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 chief seattle debunking




From: mtennent@ix.netcom.com (Michael Tennent)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Chief Seattle
Date: 5 Mar 1995 22:25:10 GMT

This is a follow-up to my previous post re: Omni magazine article on Chief Seattle.

In the Dec 1992 issue, an article by Linda Marsa covers the topic. Briefly:

Chief Seattle was a Suquamish Indian and was a skilled orator and diplomat. But the words popularly ascribed to him were penned by Ted Perry, a screenwriter, for "Home", a 1972 ABC film about ecology.

Chief Seattle did speak eloquently in 1854 (in his native dialect), according to accounts, but translations of his remarks weren't published until 30 years later, by Chief Seattle's "self-appointed Boswell", Henry Smith. In the 30's authors tinkered with the Smith's version. By the time Perry first heard it, at the first Earth Day, the speech had been significantly altered. Perry incorporated the essence of Seattle's sentiments in a script he wrote for the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission.
According to Perry, the film's producers Christianized Seattle's sensibilities and dropped Perry's name - despite his protests- from the script, which left the impression they were Seattle's words.

The thing is littered with flagrant anachronisms, of course. The transcontinental railroad wasn't completed until 15 years after the speech, the great buffalo slaughters didn't peak until 1872, seven years after Seattle's death, and bison never lived anywhere near Pugot Sound.

No harm, no foul?
"Native American culture is constantly being exploited and appropriated as illustrations of whatever European theory is in fashion," says Jack Forbes, professor of native American Studies at UC-Davis. "When will the thefts of our spiritual traditions end?"

Any more sources out there?

Mike "See? No smilies this time." Tennent


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