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Seems like a kind of basic "what if..." thought, doesn't it? But I started thinking about it, and I realized how different the entire world would be if the Indians had fought back and contained the white European settlers, from the 1500's to the late 1800's.
What If The Indians Had Won?
Seeded on Thu Aug 4, 2011 10:18 AM EDT
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Anyway, because of Euro-America's power and holier-than-thou attitude for the last 60 years, here we are. It is a European Christian ideal to stick our noses in where it doesn't belong -- from the crusades ("the Inquisition, here we go... the Inquisition, what a show..."), to the brutalization of the Indians, to the "spread of democracy" -- which is born from the Christian ideal of "witnessing" and "conversion". Basically, "I'm right, you're wrong. Now change. If you don't change, we'll either kill you or write you off as 'Godless savages'."
- 3 votes
#1 - Thu Aug 4, 2011 10:19 AM EDTNative Americans have been murdered, cheated and exploited from the first moment Europeans arrived in this hemisphere. They have repeatedly trusted Europeans and made treaties only to have those treaties ignored by the same white men who made them. Steiner’s essay is encouraging Native Americans to stop taking this treatment silently and fight back.
- 4 votes
Power, we stopped taking this treatment and have been fighting back strongly since the late 1960's. The NA activism movement of the late 1960 and 1970's changed the way NA's look at themselves. The 70's also started to change gov't policy towards us. There were a number of moments then, but the defining moments was ''The Siege At Wounded Knee, 1973" A 71 day armed conflict between NA's and the gov't. that drew headling all over the world. That moment in time changed it all, that time was ''Hoka Hey'' for NA's.. Some of the Native Nations haveoffices in Washington D.C. To go back in time a bit, most Natives fought the Europeans in armed conflicts for decades. The only one that people seem to remember is ''Little Big Horn''..but there were many many more. Actually ''Little Big Horn'' known by NA's as ''Battle of Greasy Grass'' was small compared to the ''Battle of a Thousand Dead''..The biggest defeat ever suffered by the U.S. in battle with NA's..But white history tends ot overlook the defeats inflicted by NA's on the U.S. gov't. All that said, at the turn of the century there were less then 500,000 NA left alive. We now number around 4 million, and are growing at a faster rate then the white population. Most recently over a million people of Mexican and central American decent have declared on the census form NA, adding to the 4 million. Sorry to go on a rant, but the idea that we are suffering silently and not fighting back get's to me.
Good post Power.
- 1 vote
#2 - Thu Aug 4, 2011 11:08 AM EDTFrom reading your seeds and articles Kavika, I know that you have but there are so many who don't. I knew that you would come on this thread and leave useful information, thanks.
- 2 votes
''so many that don't'' that is true Power, like any other group of people there are those that will fight to the death, some in the middle and some that choose to blend in. With NA's more and more are choosing to fight back, each approches it differently.
Thank you for the post. Actually for all your posts, I do enjoy them.
- 2 votes
Things are changing for the better for Native Americans on the reservation as well as across America. I just don't think most people look at Native Ameican issues as being important. To use an ole cliche we are like the red headed step child, if you ignore him long enough he will just go away.
- 2 votes
And that's sad. I've been doing as much as I can to raise the consciousness of people concerning NAs, and that's no easy task. I tell people that to understand their history they first must know the history of NAs. I get so sick and tired of being asked why instead being told, tell me more.
- 2 votes
True KR, what they are finding out is that were not going away.
- 1 vote
P. I blame Hollywood for the non caring because they painted such an unfair picture of what actually happen to the Native American. If the shoe had been on the other foot and the pilgrims had been here when we landed the boat to set up camp across this country we would have been the good guys chasing those savage Pilgrims bible thumpers across three mountain rages and two great rivers.
- 2 votes
I agree 100%. I am part Cherokee and was raised to ignore it. I had a great maw maw that taught me through her great ability of story telling. She lived to be 93 and it ended when she went to the sky. She was full blooded and told me to never turn away. My family were ashamed of it and that left me to do all of my learning and absorbing of the Cherokee culture on my own. When I was a child my maw maw told me that my Cherokee name was "Wolf Spirit". My father was angry over this and refused to discuss any of it. I now try to grow within the foundation that my maw maw(thankfully) laid for me as a child. She instilled in me the importance of the circle being completed and that I must respect and understand the elements. She was a great woman and I still, to this day, miss her greatly!! Thank you my brothers !!
- 2 votes
There would be none of the Countries in the Americas that exist now. It's a difficult hypothetical to fathom, since no one beat the Europeans, but it would be the case that the native tribes would probably exist as their own recognized countries today.
#3 - Thu Aug 4, 2011 11:13 AM EDTBut, the U. S. and the tribes were never at WAR - they had skirmishes, they had battles, they had strikes - but they never had a war. Indians didn't do war - too long, too many people could get hurt while counting coup, too many horses stolen, too many captives - nope, short term battle and then let's go home and eat some buffalo. Oh, there were some major battles and there were a ton of skirmishes.
Are the tribes any better off now? Depends. Many reservation tribes are not - outsourcing by BIA for work being done on the rez instead of using Indian workers, government funding being withheld, IHS services being drastically reduced, infrastructure upkeep and installation at a standstill, new construction almost non-existant. Then, some reservations are doing better because of leadership and influx of funds through outside resources such as casinos, industry, contracting out their services.
The population figures from the 2010 say we are at 5.2M - still a measley 1.8% - but growing. That's a 1.1M growth rate in 10 years. What's that equal in percent growth Kavika?
I did a piece a couple year's ago called "The Bureau of White Affairs". I'll see if I can dredge it up again.
How would WWII have ended up without U.S. involvement? The entire globe might be speaking German now, who knows. The only thing for certain is the loop and, 'What goes around, comes around'.
#4 - Thu Aug 4, 2011 1:13 PM EDTkeep_it_cool makes a valid point, seeing as the opening created by wwI and the humiliating terms of surrender heaped upon Germany opened the door for Hitler's rise to power.
Could we have actually keep the influx of white immigration from europe down and controlled those who came? I think not as was stated we as "indians" did not like each other nor trusted each other enough to make long term agreements to try and control the whites. It would have been nice to see it though. One of the reasons we couldnt control them was our stubbornness against change. If we were more willing to accept the white mans advancements in technologies and some ways of life maybe we could of done a better job. but hindsight is 20/20, and we are now gaining on them.
Good article bings up many a thought.
#6 - Fri Aug 5, 2011 10:11 AM EDTThe Native American cultural aspect that I've always focused on and tried to emulate is that of the simple living with basic family values for the tribal community. They had the utmost respect for feeding the spirit of their children, listening to the wisdom of their elders, and living harmoniously with the preciously revered-sanctity of all creatures. Altruism verses narcissism
Nobody wants to hear about the negative aspects of cultural annihilation regardless of how true and disgusting they really are. But, how they taught their young to become self-reliant and respectful is pure gold in my book. It’s these humanitarian values, that are in direct opposition to capitalism (which doesn’t seem to be working too well), is the true message that needs to be shined up. JMHO
- 1 vote
#7 - Fri Aug 5, 2011 10:56 AM EDTThe thought that keep reoccurring to me is of the wise elders sitting in counsel around the fire discussing the proposed treaties by the white man. The elders always insisted on reservations to every deal because I think they knew that eventually the white man would collapse. And so, the game ain't over till all the meat settles to the bottom and the fat lady sings.
- 1 vote
I agree with you Dale95, children and elders are the glue that holds the Indian community together. That and a sense of community are some of the greatest attibutes of the NA culture.
- 2 votes
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