I listened to a letter by Ralph Waldo Emerson condemning the action of the United States. Please see video to left. Please also see this link for a wealth of information on the Trail of Tears. What is past is past but what is past has greatly effected those of the past, present and future. The American Indians were often the target of unjust actions that greatly effected their lives. Some of these actions were unintentional but many were were intentional. The letter was read and recorded and posted on YouTube. What really saddens me are the comments to this letter. The ignorance is really hurtful to this loss. I am very surprised by the hateful comments and the bold lies that are told to justify the move on the part of the United States. Maybe this is a symptom of poor history instruction in our schools. Maybe it is just pure denial that our government could hurt people so badly.
The actions have had repressive effects to the Cherokees even today. Many things the United States did has repressive effects today to all American Indians. The loss is staggering in so many ways. I looked up employment information for Native Americans as a whole, and it is astounding:
Below is what I found at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6801/the_state_of_native_america_very_unemployed_and_mostly_ignored/Austin’s report, based on statistics from Current Population Survey (CPS) data, uses the total American Indian and Alaska Native population, including biracial individuals. Here are his research’s key findings:
- By the first half of 2010, the unemployment rate for Alaska Natives jumped 6.3 percentage points to 21.3%—the highest regional unemployment rate for American Indians.
- Since the start of the recession, American Indians in the Midwest experienced the greatest increase in unemployment, growing by 10.3 percentage points to 19.3%.
- By the first half of this year, slightly more than half—51.5%—of American Indians nationally were working, down from 58.3% in the first half of 2007.
- In the first half of this year, only 44% of American Indians in the Northern Plains were working, the worst employment rate for Native Americans regionally.
- The employment situation is the worst for American Indians in some of the same regions where it is best for whites: Alaska and the Northern Plains.
Some of the comments from YouTube just struck me directly in my chest and I became very upset. Below I am posting some of these comments:
Hitler was a hero to some. Germany and Japan were our enemies and Russia was our ally in the 1940’s. In the 1950’s Germany and Japan were our allies and Russia was our enemy. in the 1980’s the Taliban were our allies and Osama Bin Laden our friend and a great tactician. In 2000, they were our enemies and Bin Laden was a terrorist for doing the same things. History is hypocrisy and history rewritten to fit agenda. Indians were nothing but savages and unworthy of glorification.
goldcoastlawyer
Another White guilt video. Let’s ignore that the Indians GREED to move. They had a choice… they made it. Why do these people now try to blame White people for their choice? And why do you Whites put up with it?
NoMorThanMost
Pure nonsense. When hearing out, or reading history, and if you feel guilt because of it, then, its because you’re weak minded and ignorant… Most Natives did not have a choice and still don’t in certain “Latin” American countries. Now, because you just blatantly lied, your repugnance deserves to be ridiculed.
blokcom
Even those who get what happened jut fail to realize how to respond to the ignorant.
Dude, he forced the Cherokee, who were already assimilated into American society by the way, not a bunch of nomads raiding farms, on this trail of tears. He’s a racist scumbag piece of shit. Fuck him. You might as well say “Hitler wasn’t a bad guy, just check out the paintings he did. He was a decent artist.”
dksilentbob
Here is the best of all. Talk about revisionist history!
These “Indians” were not “native” to the Americas anymore than Columbus or Erikson. In fact, recent findings indicate that Europeans were here before the Asians which we later termed “Indians”. The vast majority of indians integrated with the rest of us and only a tiny percentage of them chose to live on reservations and have their own “nation”. That was generous. Other countries and Indian nations would slaughter the people they conquered.
goldcoastlawyer
This just hurts right at the heart!!
Thank you for this post. I am an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and much of my family (my mother and brother) lives within the Cherokee Nation. It is likely that, as I get older, My wife and I will ultimately move to an area within tribal jurisdiction.
It is a common misconception that federal programs administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the benefit of tribal members are gratuitous, charitable programs—something akin to welfare. Nothing could be farther from the truth. All of those programs are in partial fulfillment of treaty obligations of the United States government—obligations contractually incurred by the U.S. government in exchange for Indian land and other concessions. Sadly, the United States has lived up to only a small part of its contractual, legal obligations to Indian tribes. It has proven to be a deadbeat nation with respect to most of those obligations.
In the current political climate in which so many are demanding strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution in our nation's affairs, American Indians would like to remind everyone that Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution establishes the treaties of the U.S. as the supreme law of the land. How different the lives of tribal members would be were the treaties to be regarded in fact with the solemn respect afforded them by the Constitution.
Prentice