Picture this: You move into your dream house. It is in the perfect neighborhood. Your neighbors are great, and your kids love it there. You live there for years and then one day new people move in. These people are rude, loud, destructive, and tear apart the neighborhood with their illegal behavior. Not only are they horrible neighbors but they sell drugs and they do it on YOUR LAWN! They have guns, and are very scary people, so scary that you don't say anything. When you finally do say something it is to no avail; the neighborhood is ruined and your dream shattered. So reluctantly you leave. That sucks!
Similarly, the Indians or Native Americans were run off their land losing their homes. They lost the place where they ate, slept, worked, and carried out their spiritual practices. Their way of life was erased by the new comers that were greedy and felt superior. They ruined hundreds of people lives, ripping apart the natives homes, beliefs, culture, and livelihood. The Europeans took advantage of the natives using them; sucking them and their land dry and then forced the natives to move.
I feel really bad for the natives who seemed to have good intent and seemed like good, loving people. They helped the Europeans and taught them how to survive on the land. It is really disgusting when I think about the disregard for others. The Europeans only worried about themselves and how things benefited them. I did some research and found this: "Europeans invaded, gave Native Americans incurable diseases, took their property and livestock, in many cases killed their women and children, took their hunting and fishing grounds, burned their houses and villages, forced them on Death Marches 1000 miles long, many at gunpoint, purposely gave them blankets full of small pox in freezing weather, starved them, humiliated them, raped, pillaged, and plundered them, broke all of their treaties, and committed many other countless crimes". It is really hard to believe that human beings can do that to one another but as history shows, it happens all the time! And so I guess it is safe to say when the Europeans arrived, there went the neighborhood for the Native Americans.
You make a very compelling argument here for the reasons that the native americans did not fight back immedeitly. you also made a couple of very good analogies towards modern times.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the people already in the neighborhood are ever the ones wrong or that is almost never what happens?
ReplyDeleteThat, I think, is definitely possible and happens today! Read Nia Hill's blog, it is example of it. Thanks for your comment!
DeleteYour example seems to fit well here, somewhat showing how awful people can be. And as for the settlers, in my opinion they did all of that for self-interest and had horrid values and beliefs, thinking land is worth more than a human being, while also relying on the excuse that they were superior.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, Marcos! Thanks for your comment and for reading!!!
DeleteYour modern day example is great to show how they lived just went away. It was just on a small scale compared to what the Europeans did to the Native Americans. Your own personal reflection was a nice add in to show how you felt about what occurred with these events in history. It is hard to believe that humans can do this to one another without a care to what is going on. It is completely cruel.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nay! I really tried hard to emote that cruelness in the blog. Thanks for the comment and reading!!!
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