Monday, April 29, 2013

Remembering the Holocaust--Which one?

There is a 20 year reunion of those who survived the Holocaust and the veterans who liberated them.  I will be the first to admit that this was and is a very dark part of our history.  It is inconceivable that people could do that to other people.  It is also inconceivable to me that anyone could just stand by and watch without trying to help.  However, we had our own Holocaust in this country and no one has ever batted an eye as to how horrible it was and is.  Maybe that is because it has been spread over 3 centuries.  What am I talking about?  The systematic slaughter of the Native Americans.  The federal government set out to and almost did destroy the Natives of this country and all of the Americas.  Yet no one feels compelled to erect a museum.  No one feels that their lives built on the murder of these people is anything but deserved.  My own people were driven out of Georgia, think Trail of Tears, because the White man had found gold on their lands.  Also, because they wanted the land for farming.  The buffalo were almost made extinct because if the buffalo were gone, then the Natives would starve.  Some were given blankets by the government that had been used by smallpox victims.  Anyone read anything about these atrocities anymore?  Nope.  Anyone care? Nope.  My own Native American heritage was buried so deep that we are only now uncovering it.  It was buried because of what would happen to us if it were found out.  Until the 1920's Native Americans were not allowed to own any land.  If found out, the lands would have been stolen by the government and the people would have been forced into the concentration camp called a 'reservation.'  Where is the outrage?  Not there.  Think your government can't do that to you?  Think again.

No comments:

Post a Comment