Charlot, Chief of the Kalispel band of Flathead Indians, gave an angry speech in 1876 criticizing the US government for requiring Montana Indians on reservations to pay taxes. He viewed this as unjust greed by the white people that had already brought unfair destruction of Native lands. Charlot spoke to his people with a tone of anger and worry, taking a defiant stance against the government's new tax policy. He warned that the government was filling graves with Native bones and saw the taxes as another unjust burden on his people.