Native Americans are not the uncivilized savages that the popular media has portrayed for years. It seems very easy to forget that this land they call America was occupied and cared for by the various peoples who had lived here for tens of thousands of years -- long before the Europeans came. It was their land and it was taken from them -- by force. Yes they fought with a vengeance. And rightfully so.
Americans are a proud and somewhat haughty people. They think their way is best and anyone and everyone who does not conform to their way is somehow less than them. They continue to enforce their ways upon the peoples of the world, in spite of all the disastrous situations that have haunted this land, time and time again.
Even those who claim to be religious and upright and believe in our religious teachings of brotherhood and equality have managed to declare exceptions -- the Jews, the Negroes, the Mexicans, the Indians -- whomever may be different. And they are ignorant of or choose to ignore the contributions these people have made to this country and it's way of life.
The shame of what the White ancestors did to our Indian ancestors cannot be erased. Nor can we be accountable for what our ancestors did in the past. But with the knowledge of this we are accountable for what we do now and in the future.
Encyclopedia of North American Indians
Though curiosity about Native American people began with Columbus, distortions and misperceptions have an equally long history. The admiral began it all by miscalculating his position and calling his hosts "Indians." Over the centuries others compounded his errors by arguing with straight faces that Native Americans were the descendants of wandering Israelites, members of a separate branch of creation, or humans who had sunk into "stupid repose" because they lived in a hostile wilderness.
Cherokee Many proposals have been made to us to adopt your laws, your religion, your manners and your customs.We would be better pleased with beholding the good effects of these doctrines in your practices, than hearing you talk of them. Old Tassel Chief of Tsalagi (Cherokee)
Catawba Indians: The People of the River. South Carolina SC - Indians, Native Americans - Beaver Creek
Native American Proverbs
Stephanie Beach Charron Copyleft 107 Circle Drive, Jacksonville, North Carolina 28540
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