The letters I have submitted in the past few years have been mostly concerning the Klamath Tribes and possible land acquisitions. In them, I have tried to convey an opinion on how I believe the general public's perception of the reality of the termination of the Klamath tribes is wrong.

I hear a lot of people who think that it was some great blunder on the tribe's part. It wasn't. The “selling” of our land was not even a concept until some members of Congress dreamed up another way to relieve the Indians with valuable land of that land. Imagine that. Don't hold the presses. The truth of the matter is the government wanted our land because of the timber. Any other version of events is just semantics.

I challenge anyone to show me where it says in the treaty of 1864 that in the advent of tribal prosperity, the tribes must relinquish their lands. That little idea wasn't floated until the government needed good timber to feed the baby boom of the times. Once the goods had been gotten, the practice was outlawed.

Fifty years ago the Klamath tribes fell victim to more U.S. Government trickery. I imagine there are a lot of people who are still alive who are aware of the situation more than I, but in all the people you talk to, ask if they were satisfied with the results. You will see a clear difference depending on who you talk to.

I do not speak for the Klamath Tribes or for Indians in general. I speak for myself as a person who is tired of listening to the hypocrisy perpetuate unchecked while the earth upon which we all must live is degraded drastically by a few, and then more times than not gets blamed on the Indians who have lived here forever.

I guess it all boils down to human nature and the circumstances surrounding having nothing to lose and everything to gain and then dealing with it when the tables turn.

Randy Henry

Portland