for you to call to show your support of public radio to show your support of programming like long form documentaries like the white people way substantive provocative public radio. That's what you supporting when you call 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 to talk to volunteers. You can choose which level you feel comfortable joining. Use a credit card pay directly whichever way is easiest for you. All you have to do is pick up the phone to make it happen. 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 if you want to vote a resounding yes on this documentary on the white people way on

hearing long form radio of high quality and hearing subject matter that you cannot hear anywhere else on the dial for example in this case about the experience of Native Americans in boarding schools the experience of having their culture really ripped. Suppressed and robbed from them almost. This is the kind of information that gets out into the public arena through one channel folks that's public broadcasting and that's what we are right here on your dial. Public broadcasting. Now that public it means you and me together not just people here producing and talking into microphones it means listeners active listeners listener members who pick up the phone and say Yes I like this yes I want this 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 is the number you have to call. This is a vote. This is really asking for your vote of confidence your vote of affirmation that this is what you want to hear that this is the kind of audience you are this is the kind of listener you are intelligent sophisticated and demanding. 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 if you're calling from outside the Twin Cities area code. Put a 1 800 in front of that two to seven to eight women but if you are anywhere in the Minnesota public radio

listening area that is the number two to seven to eight when one can say it often enough can say it with as much. You know it's Can't say it enough. This is the way to go this is the way to insure. The growth and the flourishing of public radio in your community 12 of you calling right now with your vote of support for Minnesota Public Radio or your FM news station the documentary you just heard learning the people way produced by Stephen Smith. Other kinds of things heard on mid day are not just documentaries but also engaging intelligent discussions right now. Anywhere you can hear us in the Minnesota public radio listening area. Help us bring this fall membership campaign to a successful close today by calling us anywhere you can hear us. 1 800 to 2 7 twenty eight 11 here's what's happened to the numbers just in the minutes that Beth was talking there the numbers are down to seven hundred fourteen about five minutes ago we had hoped to hear from about seven hundred twenty six of you. Now seven hundred fourteen of you becoming brand new members or renewing

members will bring us to the goal of seven thousand seven hundred fourteen you say a lot of calls yes but there are tens of thousands of you listening right now who have been using the service. We've issued the invitation to join and sustain a year's worth of broadcasting now 15 of you calling voting with your support that's a great show of support. That's how fast it can go those numbers will dwindle very very quickly. You will reach. You will help us reach the goal of 7000 brand new or renewing members this fall membership campaign. Already six thousand two hundred eighty six of your neighbors friends and folks around the region have called. Now it remains for 714 of you to step forward bring this fall membership campaign to a close. Anywhere you can hear us. 1 800 to 2 7 twenty 811 you know it's hard to feel that our individual actions in the world make a difference. It's all you know in this very big computerised world of ours it's just hard to feel that by doing one simple thing or taking one action you as an individual have an impact.

But this is this is one of the few experiences where there that is not true where you are one vote your one phone call makes an enormous difference. So on other people might say in the commercial broadcasting that's well not a lot of people listening to radio between noon and 1 you know the numbers are small and there really isn't a big audience for this kind of thing. But that's not how we look at it. You are the audience we know you're out there. We know what you expect to receive in terms of up to date news news analysis the in-depth look at social issues call it opportunities we know you're out there and you may not be a big enough number to concern certain people in the culture but you are certainly a big enough number to concern us. And an interesting enough number to consider you know concern us. So let us know you out there this is a way of sort of like raising your hand in class or pulling the lever in the voting booth this is a way of sort of being seen and being heard by picking up the phone and dialing 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 and saying yet here. But look radio listener want to be active want programs like learning the white people way. One other long form documentaries

want to be able to call and want to hear TALK OF THE NATION. Each day at 1:00 o'clock and hear Ray Suarez from Washington an extremely intelligent and versatile radio host who really deals with two complex subjects a day really wraps his mind and his hands around them and invites very pertinent guests into the studio gives you access to them. Where else do you get this kind of stimulation this kind of access to dialogue on public radio. That's what we are. That's who you're listening to. 2 2 7 2 8 1 1. We have to hear from you. We have to get your part of the partner you know your. Your partnership in here to make it all work 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 right Dan now seven hundred ten people remaining best friend we're calling on you we're inviting you now to close out this fall membership campaign the goal is to hear from 7000 brand new or renewing members six thousand two hundred ninety folks have called so far. Now it remains for 710 of you around our great big upper Midwest region where ever you can hear the sound of our voice. You're not just doing it alone from Red Lake Falls or from Italy

or from Rose or from Thief River Falls or from Bemidji or lake park or any of those communities you're working with folks in other communities around our region. The Twin Cities area River Falls Wisconsin Auclair wherever you can hear the sound of our voice here's the toll free number 1 800 2 2 7 twenty eight eleven to bring this fall membership campaign to a close with a resoundingly success. A year's worth of radio at the $60 level is the level that a lot of people find comfortable $5 a month. 16 cents a day do you believe that $5 a month $60 a year. A lot of people start out at the $45 level the volunteer will tell you about the gifts available at the various membership categories which include the news T-shirt the short sleeve version of the know it all k n o w know it all t shirt give it to a supervisor or a boss you want to poke at it gently with just a slight reminder that perhaps they don't know it all. You can get the know it all t shirt at the $60 level but most importantly you vote with your telephone to sustain this kind of service. You're not doing it alone you're working with

others. And when you call 1 800 two to seven twenty eight eleven you're also voting to bring this membership campaign open and close it. A couple of days ahead of schedule. You know we radio let my imagination run wild. Radio lets me create Way own image radios for our brains. Radio is just playing but you can never listen to too much radio but you can watch too much TV. So be careful because if you there you may be aware like Jimmy Jimmy. That changed. History. What. Do you. Say.

Yes that Shel Silverstein poem Jimmy jet this time coming our way from children from the Immaculate Heart of Mary elementary school working with gdb really Barnet So you know a good reminder not to watch too much television but to keep listening to the radio where equality reigns supreme or 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 is the number to call to keep that quality up there and keep it coming. 2 2 7 2 8 1 1. Here come the new pledge totals as we started telling you they're at 700 now. Twenty four members ago seven hundred twenty four. And now we hope to hear from 700 of you to close out today. I think it's really doable today this fall membership campaign on the goal to hear from 7000 brand new or renewing members now we've heard from six thousand three hundred of you.

Thank you very much. And now 700 more of you if you'll step to the telephone you'll bring a resoundingly close and sound of success to this fall membership campaign by calling us anywhere you can hear us in the Minnesota Public Radio area at 1 800 2 2 7 twenty eight 11. That's the number to call the poem reminds us in a very wonderful and light hearted way about what really is of value in this world and what really gives you. Gives you what you want to hear gives you substance gives you inspiration keeps you informed keeps you thinking keeps you involved and keeps the Dimmu the community debate going. That is public radio a partnership between you listener members and we the staff of Minnesota Public Radio. And this is the time to sort of act on that partnership by picking up the phone and dialing 2 2 7 2 8 1 1 in just a few seconds we're going to be going back to our regular programming day but we'll be here to take your calls right. That's all the afternoon and keep those numbers going down. You bet the volunteers are standing by so stay with us a listening and get ready to call that number anywhere you hear us 1 800 2 2 7. Twenty eight 11.