RESOLUTION
SUBJECT:
Native American Scholarship
SUBMITTED BY:
Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of Oregon
WHEREAS,
Most Osteopathic Physicians study Anatomy with the aid of bodies, which the
former inhabitants donated for that purpose, AND,
WHEREAS,
Their remains are respectfully and ceremoniously buried with our gratitude for
their contribution to our learning, AND,
WHEREAS,
Dr. Still acknowledges that he, like most frontier physicians, robbed Indian
graves to aid in his study of anatomy, AND,
WHEREAS,
"Indian graves were desecrated and the bodies of the sleeping dead exhumed in
the name of science.”, AND
WHEREAS,
“Indian after Indian was exhumed and dissected,” Autobiography, A.T. Still,
AND,
WHEREAS,
It is important to Native Americans people to recover the bones of their elders
for proper burial, AND
WHEREAS,
It is impossible to know specifically where those Indian graves were located,
AND
WHEREAS,
The knowledge which he gained by his study, allowed him to relieve the
suffering of countless thousands of human beings, AND
WHEREAS,
The knowledge gained contributed greatly to the development of the
Osteopathic Profession, AND,
WHEREAS,
The Osteopathic Profession owes a debt of gratitude to the Native Americans
population for their unwilling gift to the development of Osteopathic Medicine,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED,
That in reparation, the AOA through its Foundation, establish a Native
American Scholarship Fund, to assist Native American students attending
Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
While the Native American population is approximately 1.7% of the total U.S. population, the
total number of applicants was 38, or 0.2 % of the applicants, last year. I have been unable to
track down how many of that 38 were actually accepted into an Osteopathic Medical School.
The revelation may require the Still Museum to return bones in their collection for proper Indian
burial.
Done right, it could bring national attention, although not in the best of light, to the osteopathic
profession. If could bring national exposure and a curiosity that we have not been able to buy
with paid advertising. With the right spin, the fact that we "called it on ourselves" points to a
social awareness and social responsibility of the profession.