American Indian Women's Activism in the 1960's and 1970's

Regarding the Termination Act of 1953; it's pretty disturbing that political leaders were still trying to eliminate legal rights of American Indians and were still trying to erase their culture and identity as American Indians. Since America is said to be a "free" country than how can a peoples' culture be viewed as un-American? I was a little confused about the role of the BIA in this article. I was under the impression that the BIA was supposed to be helping the Indians; but in many cases the Indians received little or no support from the BIA(i.e; when Indians were victims of violent crimes committed by whites). Although the Alcatraz occupation was not successful in retaining a title to the land, it was widely supported, raised national awareness , and inspired Indian pride. The Alcatraz Occupation was followed by several important policy changes, such as the Indian Self Determination and Education Act, revision of the John O'Malley Act to improve Indian education, the Indian Financing Act and Indian Health Act, and the return of Mt Adams to the Yakima of Washington State. The Fish-in protest was an example of where Indian treaty rights were blatantly disregarded. Indians were arrested for exercising their own rights. Native people here relied on fishing as a source of food. once again, laws were used to benefit a certain group of people, and to exclude Native peoples' rights completely. This protest turned vilent; Alcatraz did not. The Fish-in protest did not have the media/national and political support, and perhaps there was a significant amount of racism present in this part of the state.