The Trail of Tears
They took all the land
When they discovered the gold.
The treaties were worthless
That had not even grown old.
They drove them away
On a great march of shame.
Thousands died on the way
Though they weren’t to blame.
All they received
For their misery and suffering
Was a measly promise –
A peace offering.
Opher 28.6.2018
The genocide practiced on the Native American Indians was a stain on the USA.
They lied over treaties.
They used smallpox infested blankets.
They deliberately exterminated the plains bison to starve them.
They stole their land.
They hunted them down and killed women and children.
Even in the twentieth century they stole their children to educate elsewhere.
Finally they forced them onto reservations and force-marched them hundreds of miles in the snow on a Trail of Tears on which thousands died.
It’s horrible how they treated them and are still treating them even now.
There is a heartlessness in many people!
In previous centuries conquest nearly always meant some sort of genocide. The battle for the huge continent of America was fought by the three great tribes the English , French and Spanish who were already in constant conflict with each other. But we must remember America was occupied , not by one peace loving tribe but by many tribes who zealously guarded their own positions.
History was a bloody business but perhaps we can take heart from Steven Pinker’s latest book Enlightenment Now in which he proves things are slowly getting better.
Yes Kersten I agree with you. History is a litany of cruelty, rape and genocide but I too think that things are slowly getting better. Maybe education is partly responsible? We are teaching our children to be kinder, more caring and less destructive.
Ironically the English fought themselves in the battle for independence , all over money and taxation.
Yes a daft set of reasons. It could all have been so much different for both America and the world. Just imagine.