Tribe members blast Montana official who compared them to species that must ‘assimilate’ or ‘fade away’

Members of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians rebuked Montana’s secretary of state on Monday after he appeared to compare them to other “races” and “species” he said must assimilate into a dominant culture or “fade away.”

An email sent by Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton (R) over the weekend with the subject line “We Were Here First” to businesses in the state and posted on the agency’s website explained his view that Native American tribes must work to assimilate into broader U.S. culture or risk dying out.

“Our Montana and U.S. constitutions attempt to balance both cultural respect and assimilation as noble goals for Indian reservations,” Stapleton wrote shortly after comparing the situation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I suppose Charles Darwin would have a different answer to my question. Darwinism would likely emphasize evolution and ‘the strong survive’ argument,” Stapleton continued, adding, “Species, languages, races all adapt and assimilate or they fade away.”

The remarks were sharply criticized by members of the Little Shell Tribe, who were mentioned in Stapleton’s email.

“No, no, it’s not even fair,” Gerald Gray, chairman of the tribe, told the Independent Record. “It’s not even apples to oranges. It’s apples to onions.”

“It is frustrating because that goes all the way back to boarding schools, with the notion of ‘kill the Indian, save the man,’” added Chris La Tray, another member of the Little Shell Tribe. “They wanted to eliminate the Native parts of who we were to make us assimilate as ‘regular Americans.’ We’re under no obligation to do that. Many of us don’t want to do that. I consider myself a U.S. citizen secondary to a citizen of the Little Shell people.”

Stapleton concluded his email by saying he would pray for Gray and the tribe and congratulating them on achieving federal recognition, and he finished with a line from a cult classic film.

“Perhaps the best wisdom for settling land conflicts, something both Gerald and I would remember, is from an 80’s movie called Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” he wrote. “Be excellent to each other!”