(1921-2001)
Revolutionary Métis Marxist scholar
and professor Howard Adams grew up
in a Métis community in Saskatchewan.
He was a leader in the struggle for
Indigenous rights, self-determination,
and socialism.
"We can never be free and equal people as long as the white man uses government instruments, such as jails, courts and police to keep the Indian and Halfbreed in ‘his place’ by charging us with petty offences. Jailing us, and
using police brutality is the white man’s scheme for terrorizing us, and for reminding us that he is in complete control of us. It is his way of showing his power and authority.
Our struggle is against those things of the business man’s government — capitalism — that keeps the Native people
down. Therefore, we have to struggle against the courts, the ballot box, the school system, and all the other things that dominate us. Our struggle is a revolutionary one, and we can not settle for anything less than complete freedom."
Exerpt from "The Need for a
Revolutionary Struggle" (The
New Breed Magazine, 1972)
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