American Indian Genocide Essay

When you think about Native Americans you think peaceful village people but that is far from what really happened. What happened in the Holocaust was genocide but would you consider what happened to the Native Americans was genocide? There are lots of opinions and feelings about what happened like the â€Å"Trail of Tears† in the â€Å"Indian Removal Acts† and the concentration camps where they were all moved from their land so the whites could build and the Indians would die of exposure. I don’t think it was a full genocide but most of the characteristics fit, so I would label it an Internecine and an Indirect-Genocide. If you think what happened to the Native Americans was not genocide, what would you label it? First off Genocide it is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. There are warning signs and events that occur in genocide and they are; usually has a king or a powerful leader, and in the Native Americans story France and Britain had lots of power during the wars. Forcing kids and people to transfer to their beliefs or religion, and Indian kids were forced to go the camps to be taught the white man’s ways. Also the person or people will deliberate both mentally and physically kill or attack a race. Indians were called stupid because of different ways to life and were killed because they were interrupted as savage. Then the is the word Internecine which is a conflict or struggle of both sides that usually results in savage behavior and slaughter of both groups that also fits into America’s History. The Native Americans fought back in the French and Indian War that happened from 1756 – 1763 so that event in the Native American history was more of an Internecine then Genocide. The Europeans stereotyped the Indians â€Å"The only good Indian is a dead Indian†, Philip Sheridan 1869, because of their beliefs. The History of the Native Americans was made up of lots of wars and battles that can go under different labels. I would consider what happened on the â€Å"Trail Of Tears† from 1830 – 1837 was not a full genocide but I would label it an Indirect Genocide. Genocide contains deliberate mental and physically kill or attack a race, but in the Trail of Tears the Indians were not directly killed but the environment and lack of supplies killed them. The US government knew that the conditions were poor and that many would die but they did not care as long as they were off the land so they could expand. It was indirect murder because they sent them on a Trail of Death and did not kill them strait out like in the Holocaust where Hitler would kill Jews because they were Jewish. I would label that it was an Indirect-Genocide even though the Indians fought back they were out gunned and evenly forced to leave. I the beginning when pilgrims from Europe first tried to settle on North America they were killed by the environment when the Indians watched. The Native Americans could have wiped them out but they knew that where they can from had strong military and maybe would send people to kill them for the death of the travelers and that reason it why lots of people say it was not genocide. I find it quite ironic that in the start the Europeans were weak and dyeing from poor conditions then the Indians helped them gain power, then the Trail of Tears the Europeans sent the Indians on a walk where they died from conditions and environment but they had no one help them like the Native Americans had in there time of need. Some people did not even know all the terrible things that built North America so we would try to label it with the same event as something bad like the Holocaust to try to show the level of the event. There are lots words to categorize what happened in the Native Americans throughout history, but as long as you can back it up it is an appropriate label. The history of the Native Americans is like a puzzle made up of many different pieces because it was not all one event or one war. My opinion I that it was not full Genocide but Indirect-Genocide and Internecine and I showed my facts and reasoning and you can agree and disagree. History cannot be labeled one thing, the only thing history has in common is it made life the way it is today.