Ignoring the Lessons of History Lays the Groundwork for Future Horror
by Daniel N. Paul
November 4, 1994
Halifax Herald
Renowned Sioux Chief Sitting Bull, the man who soundly defeated a well armed army commanded by US General George Armstrong Custer at Little Big Horn in 1876 and who was later assassinated for political reasons in 1890, while promoting his desire to see accommodated the values of American and European cultures in the political and social fabric of the United States, stated: “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.”
It’s a pity that these words of wisdom by the Chief, and similar utterances espousing brotherhood and reconciliation by many other Native American leaders, were so studiously ignored by White society because of White supremacist beliefs. One can but imagine the wonderful world that might have evolved had the majority of Whites, instead of adopting a superiority attitude and rejecting out of hand the tenets of Native American civilizations as being inferior to theirs, only co-operated with Native Americans and wedded the best of both worlds together.
If accommodation had occurred, uncountable millions of Native American lives – some estimates run as high as 100 million – would not have been snuffed out by outright genocide, starvation, diseases related to malnutrition, and so on. One can onl ...
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