To the editor:
In light of the recent tragedy that occurred in North Lawrence, I would like to send my prayers and condolences to the families of the accident victims. It's a terrible thing when accidents happen under these circumstances.
However, in retrospect, I have to ask the Journal-World staff what they were thinking when they decided to print the accident scene on the front page. First of all, for most of the history of European-First Nations contact, First Nations people have had to deal with the stigma of the "drunk Indian." They have had to deal with the Europeans' use of alcohol as a weapon in bargaining with land treaties, many like the Sauk and Fox of the Mississippi's situation in 1867, where, under influence of illicit alcohol supplied by the "Centropolis Gang," Chief Keokuk signed away their Kansas lands, near Ottawa.
Secondly, the accident was haunting for me because my brother's truck looked just as mangled as the truck on the front page after his accident in 1993. The irony is that his accident occurred in daylight, he too was life-flighted and the accident was in the Topeka Capital-Journal but there was no picture taken of the accident. The same can be said of the accident I drove by on K-10 last fall where an older woman pulled in front of an eastbound truck and was killed instantly. That accident backed up traffic for nearly a mile west of the scene. But I saw no picture and it, too, happened in daylight.
In closing, I know First Nations people in the Lawrence community and see them on a steady basis and the majority of them don't fit the presumed stereotype most Europeans have of First Nations people. They work hard to defeat that image and shape themselves beyond stereotypes. I could see where the running of those pictures might serve as a wake-up call to the consequences of mixing drinking and driving, but in a way they portray a double-edged sword, possibly reinforcing an image many have worked hard to defeat.
Mike Ford,
Lawrence.
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