This video addresses the question of how could the US government who tried to “civilize” Native people could have possibly considered the genocidal rampage, civilized?
This video addresses the question of how could the US government who tried to “civilize” Native people could have possibly considered the genocidal rampage, civilized?
When will the US government finally take responsibility for the crimes committed against the Native people of this Nation? Have we forgotten whose land it is that we live in? How can we so easily put out of our minds that the arrival of the first white Americans prompted the beginning of a homicidal rampage that would continue on for hundreds of years.
From that first infamous landing on Plymouth the infringement of the Europeans began to take its toll on the unpolluted first Americans. Thousands upon uncounted thousands of people died due to the scourge of disease that went rampant on the Native American’s who had no immunity to the diseases of the white man. Entire nations were completely annihilated from the devastating effects of smallpox and measles, cholera and typhoid fever to name a few.
Aided by the government, greedy, land-hungry settlers began to make a brutal bloody path west in the name of “manifest destiny”. They illegally and forcibly removed entire Nations sometimes killing whoever was in their pathway not showing mercy for any man, women or even child. Native people were not humans to the white settlers. The Native people were an unfortunate inconvenience and had to be dealt with no matter the cost. Their land was illegally taken from them and along with the land; precious resources and ways of life were terminated.
The land had special sacred significance to the first peoples. Without the land and resources the ways of life was severely truncated. How could you have a first buffalo hunt celebration to initiate a young person into adulthood if there were no buffalo to hunt? The removal of the first Americans from their tribal lands proved devastating not only to the way of life but also to the human spirit.
How could these invaders to North America have acted so cruelly and brutal? In the late 1800’s the intruders decided that it was time to “civilize” the “savages” who had been so viciously treated. In fact the infamous “jailer” of Indian people, Richard Pratt is famous for this quote, “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”. The same Richard Pratt became the ring leader of a plot by the United States government to further civilize the Indians by forcibly removing their children from their homes and families to be raised by the Great White Father in boarding schools. Many children were to never see their parents again and uncountable children were physically abused if they spoke their tribal tongue. Sexual abuse was rampant amongst the boarding schools and the scars of these abuses are still plaguing the Indigenous people of North America to this day.
How so could called, “civilized” people think that their killing of innocent men, women and children was justified; what was the mindset of these white settlers, supposedly good Christian people? And why is it that our politicians and policy makers pay little or no attention to the fact that they walk on the land that was taken illegally from Indian people? It is time for our government to take notice of the gross injustices perpetuated in Native people by the United State Government. At the very least and as a first step issue and apology to the Native people for the great wrongs that have been perpetuated against our First Peoples of this country. I urge the leaders of this country to do the right thing and apologize for the decimation of a culture and way of life.
