Did you know we had our own Darfur.. right here in the USA?

[SoCalDem]

Kit Carson burned villages, burned houses, salted the land & water, burned down orchards & any other trees & vegetation they found, killed livestock, and destroyed 2 million pounds of food the Navajo had stored.

He and his men chased them down on horseback (like the Janjaweed) and shot them..



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carson/

schedules:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/schedule_customize.html

[riverwalker]

1. Canyon de Chelley

was where the Navajo sought refuge from him. They speak of it like it was yesterday.

[billyoc]

2. Ah, the grand cavalry tradition. Good thing we don't, um, nm.

[Greyhound]

3. K & R

[mac2]

4. You're not winning the hearts and minds of the people

therefore you will lose in the end. Rich or not.

[mac2]

5. Why didn't they show this during American Indian History

Month? I believe it was in the fall. This is as you say, Black Histroy Month.

[NOLALady]

28. I doubt if Blacks mind sharing history.

Many of them also have Native American ancestry.

[donheld]

6. The US has more than one Darfur i'd say

The trail of tears for one.

[mac2]

25. And NO and the Gulf coast

during and after Katrina.

[Brewman_Jax]

30. The massacre at Wounded Knee Creek, SD, in 1890

considered the last engagement in the conflicts between the Indian nations and the U.S. Government.

[puebloknot]

7. The Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado is another example.

And the newspaper editor who wrote that charming children's book (for his own children), The Wizard of Oz, called for total extermination of Native Americans. His rationale was said to be that "we have wronged them for so long that to protect our nation, we should do them the final wrong of exterminating them all."

The book "American Holocaust" outlines the genocide that was the founding of this country.

[Supersedeas]

8. shhhhh, don't wanna distract from the photo-op that Condi so diligently organized

[puebloknot]

21. Right. Hide our own disgraces because we are, after all...

...the light of the world!

[Thothmes]

12. Don't forget

LT Colonel Custer's massacre of Southern Cheyennes on the Washita River in Oklahoma

[puebloknot]

22. Such occurrences are legion. Most Americans have not forgotten...

...Custer, but they remember him as heroic, whereas the few descendants of those who died at his hands have another view of him.

[A HERETIC I AM]

37. I don't know if people really think of Custer as "heroic"

I remember him being presented as a tragic figure in school, more than a hero of any kind. If you ever saw the movie "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman, Custer was portrayed (from what I understand about him) accurately as somewhat nuts. An egomaniac who would not listen to anyone.

[puebloknot]

40. It depends on which (and how many) movies you've seen about Custer.

There are people who adore him. Of course, they are not the Native Americans who hold very different views.

[Wednesdays]

13. Wow, I'm shocked to learn that about L. Frank Baum

And when I looked it up, what he really wrote was even worse than as you described.

Wow, some of the so-called "good guys" of history have their dark sides, it seems. Martin Luther was a rabid anti-Semite.

[puebloknot]

23. I was 50 years old when I took a series of Native American Studies classes...

...in Santa Barbara, CA. That was a "shock and awe" experience for sure, and I learned things they never, no never, teach in the public schools. It took a real fight even to get such program installed at the college level.

I was also quite shocked when I learned about L. Frank Baum. Who would think that a man who could write such a charming children's tale could have such a dark heart! Truth be told, he wasn't that different from his contemporaries. He just had a way with words!

Racism and tribalism are the shadow side of human nature, and I wonder if we will ever grow beyond it. Perhaps when we are invaded from space, our differences won't seem so stark! :)

[NOLALady]

31. I doubt if we'll be invaded from space.

All aliens need to do is sit back and wait until we destroy each other and/or make the planet unsustainable for life as we know it.
I do believe if we ever found life on another planet, our fist priority would be how to invade, enslave and steal their resources.

[puebloknot]

39. Your typo in this message is right on:

"...our fist priority..." That's right. We do everything with our fists as a first (and usually last) priority. :)

[The Stranger]

36. Funny how no matter how much one tries to bury it, ethnic cleansing never goes away.

Never.

[JCMach1]

9. Not to mention Rosewood, the Tulsa Race Riots

and much much more!

[KG]

10. but, but, we're number one!!!! go away america hater!

:eyes:

[nebenaube]

11. Yahoo Falls...

Where the locals massacred all the remaining women and children of the Thunderbolt Cherokee...

[spanone]

14. yes, but he was OUR genocidal maniac

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

15. John Fremont, his partner in crime.

And for whom cr@p all over is named,including the high school I attended.

[Romulox]

16. That's a good reason to do nothing about Sudan. Thank god we stopped reviewing Human Rights Records

when granting "MFN" status! Free trade will save the planet!

(In case anyone is unaware, China is the primary supporter of Sudan's genocidal government.)

[erpowers]

19. Missing the Point

I think you might be missing the point of the OP. Maybe the OP is doing what you seem to be saying, providing a reason not to do anything about Durfar, but it is possible they are just trying to bring attention to what happened in America. The point of the OP may be that we need to bring attention the the things that have happened in this country while we bring awareness to the problems happening in foreign countries.

[Romulox]

20. I don't think I've missed the point in the least, I'm just excited that MFN has "reformed" China

to the extent that all genocides are in our past, and there is no need to worry about whether our "free trade" $$$ are being used to rape women and kill children.

THAT'S the point of this thread, surely?

[Voice for Peace]

17. Saw that painful show last night

and in the light of Michelle's Obama's "proud of my country" remark.

I don't really get how people can be proud of a 'country' frankly.

I'm proud of nature, that it keeps on being abundant, and bringing forth beauty and majesty, despite how we destroy and pollute. That the trees keep giving us shade, and oxygen. That the wind keeps blowing, that the sun keeps rising and making things new, and that flowers come up in the spring. Nature is eternally hopeful. I am proud of Hope itself -- and humbled by the relentless power of hope -- but proud of a country? Just doesn't compute for me.

Each year little crocuses bloom earlier and earlier. They bloom when there's a freak warm spell in January. Thats their nature, to be hopeful, ready for spring. Some see this as naive and foolish, unrealistic. I say Hope is god itself.

The show on Kit Carson disgusted me, really. For some reason the torching of the Navajo's peach orchards was especially painful. It brought to mind the destruction of the olive and date orchards in Palestine.

America the Great? The great what?

[mac2]

26. At the turn of this century I thought we were onto a

better America with more democracy for all. Nope...the Bush family gained power again. Bush was proud to be the first president of the new century to wage war. That does not make him popular but hated. We no longer consider war and killing a heroic thing. Especially when our citizens are dying on foreign soil for corporations (no longer American ones).

[Voice for Peace]

27. This election will say a whole lot about whether or not

the tide is turning for America... whether a majority is recognizing that it's time
to call bullshit what it is, to say no to imperialistic lies, to shine light on
the creatures that thrive on darkness.

I am hopeful!
Even in nature, it can only get so dark; and it's always right before dawn.

[mac2]

34. I don't see it with the present candidates unless

they leave those elite organizations and have a "political turn around".

[Voice for Peace]

35. I don't disagree; but I think Obama is

young enough and smart enough to evolve, himself, in both leadership and
wisdom of policy.

I am hopeful, even though I have no illusions that changes can happen overnight.
I think lasting change takes a whole generation, at the very least.

There are many wise and powerful voices in this country (not in the government)
who have been trying to be heard, on so many issues domestic and international --
and he would be a fool to turn a deaf ear, as the administration and congress have
mostly been doing for as long as I can recall.

He is also seriously setting himself up to be accountable to the people who are
electing him. If he isn't, he's going to hear a lot about it. And frankly, I don't think
he would hide in the White House, I think he would listen and try to learn
something, rather than spew platitudes & make empty promises.

This is my sense, I may be completely wrong. I don't want to be deluded but
I like being hopeful. Time will tell. I still stand by the darkness before the
dawn argument. There are patterns in nature that are mirrored in human
history. Cheat and Deceit have about used up all their tickets, at least for now.

Remember, this energy of Hope has been trying to break through for
quite a while. In the 60's it was there, and it was widespread & powerful.
Although it got squashed back down, it hasn't given up on us.

Life itself is hopeful; otherwise it would have quit a long time ago. Even in the
midst of war and death, new life comes forth. Even in the filthiest places, things
keep trying to grow. A blade of grass can break through concrete. This is no
ordinary power.

That same power dwells in the hearts of human beings. Dormant in many,
but not unlike a seed in winter, it waits.

[erpowers]

18. Saw Histroy Channel Program About Him

I saw a program about Kit Carson last year. It was either on the History Channel or the Travel Channel. The show talked about what you mentioned. It also talked about the things, in America, named after Carson.

[mac2]

45. I didn't see it but have many other programs on history

Many times the History Channel re-makes history so you have to recheck their claims. Especially regarding our founding fathers.

One RW nut historian even acted like Hamilton had a male relationship. The flowery language, etc. was the way of writing then. I could hardly get through the book it was so "boring" and thick. Hamilton was not a boring man. It kept coming back over and over to the male Friend of Hamilton.

Hamilton risked his life and had health problems while serving his country. Even if that was the only thing he did he would be head and shoulders above most of today's office holders. (Except the ones having military service in Congress which are few today). The founders risked death because of their treason. Their families ruined, their property gone, wealth, etc.

Fact is that many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence did lost everything for their country. They were everyday farmers, trades people, etc. not the elite few measured by today's standards.

No politician today has the drive, patriotism, or bravery to come close to them. How dare they make fun of their sex lives (when no one knows for sure what happened). Will they talk about the Bush males liking boys (Bohemian Grove)and male prostitutes (Jeff Gannon) at the White House on the History Channel?

No the media only talk about Lincoln on President's Day since he was the only Republican President they can be proud of today.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

24. K&R n/t

[NightWatcher]

29. Wounded Knee anyone?

smallpox infested blankets, poisoned water supplies, land grabs........

Long before Darfur there was the GENOCIDE of the Native American

[MilesColtrane]

32. Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

http://www.exodusnews.com/HISTORY/History007.htm

[sarcasmo]

33. One more thing to get this Cherokee's blood pressure up.

[Lex Talionis]

38. The past you cannot change...

The future you can effect. Why do those who seem to dwell so much on the past, not want to acknowledge that here in the present this is happening all over the world? Only wringing their hands and saying its horrible nothing can be done now, but look what happened in the past. Why does the UN or the US not step in and stop the slaughter of Darfur and Myanmar? Why did the UN or the US not stop the slaughter in Rwanda? One poster here already answered these questions. And yes, we're all guilty.

[McCamy Taylor]

41. Be sure to look up "Sandcreek" site of a "Union Army Victory" over a bunch

of unarmed native Americans camping under both US and white flags while their fighters were away hunting that occurred on the western frontier during the Civil War.

[countryjake]

42. As Carson was described, the "Agent of Empire"...

"just following orders, sir".

Can't blame a killer for that, now can we?

Or the string of presidents who funded his exploits and actually called for those bloody orders, including ole honest, indian-killing Abe, himself. The way that program overlooked some of the massacres and routs that Carson participated in was to be expected, but the manner in which the show completely smoothed over and excused the blatant empire-building our government engaged in, via campaigns such as the ones Fremont and Carson led, left me practically nauseous, when it was finally over.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

43. Andrew Jackson

There's good and bad in his past. He was a national hero during the War of 1812 against the British. But after that, he led a campaign against Native Americans, resulting in the largest deportations in American history, as nearly 50,000 were forcibly moved out of their native lands. After the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, he oversaw the mutilation of the bodies of over 800 dead Indian warriors. Their noses were cut off to verify the body count and strips of skin were removed from their bodies to make bridles and other gear. Jackson himself supposedly boasted of having Indian scalps and a bridle made of dead Indian hide. After the battle, he also led the campaign to burn out Native Americans living in his path, trapping men, women, and children inside their houses and setting them on fire. In one case, an extended family of 46 Native Americans were reported to have been burned alive in their home.

[flashl]

44. We charge genocide

(Amazon) We charge genocide;: The historic petition to the United Nations for relief from a crime of the United States Government against the Negro people (Unknown Binding) by Civil Rights Congress (U.S.) (Author)

Customer Reviews
January 19, 2006
Important, largely unknown US history
By D. M. Ritchie "Mark Ritchie" (Mpls, MN USA)

This is one of the most important chapters in US and international human rights history but little known beyond a small circle of academics and older citizens who "were there". A must read.

[mac2]

46. They could charge genocide for New Orleans after Katrina

Many Afro-Americans died on purpose through the deliberate acts (or non-response and deliberate refusal to allow others in) of FEMA, the President, etc. The world looked on in horror.

Bush, Brownie, and Chernoff committed genocide before our eyes. It is an impeachable act.

[flashl]

47. Agreed. nt

[Thothmes]

48. Do not forget to add the administration of the City of New Orleans

and the administration of the State of Louisana. These people are just as culpable and just as responsible. JMO