New law will educate Montanans on misunderstood minority. American Indians

Our nation’s greatest monuments and the world’s most recognizable symbols of freedom were built by people who were not free. The U.S. Capitol building, the White House, and the Washington monument were all constructed primarily by slaves.

I pointed out this startling irony to the state Senate a few years ago when the Legislature approved making Montana the fiftieth and last state to recognize Martin Luther King Day. We were probably last because less than 1 percent of our state population is black. No significant constituency pushed for Martin Luther King Day in Montana and so we ignored the day until national attention focused on us for doing so. We then acted as a result of pressure from outside our state rather than from within it.

By Bob Brown
Senior fellow
O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West http://www.crmw.org

Bob Brown is an educator who served Montana in both of Montana’s House and Senate and Secretary of State and is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West.

Full Discussion: http://www.headwatersnews.org/brown013106.html