Charlot's "He has filled our graves with our bones"

Although this speech was translated and then revised, I feel that the author has successfully done a great job of relaying its message. I really like this piece because I have heard the story about the Indians being driven out of their land and forced to live on reservations, but never from an Indian’s point of view.

The tone in this piece is clearly that of anger. Charlot expresses his anger towards the lying white man who broke his promise and who greedily took away their homes. First, his tribe was driven away from their land and forced to live on reservations in Washington and Montana. Then, they were forced to leave the reservation in Washington and take up residence exclusively in Montana. Furthermore, when the white man was in need of money, the Indians were forced to pay taxes. Charlot says, “… he wants us to give him money-- pay him more. When shall he be satisfied? A roving skulk, first; a natural liar, next; and, withal, a murderer, a tyrant.” It is clear to see why Charlot developed such hatred for the white man.

I think that the passage that serves to prove a larger point outside of itself is when Charlot communicates, that “Yes, they say we are not good. Will he tell his own crimes? No, no; his crimes to us are left untold. But the Desolator bawls and cries the danger of the country from us, the few left of us. Other tribes kill and ravish his women and stake his children, and eat his steers, and he gives them blankets and sugar for it. We, the poor Flatheads, who never troubled him, he wants now to distress and make poorer” (387). What Charlot may be speaking of is the unjust consequences of revenge. Due to the acts of a few (other tribes), he and his people are being exploited and unfairly punished.

The passage that I find striking is that of the aged Indian. He, his wife, and his daughter take in the freezing white men out of the cold. They help them with their ailments and make sure that they are safe. The men refuse to stay and they leave only to return later that night and murder the whole family for a few skins and a couple of horses. It is sad to hear that they had to kill the whole family for so little, especially after the hospitality that was provided to them. I think that the possibility of the white men being able to steal what little the harmless Indian family had could have been easily accomplished without taking their lives.

I think that, in order to see the big picture, you have to read both Charlot and Cochise’s speeches. In Cochise’s speech, he talks about the arrival of the white man. He mentions how he and his people accepted the white man. They fed him and showed him how to roam and live off of the land. The white man then turned around and did the Indians wrong. They were then forced to live on reservations or face extinction. Charlot’s speech picks up where Cochise left off. He talks about the way the white man treated his people once they were living on the reservations. Although the accounts of these Indian men have to do with two distinct tribes, the reader can get a very good picture of the sufferings that the white man inflicted on all Indian tribes.