So I pretty much just say what I think, and what I think is generally based on a careful examination of facts. There are, however, times when I simply know something, and because I know it, I don’t really have to study up on it.
For instance, some of the things I know appear to be self evident, and I struggle to figure out why some people are just so damn obtuse and will literally perform all sorts of mental gymnastics to maintain their belief in things that make no sense. I saw a woman trying to justify someone randomly stabbing innocent people, including a toddler in a stroller. When I asked her “How can you possibly believe that stabbing a toddler would ever be ok? It’s absolutely unconscionable, and frankly, that you are trying is making me doubt your morality.” She replied “It was a Zionist toddler who will grow up to be a Zionist.” She then linked me to a Facebook page called the “Zionion” which pretends to be anti Zionist but is pretty much filled with memes depicting stereotypical Jews committing atrocities, mainly to demonize and delegitimize Jews. Why do you think this is so important?
See, I am an Indian and hearing such things brings an uncomfortable echo to my own peoples past. In case you wondered why I am concerned about watching incitement and how it ends with people suspending morality and common decency, let’s look at one particular event in Native American history: The Sand Creek Massacre. Here is a quote from an American Colonel, John Milton Chivington. See if you can recognize the sentiment being expressed here.
“Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! … I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians. … Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice.”
In other words it is OK to kill children because children grow up.
Keep in mind Chivington was an abolitionist, a Methodist preacher who spoke against slavery openly before it was really mainstream. Yet he incited hatred against Indians and saw no dissonance there. But that’s not all he did.
Chivington and his men then committed the Sand Creek Massacre, where they attacked and destroyed a village of peaceful Cheyene and Arapaho, killing approximately 150 of them, two thirds of whom were women and children. Some of his own men refused to follow his orders but many more followed them, and the eyewitness accounts were disturbing.
“There was one little child, probably three years old, just big enough to walk through the sand. The Indians had gone ahead, and this little child was behind, following after them. The little fellow was perfectly naked, travelling in the sand. I saw one man get off his horse at a distance of about seventy-five yards and draw up his rifle and fire. He missed the child. Another man came up and said, ‘let me try the son of a b-. I can hit him.’ He got down off his horse, kneeled down, and fired at the little child, but he missed him. A third man came up, and made a similar remark, and fired, and the little fellow dropped. Major Anthony, New York Tribune.”
“I saw the bodies of those lying there cut all to pieces, worse mutilated than any I ever saw before; the women cut all to pieces … With knives; scalped; their brains knocked out; children two or three months old; all ages lying there, from sucking infants up to warriors … By whom were they mutilated? By the United States troops …”
“ saw one squaw lying on the bank, whose leg had been broken. A soldier came up to her with a drawn sabre. She raised her arm to protect herself; he struck, breaking her arm. She rolled over, and raised her other arm; he struck, breaking that, and then left her with out killing her. I saw one squaw cut open, with an unborn child lying by her side.”
Thankfully not every American was ok with this evil and some including the famous mountain man and “Indian fighter” Kit Carson spoke up.
“Jis to think of that dog Chivington and his dirty hounds, up thar at Sand Creek. His men shot down squaws, and blew the brains out of little innocent children. You call sich soldiers Christians, do ye? And Indians savages? What der yer ‘spose our Heavenly Father, who made both them and us, thinks of these things? I tell you what, I don’t like a hostile red skin any more than you do. And when they are hostile, I’ve fought ’em, hard as any man. But I never yet drew a bead on a squaw or papoose, and I despise the man who would.”
Not exactly a tale from a John Wayne Western is it? Yet this was actual history and in fact most of the so called Indian wars consisted of attacks on villages by the US army using artillery. There are 426 recipients of “medals of honor,” the highest award for valor awarded by the United States, awarded that medal for fighting against Indians.
Now read some of the citations (dispatches) that led to them being awarded those medals of honor.
Sergeant Albert McMillain, Cavalry, while engaged with Indians concealed in a ravine, he assisted the men on the skirmish line, directed their fire, encouraged them by example, and used every effort to dislodge the enemy at Wounded Knee.
Private Thomas Sullivan, Cavalry, conspicuous bravery in action against Indians concealed in a ravine at Wounded Knee.
Corporal Paul Weinert, Artillery, Taking the place of his commanding officer who had fallen severely wounded, he gallantly served his piece, after each fire advancing it to a better position.
You realize what they are describing right? Indians hiding in a ravine, mostly women and children, being fired on by artillery. How is that worthy of a medal supposedly awarded for valor?
Do I really have to make this much more clear? I think it is rather obvious what happens when we allow incitement and demonization. And the history of the United States makes it more than clear.
I used the example of my people because frankly all the talking about the Holocaust doesn’t seem to make a lick of difference; it’s like there is some sort of mental block regarding that horrific event. So maybe by using a different, albeit no less horrific, example, people will be able to see what’s happening and wake up – because honestly this is 1939 and it’s 1890, only this time neither Jew nor Indian is particularly inclined to stand quietly as people try to start another genocide. Some us will speak up and stand up, because we refuse to let this be 1939 or 1890. It’s 2015 and we should all damn well know better.
