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little-known history of the Florida Indians.
R: Morton had done a great deal of research in his job as
attorney for the Miccosukees who were trying to get land.
And he's a fascination' person too!
K: This is as good a time as any to talk a little bit about Morton
Silver.
R: Once upon a time I was down at the Green Corn Dance about three
o'clock in the morning with my daughter, Janet Reno, a lovely,
long-legged girl. At the Green Corn Dance you're not allowed
to go to sleep, you're not allowed to eat, but you drink.
And so I said to Homer Osceola (Morton and Janny and I were
there) I said, "Ah-h, Homer, Homer. Someday Morton will die
as all men must, and you're still gonna have an Indian land
claim going on, and my daughter, Janny baby, who's a Harvard
law school student, can take it over."
And Homer looked at Janny and he said, "Janny, baby,
you will never make a good Indian lawyer, because you're too
beautiful and too young and you will wanta be popular. Morton
Silver's a Jew. He doesn't care whether he's popular or not,
and he makes a great Indian lawyer."
K: That's a good story. How did Morton Silver.... Where does
he practice law--in Miami?
R: He practices law in Miami. I think Buffalo Tiger had come
to him for a divorce or something When I first met him,
everybody would say, "Naah...this Jew lawyer, he's trying to
get in on those land claims--make all that money." His
family remembers it and the Indians remember it as the time
Morton was wasting all his time and not making much money at
all. On Indian claims, he got really wrapped up. He was a
crusader, and I thought, to a certain extent, Homer might have
been right, 'cause he was Jewish, which is a minority. Then
I realized another thing--Morton had fallen out of a window
when he was a boy, and had to lay in bed for about a year and
was crippled, and had to have several operations. He was not
only a Jew, but he was a crippled Jew, and he was on the side
of every Indian in that swamp! He wasted more time and a great
deal of money, and the Indians knew it--they knew it.
K: Is he still practicing law?