United States - Indian Problem

Since the first pioneers set foot in America in 1492 they had problems with the natives. Today these same natives are still presenting a headache, constantly niggling at the underbelly of the nation's consciousness. The American Indian has become the stuff of tourist trinkets, Westerns, brand names and team mascots. It is hard to imagine that there still is a vanquished nation living within our borders. We have now decided to call them "Native Americans" and have included them as a "First Nation", but they still do not seem satisfied by these verbal niceties. Are they a uniquely stubborn, uncooperative race or are their grieviances justified? Why are they almost like an independent nation within a nation? Why has public opinion forgotten or ignored them?

American Indians - Fighting a War on Terror since 1492

Could it be that they are still being treated as defeated enemies and not as fellow Americans? Think about it. As our former enemy they are in the miserable position to be the losers against the most powerful nation on earth, backed by the most effective mass media in the world. What chance do they have against the massive spin churned out by white-owned media? We pride ourselves in our fairness and we cannot concieve that our government and our country could be guilty of violating fundamental principles of human rights. We percieve the Indian Reservation as a place of protection, but are they really such havens for this former warrior nation? Are these reservations not simply supplying us with a method to soothe our consciences, to hide something uncomfortable from public view?

Is the Truth possibly just too disturbing to contemplate? Is correcting past wrongs maybe just too high a price to pay? We HAVE cheated, stolen and forced them off their ancestral lands. We HAVE deliberately destroyed their economic independence and their society. If this does not make us liable, what does? If we percieve them as a vanquished enemy, they are as nondescript to America as an Iraqi civilian would be - we would have sympathy for their plight but would not feel directly responsible for them. They would, in effect, not be American citizens. If, however, American Indians are to be accepted as equal Americans, we have to pay the heavy price due to them. As a country proclaiming the values of liberty, justice and freedom, we have to give back the lands blatantly taken from them, and pay compensation for all the brutalities and inequities committed against them.

This will make YOU poorer, as a Second or Third Nation. Are you up to it? Or are you comfortable in hiding behind government spin and White History? What defines YOU as an American - the ability to take it on the chin and bounce back or someone who boasts of past achievements, who brags about ability, who glorifies good values, but can never have true CHARACTER?

The biggest loser in correcting past wrongs is our government, as our noble leaders were responsible for MOST of the thievery and brutalization. Obviously the people in power are going to avoid doing the right thing for as long as they can. It is up to you, as a proud American, to put some justice and accountability in that pride and to demonstrate that you do NOT accept the fate that they have bestowed on our Indian brothers.

The truth has been avoided for too long, America. This is not an issue to be solved by the next generation, and it is not something that will eventually just fade away. It is time for us to wake up to the hard facts and to carry the burden that our forebears never could!