LETTERS: WHERE ARE JACKSON'S WATER-TOWER INDIANS?

To the editor:

Over the winter, I've been watching the construction of a new water tower out by the interstate. Living out near Fruitland and working in Cape Girardeau, I go by it nearly every day, so I could see the gradual progress. This spring it was finished, and it acquired a red warning light that made it look a bit like a scoop of ice cream with a cherry on top. Then the beige paint was covered with white, changing the flavor from coffee to vanilla. Finally, one day I saw lettering on the side of the tower: "Jackson -- Home of the Indians."

I was amazed. Here my kids have been in the Jackson school system for two years, and I had never realized that many of their classmates were native Americans. Since moving to this area from Tucson, I've hardly seen anyone resembling any of the native tribes I was familiar with. Just goes to show you how misleading stereotypes can be, I thought. There are lots of tribes, and some may not look anything like my preconceived notion of Indians.

So I looked up the Jackson census data from 1990. I found that the total population was 9,256, and the number of American Indians was ... hmmm ... nine? This is the Home of the Indians? All nine of them?

Well, I thought, the tower doesn't say American Indians. So I looked at the data some more. Nope, there are only five people from India in Jackson. In fact, of 9,256 Jacksonians, there are 9,110 white people. This is 98.4 percent white, or pretty close to the color of the water tower. We're talking vanilla here. Isn't this false advertising? Surely the tower should read "Jackson -- Home of the White Folks."

ALLEN GATHMAN

Pocahontas