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Some of the best times in life are without power and water... AKA Hunting Camp!! If you feel bed for us while in hunting camp we'd be happy to accept donations and put them to good use!
To me, native Americans are the greatest of people. They should be honored to the highest degree and made whole (if this is possible) for the incredible wrong that was done to their ancestors. A billion dollars per descendant would help.
Also laws should be modified to uncover, prosecute, and severely punish anyone who discriminates against native Americans in any form. The are a proud people and should be respected and honored as such.
I love native Americans, and feel proud that they are among us.
They should be honored to the highest degree and made whole (if this is possible) for the incredible wrong that was done to their ancestors. A billion dollars per descendant would help. Also laws should be modified to uncover, prosecute, and severely punish anyone who discriminates against native Americans in any form. The are a proud people and should be respected and honored as such.
I love native Americans, and feel proud that they are among us.
Ok, we'll go with this but what about the black people who were brought here by force and turned into slaves? There was incredible wrong done to them as well. While we're at it don't forget the Chinese who were forced into slave labor to build the railroads. These are both proud people as well so do they count? Surely no one wants to pick and choose between the downtrodden do they? As for laws, if anyone has been concious for the last 10 years or so they would be aware that the laws already exist so that's done. As for reperations, who exactly should pay for this? How about we start by taking your money to start the fund or should it only be everyone else?
Jimj you must refrain from bringing logic and rationality into discussions that are just overflowing with sweet, damp, puppy loving sentiments. And to prove my point I think Alexus was being thrifty providing only a $1billion and so I propose we provide $2B to everyone. And picking up on your point Jimj anyone else harmed should be able to get maybe a little walking around money, say $100 million.
There is no end to the good things we can do if we all embraced the changes flowing throughout our world.
I am white and some of my ancestors were enslaved also. I'm not whining about it.
We need to start all over, everyone treated equal. No reservations, no affirmative action, no more special treatment for anyone.
You say "For one, I can't speak two words of my actual ethnic language." Its never too late to learn. Or, are you ashamed of it? "I don't see where doing so would do me much good." It would do you good because you could teach your children or nephews & nieces. knowing your language would do you good especially if you want to tell somebody something but dont want nobody else to know what you said. knowing your language would do you good in a lot of ways.. I am proud of who I am but I don't beat my chest to show I am proud neither do the rest of my family or anyone i know. nor am I a shallow person thats too hung up on this "my gramma was a full blooded....." thing.
In my opinion..being shallow is having a unique culture and language ....AND not wanting to learn the language. Nobody that reads this has to agree with me. FINAL THOUGHTS: Do you know each person that commented on this forum personally? If not, then how can you REALLY say if we are full of ourselves or not? How can you say we are shallow?As I have stated, this is only my opinion..nobody has to agree with it. My blood is mixed meaning I have German & Scot blood in me (my dads dad was half German) Scottish on my mothers side. Not only Scot and German but My dads dads mom was Cree from somewhere in Saskatchewan my Dads mom was Pend D' Oreille (Kalispel) her grandfather or great grandfather was Chief Alexander of the Lower Pend D'Oreille and Shoshone. on my moms side is Scot, Salish (who were forced from their original homeland up onto this reservation) Kalispel, and Nez Perce. I have a mixture of blood that make me unique but I dont claim it all. If someone asks me I say im Salish-Pend D' Oreille not Salish, Pend D' Oreille and German and so on..Just because I dont claim it, doesnt mean I dont acknowlege or that im not proud of it.
Looks like you answered your own question.....the diluting of the, can I use the term "white" cultures didn't seem to both those people, they moved on and melted in to 'american' culture.
Personally I think this whole ethnic cultural thing is greatly over rated. For one I can't speak two words of my actual ethnic language and don't see where doing so would do me much good. And in high school I studied a completley different language....yea so what.
I think we all got just a little to hungup and proud of our ethnic background here in america, it's like beating your own chest for nothing you've actually done on a personal level........being proud because you were born this that or the other thing, is pretty shallow, you wanna be proud of something, go out and do something that you can be proud of, but then again I've heard that 'pride' is not a virtue, humility is. When was the last time in american you heard anyone talk about or promoted being humble ? .....not hardly right....that's because we are all just a little to bit full of ourselves.[/quote]
I can not agree with the jist of this letter at all, Europeans did not attack the First Nations of America like a war, after the natives taught them how to survive, fed them, clothed them, made them strong again, then and only then, did they slowly and very abusively begin to kill the Natives off. I again think people need to really look at the history of Aboriginal/First Nations/Native American take over, it was NEVER called war. There were battles and there were mascures, usually when the europeans attacked the Natives it was called a battle, especially if they defeated the Natives, but if the Natives won, which was very seldom, it was called a masacure, and usually the Natives were called savages or barbaric. Though the history of scalp taking, and other brutal dealings of the bodies were brought to this country from else where. I think You, being of some Native heratige would be interested to really read about the brutality of some these as You call them WARs, I like to call them attacks. I especially like the battle of the big whole, on Black Elk, how the soldiers attacked at first light and shooting and useing cannon fire to anialate everyone in the encampment, women and children alike, now how in Gods name can You call that War, that is savagery at its best. You know the real problem is, that whites, wrote ALL the history books, only when someone decided to ask some of the survivors what really happened, did the truth really come out, there are a lot of those stories passed down now, and actually in print, interesting reading real history, accurate history, history without all the white twists to make it sound as though they were all abused and lucky to survive the murauding natives, and by God if someone did survive they were heros. ever wonder why we have so many holidays, like presidents day, President Lincoln, Martin Luther King Day, 4th of July, on and on and on, but there isn't ONE DAY in the U.S. to remember the 1ST People of this country, not that these other people aren't totally deserving, but come on, there were some very fearless, and great warriors, Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, the list goes on and on, why the hell isn't there one day in this country to Honor those Fallen Heros, all they wanted was to live in peace, just as the Great Creator meant them to do. The real problem is, the natives would always agree to some treaty, or some twisted bulls**t line, and allow the Europeans to live in peace, as long as the natives could hunt, fish and properly take care of their people. But the minute the Whites found something like gold(Sioux Nation, Black Hills, the real reason Custer was in South East Montana, he was after GOLD), or rich soil, they would figure out a way to push the natives further and further away from their homelands, starvation and disease always prevailed, or just plain shoot them all. Also, look into some of the history of the gifts that the whites, europeans, newcomers, whatever You want to call them, gave to the Tribes, blankets contaminated with disease, smallpox, etc., and we think chemical or germ warfare is new, not on Your life, Millions and Millions of Natives were taken by disease, dieing so fast they couldn't even morn their dead. We here so much about the brutality of the Holocaust, but the first mass killing, or holocaust was right here in the U.S., and I am not certain, but the numbers of deaths were higher here among the Natives by the time it was all said and done that it out numbered the Jewish Holocaust victims. There were literally thousands of Tribes throughout his nation pre-european contact, and thousands of them were systematically anialated as You put it, Peoples and cultures gone forever, that my friend is NOT WAR, just like the Jews of the holocost, there was never war announced to them, no preperations of defense could be made. Hell how could the Natives defend themselves against canons, guns, long knives as they put it, there was no defense except in numbers. Hell the Tribes through out the history of European contact were always helping them survive, always believing their lies, and look what it got them, or at least some of them, a small piece of land to call their own, and You complain about Your tax dollars going to them, well rest assured Hon, You could never in a 100 years pay for what any of the Tribal People had to give up for everyone to live here. So, as far as I am concerned, the Treaty of 1855, is the only thing the Whites have stuck too, which is the year most western Tribes were forced onto their little peice of earth. Again, read some history, within 50 years, most of that land was even stolen from them, and every right we were suppose to get in those treaties, we have had to fight to keep, look at our hunting, fishing, and gathering rights, look at the history of how the National Bison Range was aquired and what really happened to the money that was suppose to be paid to my Tribe for that 80,000 acres. The Feds decided they would use it to survey the rest of the Reservation so it could be cut into small pieces for, guess what for???? So that it could be divided up for Allotments, and White settlement, which it took some slick Lawyer almost 50 years to figure out how to find a legal loop hole in the treaty to open up our Reservation to white settlement. Seriously, look into some REAL history of the U.S. and it's Aboriginal People, I think, by the sounds of Your letter, You will be truly shocked, and possibly understand better why some Native People are angry, why some are so slow to assimilate, the idea of owning land is still somewhat hard to grasp by our Elders, how can One own a piece of earth, it was given to the people to live on, and they were to take care of it, and to treat it as a gift from the Creator, not like a possesion, and certainly not destory it, as it provided everything we needed, food, water, CLEAN WATER, HEALTHY FOOD, medicine from the plants, even birth control, so we wouldn't grow beyond our means. Enough said, I hope I too did not offend, but I had to let You know how I feel about the subject, and maybe why some feel so angry at times, some in another letter said it well, "we have become comedians, so we can laugh a lot, for it really helps cover up the pain....................
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Originally Posted by florida southerner 3
What do I think about Native Americans? I myself, have a great great grandmother who was a Cherokee princess which is cool head knowledge and neat. However, anybody born in America is a Native American. If by Native AMerican, you mean Aboriginal American, then I'd have to say they are people like the rest of us. They are today no more or no less American than the next person. Every nation right or wrong has been forged from blood, guts, invasions, displacements, and assimilations. America is no exception. People get conquered and assimilated. it's a fact of life, like it or not. I'm not here to ascertain the moral implications of these acts, just stating the facts as they are. Modern Americans who are descended or partially descended from those conquered Aboriginal Americans do not need to be supported by my tax dollars! It's not mine nor anybody elses fault today, what happened 120 years ago on back! Do you think the modern Spanish government left over from the old Roman Empire, pays Spaniards whose ancestry traces back prior to Roman conquest and occupation? I seriously doubt it! There were wars between Aboriginal Americans and European settlers. Some wars were started by the Aboriginees and others by the Europeans. there were conflicts that erupted as a result of atrocities committed from both sides, not just the Europeans, as modern liberalism tries to brainwash us with! I'm sure what I'm about to say will no doubt offend some but that's not my intention. If one nation is going to conquer a nation either by assimilation or displacement, it needs to be fully realized and followed through with. If it's half a** done, the balance will undoubtedly grow and grow and come back either to reverse the deed or, as in our case today in America, retaliate in our economy! The Aboriginal peoples should have been totally destroyed or totally assimilated, or Europeans should never have settled here in the first place! It's one or the other. I don't say that with anger, hate, or malice. That's just an objective outlook on the nature of human migratory patterns and settlings. But, I have nothing against anybody per sec. If the situation was reversed and the Aboriginal Americans were invading the Aboriginal Europeans, I'd say the exact same thing!
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It would do you good because you could teach your children or nephews & nieces. 
Totally Disagree,
