Who are they you ask? The Native Americans. There are only a few thousand of them left. When the white settlers first came to North America there was 1 million of them.
Let me ask you this, if you found a purse owned by a woman and the purse and the woman are both in the same room and you find and pick up the purse. You say, "I claim this in the name of my people and my country! The contents of everything inside is now also mine!" Is that right?
No of course not, but we inevitably did the same thing to the Native Americans with their land and people. They helped the pilgrims in their time of need by teaching them how to farm and tend to the land. How did we repay them? Killing them by the thousands.
I think we could have co-existed with them if we were more tolerable in the beginning of our nation's roots. How can we truly call ourselves the "Land of the Free" if we were made and built on injustices like the Native Americans, slavery, and how intolerable we were to woman? Sure we wised up eventually but there is still work to be done with gay rights.
Anyways the theme of this is, do you think America has the right to call itself the "Land of the Free" and how do you feel about the Native American injustice?
we have land set aside for them and they can do any thing on it. They receive government checks, they can assimilate themselves with us, or sometimes both whites and Indians can share the same park.
That's a load. Even today in Canada all Native Americans must carry a card proclaiming their heritage.
They are put on ghetto-like sections of land, they were given small lump sums to govern there "tribe" for all of eternity.
That's right, a long time ago the government said this is your land, you can have it for free, heres $240,000 which you can use to create a government and run this land, and we'll never give you anymore. And that's the thing, Native Americans recieve no funding from the government after the establishment of the reserve. The only way to make money is to squander their natural resources.
And then there is residential schools, these are Christian schools natives were forced to attend. Their native names were changed to names like "Paul" and they were beaten constantly. This abuse destroyed an entire generation of Native Americans, you know that common idea that Natives are drunks? Well that was because so many found that alcoholism was a nice way to get out of their hell.
Wow, that came pouring out...
Oh, and in case you think this was all a long time ago. Do you want to know when the last residential school in Canada closed? 1984.
This is a poor analogy. The Native Americans had no sense of ownership - especially of land. So it would be like "Is this your land?" "No, the earth cannot belong to anyone." "Whatever you say, chief. We're taking over this place."
By your logic we should think the Germans are evil because of the Nazis....
What happened in the past doesnt necessarily define what we do in the present. I am currently studying the colonies in America and the main reason was we needed more land or we would starve for some areas. The people who lead the government(i think it was the one in control of virginia who was forced to get more land for his people) want to stay at peace with the Native Americans, but the people demanded they needed more land.
not all of the Native Americans liked us too. Some helped us, some ignored us, and some disliked us.
how? Did I say Americans are evil because of the pilgrims?
I have interpreted this as you kind of blaming us for what they did just because we are in the same country as them. But i may have interpreted it wrong
Also, alot of the main land conquering was before we became the USA, but im not entirely sure. And they were conquering the land, I say they won it fair and square. They werent like the conquistadors who had a lot more advanced weapons, the Native Americans had guns as well. The pilgrams also lost a lot of men, but still won. So they got land, but their men died.
Yes, I was just blaming the pilgrims that first came to America
Also, alot of the main land conquering was before we became the USA, but im not entirely sure. And they were conquering the land, I say they won it fair and square.
Fair and square? Giving them small pox intoxicated blankets and using rifles when the natives didn't have any yet might I add was fair?
They didnt know about the small pox at first and the Native Americans had guns that they got by trading with the Pilgrims.
They knew they had small pox which is why they purposely infected blankets and gave it to the natives... They treated the Natives like animals and didn't respect them whatsoever. Maybe if they did they could have co-existed with the Natives. >.> I hardly saw the pilgrims and other settlers war for land fair or just, we bargained with other country's for land and yet we didn't even try with the Natives, we just took it by force.
That's how the world works, nations conquer land for their own benefit, its been happening long before the pilgrims in the Americas and is still happening today.
They knew they had small pox which is why they purposely infected blankets and gave it to the natives... They treated the Natives like animals and didn't respect them whatsoever. Maybe if they did they could have co-existed with the Natives. >.> I hardly saw the pilgrims and other settlers war for land fair or just, we bargained with other country's for land and yet we didn't even try with the Natives, we just took it by force.
At first they were unaware how deadly the small pox was to them. The Native Americans also gave the Colonists(we should call them that cause they werent all pilgrims, they werent even all English, a large amout were refuges or french or another country) diseases that they didnt build up an immunity for too. They actually had a lot of respect for the Natives that helped them, and didnt take much of their land. They mainly fought for the land of Natives that disliked them from the beginning. The ones who ignored them mainly soon joined with the ones that disliked them so that was far over the majority of the native Americans. The Colonists actually bought large amounts of land from the Native Americans, but that wasnt enough and they wouldnt sell anymore land. So we were forced to take it by force. You cant say the Native Americans were just defending themselves because they also attack the Colonists during and before we fought for their war. They treated the Colonists like animals as well.
I want to stress the point that two opposites usually cant co-exist in peace for very long.
At first they were unaware how deadly the small pox was to them. The Native Americans also gave the Colonists(we should call them that cause they werent all pilgrims, they werent even all English, a large amout were refuges or french or another country) diseases that they didnt build up an immunity for too. They actually had a lot of respect for the Natives that helped them, and didnt take much of their land. They mainly fought for the land of Natives that disliked them from the beginning. The ones who ignored them mainly soon joined with the ones that disliked them so that was far over the majority of the native Americans. The Colonists actually bought large amounts of land from the Native Americans, but that wasnt enough and they wouldnt sell anymore land. So we were forced to take it by force. You cant say the Native Americans were just defending themselves because they also attack the Colonists during and before we fought for their war. They treated the Colonists like animals as well. I want to stress the point that two opposites usually cant co-exist in peace for very long.
At first they were unaware of how deadly the small pox was to them
AT FIRST. But I will specify that it was a merely a couple of idiots who purposely spread the small pox. But then again, a small amount of people spreading deadly infectious disease...
The Colonists actually bought large amounts of land
What did they pay with? This was a time where the Natives were being traded alcohol and broken mirrors for land.
The Natives didn't want to sell their land so they were forced to take it by force? Were they really?
They mainly fought for the land of Natives that disliked them from the beginning. The ones who ignored them mainly soon joined with the ones that disliked them so that was far over the majority of the native Americans.
This is just plain wrong.
How much time in school did you spend learning about Aboriginals? And I just realized I, including everyone else here is using the term Native Americans, some people consider it as bad as calling them Indians. Aboriginals is the current favored term
do you think America has the right to call itself the "Land of the Free" and how do you feel about the Native American injustice?
No I dont think America has the right to say this is the land of the free, the native americans have no freedom at all. and about the Native American injustice, the only thing I can say is that it makes me sick.
Well we had to get land Somehow! I mean, they could of just given up, but instead they fought back, so we shot them. Simple enough?
ummm no .... the white people could have just left us alone and left our land along, but no they put my people on a small plot of land and said that we were nothing but a bunch of stupid redskins, and that we were animals cause we lived wit the land and were kind to our mother earth.
The Native Americans had no sense of ownership - especially of land. So it would be like "Is this your land?" "No, the earth cannot belong to anyone." "Whatever you say, chief. We're taking over this place."
That is not 100% right, See the Native American's really did have a lot of sense of ownership of land, they did believe that our mother earth could not belong to anyone, but that land to them were there home and the would not let anyone come there if they thought they would hurt there home.
i don't really think that. put an environmentalist in a room with a industrialist and you won't get agreement
I disagree wit that, see the Native American's were very open minded and would have listend to what the white man has 2 say. They would just make sure that they would not hurt mother earth or father sky.
You have to remember that they couldn't speak each others language.
That's a good point, that probably made it harder for the immigrants to communicate with the natives (yes I was arguing in favor of the immigrants, but I still think what they did was wrong...)
However I'm pretty sure the Natives would have been willing to learn the other language and the settlers could also have learned the Native's language as well.
They didn't even need to be fluent anyways, just enough to communicate trading and bargaining.
It was obvisously a case of extreme nationistic pride.
All of the European settlers though of themselves as highly advanced and the Native Americans as backwards and primitive people. It would of been very hard for the two to co-exist but if they succeeded it would of been great, they could of traded so many secetes such as medicine and metals.
But no... Instead The Europeans shot, enslaved, and tourtured them. Not to mention giving them disease infected blankets that could wipe out entire communities and hundreds of years of history.
The Europeans had no right, and we, even though not directly linked to the European habits of terror. We do not deserve the right to the "Land of the free" when we were built on death, slavery, and destruction...
