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THE CONTINUING AMERICAN HOLOCAUST
I.WHERE WERE YOUR ANCESTORS OVER 2,000 YEARS AGO
The North American Continent was filled with vibrant people over 2,000 years ago, just as Europe and Asia. Estimates are that there were over 40 million Amerinds living on this continent in peace, love, war, dislike - just as in Europe and Asia. They were eating animal flesh and wearing animal skins as clothing - just as in Europe and Asia. They were living in huts; hunting and fishing; laughing and crying; making love and children; and hating and killing - just as in Europe and Asia.
II. OUR ANCESTORS-WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?
This is what we wish to discuss with you.
WAS YOUR HOUSE MY HOUSE?
What was "home" to the Original Peoples of the North American Continent? Home was a forest or a desert or a mountain. Home was where the "old ones" were buried. Home was where the "young ones" played. Home was where there was an abundance of animals which were hunted in order to sustain the basic life forces of the living. Home was near fresh water so that their thirst could be contained. Home was, to utilize a much-used cliche, where the heart was. As a matter of fact, home was just like the homes in Europe and Asia.
True, there might have been some slight differences. Perhaps the European and Asian home was not made from the same materials as the Original Peoples' of the North American Continent. Perhaps the food eaten was slightly different from the buffalo meat which was a mainstay in the diet of those who lived in the western part of the continent. Perhaps instead of using skins for tents, those in Europe and Asia used another source of material.
But that really isn't relevant. Each area of the world used the materials to sustain their life force which was abundant in their own locale. Whether it be wood, brick, clay, straw, canvas -- whether it be honey, corn, beans, olives -- whether it be cloth made of silks, deer skins, bear robes, cotton.
In other words, Your House and My House really could be interchanged without much of a cultural shock. Therefore, Your House was My House.
WAS YOUR RELIGION MY RELIGION?
With all the versatility of religions 2,000 years ago - some Europeans and Asians must have had a similarity of religion which was prevalent in the North American Continent at that time. After all, most of the First Peoples of this continent believed in One God and so did a few diverse people in Europe and Asia.
The First Peoples of this continent believed that all things came from this one supreme being as did some of the Europeans and Asians at that time. But, here it seems that the similarities seem to start flowing away from each other rather than staying on the same course. We will discuss this divergence of philosophy in the later chapter.
The "churches" of the First Peoples were not made of stone. One cannot go and stand in awe of the man-made architecture of what once was. The First Peoples places of worship were the prairies, mountains, lakes, rivers which were around them. The First Peoples places of worship were God-made, not Man-made. An interesting contrast -- it makes one think of what was truly important in the religious life of those who lived quite a while ago.
It is also interesting to note that HERE is one of the great major differences we have come across between the peoples of the great continents. But the basic similarities of all the peoples were very prevalent in that they looked upon a "higher authority" as one who provided them with the necessities of life.
500 YEARS AGO
Now we come to a time much closer to our current state. A little over five hundred years ago, when the Europeans first came to the North American Continent, they found that the peoples living there were gentle, friendly and very generous. Columbus, himself, wrote in his logs that these people would make great slaves.
Here is where we see the great divergence among the First People of this Continent and the Europeans who "founded" this country. It was the divergence of a philosophical nature. One that was totally incomprehensible to those who were here when the great European invasion began. It was the philosophical difference of two great peoples: One fought and took for NEED; the other fought and took for GREED.
WERE YOUR THOUGHTS MY THOUGHTS?
When the Europeans (those who came not to explore or to steal the riches of the Earth) first immigrated to the North American Continent, they had thoughts of a place where they could live and worship in a form of freedom which was not the norm for Europe of those days. I presume one could call them "the misfits of their day." They could not live with any comfort where they were. They came to the Americas with the hopes of finding a better place to pursue their survival.
Unfortunately, they were unable to let go of that which was inherently different between them and the First People. They were unable to let go of the concept that they, AND ONLY THEY, knew what was best for ALL.
The First People, at that time, lived in villages -- as did the peoples of Europe. They worshiped what they called the One God -- as did the peoples of Europe. They had their own forms of government -- as did the peoples of Europe. They had their own wars -- as did the peoples of Europe. In these ways there were no major differences among the First Peoples and the European immigrants.
The one major difference, which unfortunately was never reconciled, was that of a philosophical nature. This difference was the undoing of great civilizations. The civilizations of the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Haudenosaunee, the Lenape, the Cherokee, the Lakota, the Anishinabe, -- the undoing of 40 million people.
The thoughts of the First People and the Europeans -- or, in other words the philosophies of these cultures were vastly different. The main basis of this difference was GREED vs. NEED. Herein lies the decline and fall of a great people. They just weren't GREEDY.
It was very difficult for the First People to understand why it was imperative for the immigrants to the Americas to take everything they saw. It was very difficult for the First People to comprehend why one had to believe as the Europeans believed.
Incomprehensible to those living in the beauty of this Continent, where enough sufficiencies were given by the One God to make all necessities reachable was that the Europeans were not satisfied with ENOUGH. They constantly wanted MORE. The Europeans wanted more land, wanted more furs, wanted more gold than any one group could ever need. They just wanted everything.
The Europeans wanted it so badly that they didn't care whom they hurt in the process of getting it. It was just not the substantive items that the Europeans wanted. They wanted to take away from the First People that which the Europeans, themselves, came to this Country for. They wanted to take away the First People's freedom. They not only wanted his land, his animals, his food, his homes - - they wanted his SOUL.
No, Your Thoughts Were Not My Thoughts. Herein lies the reason for the European immigrant abandoning civilized manners and becoming the SAVAGE of this continent. The RAPIST of this continent. The potential MURDERER of this continent. The reason the Europeans came to the Americas was FREEDOM. They immediately began to take this basic right of man away from man himself. They greedily tried, and in many cases succeeded, in taking away his language, his naivety, his hair, his culture. These immigrants tried to make the First People a replica of themselves. They, themselves, were the misfits who could not make it from whence they came.
III. WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?
There are slightly more than two million indigenous peoples living in this Country today. Do you know what happened to their ancestors? Have you ever been taught in schools about what happened to all those people of yesterday? More importantly, have YOU even wondered what happened?
You have heard some things -- the "Indian Schools," the "Missionaries," the "Reservations," the "Trail of Tears."
THE INDIAN SCHOOLS
How wonderful it must have seemed to those European immigrants that they were setting up schools to teach the "Red Savage" about the good things in life. About how to cope with the "New Generations" of which they were now a part, even if they didn't want to be. How the children were taken from their homes and brought to the schools; how they were beaten if they spoke the language of their people; how the young boys were made to cut off their hair so they could be assimilated into society.
THE MISSIONARIES
What a wonderful feeling it must have been for the immigrants to this country that in order to cover up their own savagery they sent missionaries out "among the savages" in order to convert them to the one true religion. It is rather unique that the First People never thought it important for others to worship God in the same manner they worshiped the Great Spirit of All. They had a TRUE freedom of religion. Though the American Indians fought many battles with other tribes for what they felt was needed by their nation to survive, they never fought a war to convert others to their beliefs. It was their belief that God could defend himself if need be.
THE RESERVATIONS
What is a reservation? It is a preserve. It is a place to concentrate things. You have animal reservations, you have botanical reservations, you have Indian reservations. You have camps to concentrate fauna, flora and human beings.
During the Second World War, the place to concentrate a class of human being was even called a "concentration camp." It is man's unique mind which when he hears "concentration camp" he truly believes this was a Nazi invention to control and finally exterminate the Jewish population from Germany, Europe, and presumably the Earth. Man does not realize that in this great country of ours, concentration camps have been in use for over a century.
The leaders of the past in this country placed the First People in these reservations for their own protection, as they placed the Japanese-Americans who were living here in concentration camps during the Second World War for their own protection. The Japanese-Americans finally were released. The Native American is still in these concentration camps.
What have these camps done to the great peoples of yesterday?
After sending small pox infested blankets to attempt to decimate the people, they have tried to take away, and in some instances succeeded, the self-respect of those within. Only in very recent times, have those on the reserves of the Indians come to the foreground and have attempted to shake off the stigma of living off "Uncle Sam."
Only recently, have the People started to shout that they do not need the Great White Father to care and nurture them. Their ancestors cared and nurtured the Europeans when they came to the Americas. They most certainly can care for and nurture themselves now. Chief Joseph, a great Nez Perce chief, said "Let my people be free." Tecumseh, a Shawnee who was a true statesman, said "one family, one tribe, one nation." Chief Seattle, a Suquamish of great vision, said basically that your time will come when you will be overrun as you have overrun us.
These great chiefs only wanted their people to be free. The same thing that the Europeans wanted when they immigrated to the Americas.
THE TRAIL OF TEARS
I remember learning in school about the horrors of the Second World War. Horrors that were very real to me, a young child when Pearl Harbor was bombed. One of the horrors which was discussed and later depicted in a movie was the Bataan death march. The march where hundreds of American soldiers were marched to the island of Corregidor in the Phillippines. They were treated with cruelty, starved, and beaten. I remember thinking how can anyone do something like that to another human being.
Then, I learned about the Trail of Tears where thousands of the First People of the Eastern Woodland Nations were forcibly moved from their homes and marched thousands of miles without medical attention, sufficient food, clothing, or privacy to a land which they had never seen before. Marched away from their roots as a people. Marched away from the burial grounds of their fathers and mothers and children. Marched away from the place which they felt was given to them by the One God of All as their home for eternity.
IN CONCLUSION
Where were you and where are you now when all these things occurred and are still occurring? Where are you when burial grounds of the First People are raided for artifacts? Where are you when museums still have the bodies of our ancestors, tucked away in thousands of drawers? Where are you when the government wants to use the "Indian Reservations" as dumping grounds for nuclear waste? Where are you when the rights of an "Indian" are not considered as important as the rights of an "American?" I don't say this with tongue in cheek. I say this because I have been told, many times, to go back to where I came from. But, I never left where I came from.
The conclusion of this is YOU. What are your feelings of the events which occurred in the decimation of 40 million people? What are your feelings of the events which are occurring all over this continent today? If YOU don't care, then the results are final and the future unchangeable.
If YOU do care, then perhaps we can do now what should have been done hundreds of years ago. Take the beauty of both cultures and join them together. Teach about the roots of this country. Admit the mistakes that were made. Learn from the wise men of Europe, Asia and this Continent. Perhaps if our children can learn from our mistakes and hear about the truth that comes from the words of all peoples, then instead of constantly fighting the system, tuning out, getting high on drugs; they might tune into all that is good in this world, not just what is bad.
Doris RiverBird Woman, 1996
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"The Right Way"