Oppression of American Indians in Our Hearts Fell to the Ground

From the Sioux in the North, to the Tonkawa in the South, tribes filled North America when the Europeans first set foot on the soil that we now know as the United States. The relationship between the Native American tribes and the Europeans had its fair share of difficulties for the next thirty years. Faced with the threat of the westward movement, as well as the ruthless military treatment that came with it, the North Americans began their unjustified, inhumane battle for survival.

The Europeans colonization of North America has forever changed the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. The white settlers, in many ways, destroyed the Native American population. Throughout the 19th century, they brought fatal diseases, depleted their buffalo herds, and brutally enslaved the Indians. First hand accounts from the indigenous victims that first occupied the continent, prove that there was no reasonable justification for the mistreatment of their nature loving culture.

Driven by the greed for gold and land, the white settlers desired to seize the continent of North America for all of its riches. However, the only way this would be possible is if they exterminated the Native Americans. In their eyes, Indians were ignorant savages that were not worthy or capable enough to handle the rich land.

"Traditional histories of the United States portray American expansion westward as the advance of `civilization' and the winning of the continent." However, when the Native Americans reminisce back to the westward expansion, their memories are of the traumatic struggle they endured to preserve their culture, land, families and friends.

The loss of fellow Indians, thru epidemic diseases, began the depopulation of ...

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... I was very young. Had I been able to keep in touch in touch with family as I wished, this knowledge would probably not be new to me.

All of these facts and personal accounts of the Native Americans absolutely stunned me. I never knew the treatment towards my kind was so brutal. In no way, shape, or form was any of it acceptable or necessary. The Indians seemed to be at a disadvantage in the wars that took place. They previously lived a nomadic life, had modest numbers in population, and their weapons proved to be less advanced.

Although the conflicts arose because of their refusal to cooperate, how else were they supposed to defend their culture, land, family and friends? Would you not do the same? I now view Native Americans as an easygoing, historically oppressed culture that was ultimately persecuted by the Europeans invasion in the 19th century.