Confusion, fear, maladjustment, apathy and loss of self-respect are only some of the effects of the historically contemptuous and disparaging treatment of Native Americans by white people. Beginning with the original European colonization and continuing through often forceful attempts at absorption into the U.S. society as a whole, such treatment is based less on actual knowledge of the Indian than on the myth of the ignorant and incompetent savage. This is a view which conveniently assuages the guilt of white people over the continued use of the Indian to political advantage, the usurpation of well over 50% of his land and the near-extermination of a native people, and which significantly contributes to the "Indian Problem" today. It is the basis of an economic and political system, essentially represented by the poorly organized and unresponsive Bureau of Indian Affairs, that has made the Indians "the poorest and most depressed ethnic group in the United States". Since the 1960's, increased political knowledge, ethnic self-awareness and growing militancy on the part of the Indians have emphasized the need for "ideological acceptance" if the Indian is to be truly integrated into the U.S. society. (SB)