Preface

The telephone call did not prepare me for what was coming. The call came to my basement apartment in Billings, Montana, from an Indian Tribal Chairman. Chairman is the title used by the elected head of an Indian Tribe.

The call was from Richard Real Bird, Chairman of the Crow Tribe. I knew who he was, although we had never met. He said he'd heard about me, and invited me to "come out and talk to a few people, and have something to eat."

When I kept that date a few days later, I found several hundred people gathered on the Crow Indian Reservation to hear me speak, and was told that I was the guest of honor of Crow Nation. I described my experiences as a former employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, what I had discovered there, and how this resulted in my being fired as a whistleblower.

Following a feast for those many people, I was included in a "creation" ceremony, and then the meaning of that was explained by the senior Elder present. He said that they had linked my creation with the Crow, and from that day forward I was marked as one of their own.

This book will explain how that all came about, but that particular meeting is not the end of the story. It was a demarcation point, where I realized that my actions as an employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had a powerful effect on the lives of many thousands of people. I would widen my personal search for justice, to include them also. This search would result in personal hardships for me, and for Chairman Real Bird it would lead to a federal penitentiary.

My employment with the Bureau of Indian Affairs lasted less than a year, but my struggle with that organization has continued, at last count, for some nine years. You can count on the fact that the Bureau sees me as a threat, that my words have brought strong reactions from them, and that they have done their best to discredit my testimony and keep me silent.

As this story unfolds, you will find that it is not yet over, and you will be offered a role in it to determine the outcome. It's not a "virtual reality" game or entertainment, because the purpose is deadly serious, and it is a true story, not fiction.

It's a first-person story about my experiences with the Bureau and with Indians, not a research project by a professional writer. I am one of the characters in this story that tells about the horror of justice denied, and the struggle of Indians for freedom and basic human rights.

There is political scandal, billions of dollars are missing from Indian trust accounts, and there is a major Government cover-up. Taxpayers should be alarmed when our Government is corrupt and tax money disappears. Federal employees will cringe at another gag-rule that inhibits their honest behavior, and all citizens should be furious when the Bill of Rights is defeated by Government administrators with the assistance of our courts and federal judges, including the Supreme Court. Free speech simply doesn't exist for Federal employees, at least not where it conflicts with political greed for money and power.

Your help is needed to insure simple justice, make it possible for Indians to survive, and to require the Federal Government to be responsible for its actions. That's a huge undertaking, but by working together it can be done.

I will ask you to join me as an advocate for the human rights of America's Indians, and to help make the world a better place for our children. Together we can uplift humanity, and with compassion we can restore dignity to the lives of our long abused Indian brothers and sisters.

After the events are described, and the facts and arguments presented, you will be invited to make your judgment known. Your decisions, along with those of other readers will be the court of last resort. You will decide the outcome of this story and the fate of the characters in it.

The first chapter gives some background about myself to make it easy for you to see through my eyes. We have much to see together. My life was radically changed by this journey into Indian Country, and I believe your spirit will be touched by the story.