Should England and other European countries be held accountable for criminal acts of illegal white aliens against the my Native American people?
I'll tell you, as a Native American if I had a choice as to who stays and who goes, I would kick the white people out. Isn’t it ironic how you white folks cry so much about other races coming over from other countries and yet you did the same thing. I've often wondered why the White Men makes fun of Hispanics, in particular Mexicans, for crossing a river when they grossed the whole ocean.
So white people claim that these aliens are criminals that come to this country to commit crimes. Which might or may not be true, but let’s imagine that it was true, isn’t it funny how history repeats it’s self. Have you forgotten about the crimes that the White European Men committed against my people as well as against other Native people from this continent? Have you ever heard the story of Wounded Knee? I’d bet that you have no idea what that is, do you? Have you heard what the white men did to the Arawaks (The first Native American group encountered by Columbus)? Have you heard of the forced sterilization of Native American women and Puerto Rican women by the US government back in the 70’s? How about the robbing of the land from Puerto Rican farmers by white US corporations for profit. Oh no, the white people have very short memories. Let’s me refresh your memory white person by quoting history essays! Then you tell me who is the real trash!
“Arawaks”
“The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. In the 15th to 19th centuries, their populations were decimated, by the privations of displacement, by disease, and in many cases by warfare with European groups and enslavement by them. The first Native American group encountered by Columbus, the 250,000 Arawaks of Haiti, were violently enslaved. Only 500 survived by the year 1550, and the group was totally extinct before 1650.”
“Wounded Knew”
Before Europeans came to the United States, it was inhabited by Native Americans. The Native Americans comprised many tribes. The Plains Indians (of the Central part of the United States) had a nomadic way of life. The story of Wounded Knee is the story of the Lakota Indians (renamed the Sioux, by French settlers). The U.S. government's policy towards Native Americans, as stated by General Sherman, was to'clear off the buffalo',(the buffalo were the chief source of the Plains Indians' food and clothing), and 'clear off the Indians' to the point of total extermination if necessary. The Europeans who came to America believed in "manifest destiny"; they believed that they (the white man) had a God-given right to this land, and that the native inhabitants were heathens who were simply in the white man's way. Of course, the two groups came into conflict; during this conflict, it is estimated that 50 million Native Americans (compared to 9 to 11 million Jews in WWII) were killed through war, starvation and disease. This number is equivalent to the number of soldiers that were killed on both sides during World War I and II. In 1868, after 20 years of war, the Lakota Indians signed a peace treaty with the U.S. government. It was called the Fort Laramie Treaty. In it the Lakota Indians were given the Black Hills in South Dakota. To the Lakota Indians, the Black Hills were the heart of their religion. According to legend, life entered the world through the Black Hills. In 1872, gold was discovered in the Black Hills. Now, Europeans did not want to honor the Fort Laramie Treaty. They wanted access to the Black Hills because of the gold. In 1875, after several unsuccessful attempts to buy the Black Hills from the Lakotas, war was declared against the "hostiles" (Lakota Indians). One of the first acts of war was General Custer's Battle of Little Big Horn. General Custer and his army were defeated in this famous battle. The U.S. government then confiscated the Black Hills because they said that the Lakotas had violated the treaty by defending themselves against Custer. During this time, the buffalo were slaughtered. The Indians did not have enough to eat so they were weakened. A famous chief named Crazy Horse turned himself in. He went to live on a reservation. Within a year he was murdered by a U.S. soldier. Another famous chief named Sitting Bull went to Canada with his people to request a reservation there. His request was denied. He led his people back across the border to the Standing Rock reservation. During this period, many Native Americans died due to drought, disease, and starvation. Many of them moved to reservations. At this time, they created a new religion, in spite of the government ban on Indian religion. The people who practiced their religion were called the Lakota Ghost Dancers. The Lakotas believed that this religion would bring the buffalo and their Lakota ancestors, who had been killed by the government, back from the dead. The white settlers felt threatened by the new religion. Troops were sent in; Sitting Bull was killed by soldiers in 1890. Sitting Bull's people left and went to the camp of another chief named Bigfoot. Bigfoot moved the people to Pine Ridge Reservation. The cavalry chased Bigfoot and his people; they forced them to make camp at a creek called Wounded Knee. It was in the middle of winter; the group included women, children, and unarmed men. Many had already died; many were sick. The cavalry surrounded the camp, set up machine guns, and killed most of the people. U.S. soldiers were given Congressional medals of honor for killing these people. The elders of the tribe were considered to be keepers of sacred knowledge; many of the Lakota elders were killed at Wounded Knee.