It's traditional. All of us Americans with European ancestry have been celebrating the coming together of our culture and Indian culture for almost four centuries now. A whole lot of turkey on the table, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, wild rice, stuffing, cranberries, corn bread, and mince meat pie for dessert; a highball before dinner, a few glasses of white wine with dinner, and an eggnog or two after dinner; all tempered with stories of Thanksgivings past and our deep, kindred and spiritual relationship with Tonto and Beaver and the rest of the Indians.
In northern Nevada in the mid 1800's, the United States Government placed a $100 bounty on Indian heads and scalps. In northern California during the same time period, Indians were herded off to the San Francisco Bay area under the promise of a better world; most of them were slaughtered. In the Southeast, thousands of Choctaws and other Florida & Mississippi natives were marched into Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Please pass the butter and the sour cream.
While the Supreme Court was trying to untangle the web of broken treaties and endless lies, it came to the conclusion that the United States Government had a fundamental obligation to care for Indians. Out of this was born the Bureau of Indian Affairs staffed by our white ancestors, most of which had never seen an Indian and pictured them as being savage Aborigines. The Government was not pleased with its new and unwelcome burden and took its anger out through discriminatory and despairingly shabby treatment of its new charges.
Oh, but this is 2007 and Indians have casinos and they are all filthy rich, those damned Indians. The fact is that most tribes do not have casinos and live in areas where they are economically depressed and physically isolated from the rest of us. And the Federal government, charged with taking care of Indians, spends less per capita on health care than it spends on health care for illegal aliens who reside in our jails. The Federal laws governing basic justice in Indian Country are so archaic that Indians essentially have no law, order, or justice. Educational funding has been declining on a per capita basis for Indians every year, but funding for other ethnic minorities including blacks, legal Hispanics, and illegal aliens has been increasing. Could I have a little bit more of that gravy, please?
On most reservation lands, 50% or more of the residents live at, or below, the poverty level. Drug and alcohol addiction runs rampant and uncountered; unemployment tops 20%. Domestic abuse, incest, violence against women and children.... they are the norm as opposed to the exception. We have stripped them of their culture, their language, their tradition, their sacred places, their pride, their dignity, and their humanity. I'm actually used to having some whipped cream for my pie, thank you very much.
Every single category of humanity in America has it much better off than the American Indian. The fact is that the children and grandchildren of the famous "Code Talkers" who saved our asses in the "Big War" are treated by us, those whose asses were saved, like dogs in comparison to illegal aliens, prisoners of war, and murderers on death row. Those guys get all of the education they want, great health care, free lawyers.... and they have many rights that we deny Native Americans.
Thanksgiving, we tell ourselves, is that day when the Indians welcomed our ancestors onto this land, and we all lived happily ever after. But, if you ask an Indian what he thinks about Thanksgiving, he'll undoubtedly give you the courtesy of not answering.
Well, if you have even the slightest twinge of guilt after reading this, you need to write your Congressman to demand some changes.
Now, please pass the Alka Seltzer, because that's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.
In northern Nevada in the mid 1800's, the United States Government placed a $100 bounty on Indian heads and scalps. In northern California during the same time period, Indians were herded off to the San Francisco Bay area under the promise of a better world; most of them were slaughtered. In the Southeast, thousands of Choctaws and other Florida & Mississippi natives were marched into Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Please pass the butter and the sour cream.
While the Supreme Court was trying to untangle the web of broken treaties and endless lies, it came to the conclusion that the United States Government had a fundamental obligation to care for Indians. Out of this was born the Bureau of Indian Affairs staffed by our white ancestors, most of which had never seen an Indian and pictured them as being savage Aborigines. The Government was not pleased with its new and unwelcome burden and took its anger out through discriminatory and despairingly shabby treatment of its new charges.
Oh, but this is 2007 and Indians have casinos and they are all filthy rich, those damned Indians. The fact is that most tribes do not have casinos and live in areas where they are economically depressed and physically isolated from the rest of us. And the Federal government, charged with taking care of Indians, spends less per capita on health care than it spends on health care for illegal aliens who reside in our jails. The Federal laws governing basic justice in Indian Country are so archaic that Indians essentially have no law, order, or justice. Educational funding has been declining on a per capita basis for Indians every year, but funding for other ethnic minorities including blacks, legal Hispanics, and illegal aliens has been increasing. Could I have a little bit more of that gravy, please?
On most reservation lands, 50% or more of the residents live at, or below, the poverty level. Drug and alcohol addiction runs rampant and uncountered; unemployment tops 20%. Domestic abuse, incest, violence against women and children.... they are the norm as opposed to the exception. We have stripped them of their culture, their language, their tradition, their sacred places, their pride, their dignity, and their humanity. I'm actually used to having some whipped cream for my pie, thank you very much.
Every single category of humanity in America has it much better off than the American Indian. The fact is that the children and grandchildren of the famous "Code Talkers" who saved our asses in the "Big War" are treated by us, those whose asses were saved, like dogs in comparison to illegal aliens, prisoners of war, and murderers on death row. Those guys get all of the education they want, great health care, free lawyers.... and they have many rights that we deny Native Americans.
Thanksgiving, we tell ourselves, is that day when the Indians welcomed our ancestors onto this land, and we all lived happily ever after. But, if you ask an Indian what he thinks about Thanksgiving, he'll undoubtedly give you the courtesy of not answering.
Well, if you have even the slightest twinge of guilt after reading this, you need to write your Congressman to demand some changes.
Now, please pass the Alka Seltzer, because that's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.
