Native Indians (USA)

Discussion in 'Politics & Government' started by Richard Paradon, May 20, 2015.

  1. Richard Paradon

    Richard Paradon Supreme Member
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    It seems as if the USA is always going out on a limb to "save" other countries whether they wish to be "saved" or not. As a result of these endeavors both sides lose a lot of young men and woman and we spend a hell of a lot of money.

    I think it is long overdue that we take care of the people who we made miserable and bring them the opportunity to live as they once did. And that is the Native American Tribes. Any thoughts?
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    While the Native Americans were truly wronged by the Europeans who came to this continent hundreds of years ago, this began long before the United States was formed, although it continued under the U.S. government. However, if you were to superimpose geopolitical maps of the world since the beginning of human history, you will learn that the history of the human race is one of people usurping the lands of those who were there before. Pretty much every people group in the world has had the opportunity to play the part of both victim and conqueror, and this includes the Native American tribes, who regularly preyed upon one another. Nothing can be done to make things right for one group of people without taking it from another, and to ask someone generations later to repay a debt assumed by people they have never met nor had any chance to influence serves simply to commit another wrong. The land that I live on, and the land that I have further north were surely the property of some Indian tribe or another at some point, but they no doubt took it from another, but neither I nor my ancestors were involved in any of it, since my parents came here from Sweden. Life isn't fair and it doesn't come with do-overs, so the fairest thing is to move on from where we are right now, and to do so in fairness and justice, which is not the direction that any government on the planet is moving in, I'm afraid.
     
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  3. Ina I. Wonder

    Ina I. Wonder Supreme Member
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    American Indians have become as modernized as the rest of the world, so the days of old are past for them just as it is for all the rest of us. My maternal grandmother and grandfather were both Indians, she was a modernized woman that worked for our government as a USDA (?) meat inspector, and he was an airline pilot.
    Neither wanted to live in the past, but both wanted the right and opportunity to practice their beliefs and customs. That was what the greatest struggle was about for most American Indians, not so much about the lost lands.
     
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  4. Sheldon Scott

    Sheldon Scott Supreme Member
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    I say just leave people alone. Any help our government gives just leads to government control. We are not responsible for what was done in the past.
     
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  5. Richard Paradon

    Richard Paradon Supreme Member
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    Three replies and three good answers. Thanks! Just tells me that there is a lot that I do not understand or perhaps do not want to understand.
     
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  6. Jenn Windey

    Jenn Windey Supreme Member
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    Living in a region that is surrounded by Native American Sovereign Land I can tell you that the debt has been paid. It is the Seneca Nation that is saving the American side of Niagara Falls, The Tuscarora's that are bring wealth and commerce to the farm areas to the North, and the Seneca's and Alleghenies that are helping revive downtown Buffalo. For the first time in almost 30 years this area is seeing some growth and re-building. The revenue these business brings is what pays a large portion of the sales tax and other taxes that have been used for this and other ventures in the state of NY. It is perhaps one of the biggest businesses in this part of the state. People very much want the jobs this brings because they pay well and the working conditions are very good.
     
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  7. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    The US government is still interested in the American Indian, Richard; but helping them is working out about the same as Obamacare is working out for most Americans. (it mainly benefits the government.)
    Washington actually sold most of the lands that were Indian lands, and now they are working on taking over the lands that the Indians still have.
    They are going to declare part of the Badlands (in South Dakota) as a "National Tribal Park"; but it will basically be a tribal park in name only, and the land will then be under the control of the government.
    The Souix Indians who have lived there, and farmed the land, will soon be forced to move, and lose their land and homes.
    As they so often do elsewhere, the government can declare "emminent domain" on the Indian lands , so if the Indian residents refuse the offer that Washington DC makes for their land, then the government just takes the land from them.
    I imagine that once they get this part of the Indian-owned land confiscated for the government ; then they will also use similar principles to take more of the Indian's lands, homes, and farms.

    http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/06/...domain-land-grab-on-sioux-indian-reservation/
     
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  8. Sheldon Scott

    Sheldon Scott Supreme Member
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  9. Richard Paradon

    Richard Paradon Supreme Member
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    This is the sort of thing I was talking about. Thanks Yvonne!

     
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    Last edited: May 21, 2015
  10. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    I love how thoughtful the discussions on here are, without anyone becoming obnoxious. Thanks for posting that, @Yvonne Smith. I haven't heard anything about that in the news. I have a friend who's a Sioux from South Dakota, and I'm going to share that with him.
     
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  11. Ina I. Wonder

    Ina I. Wonder Supreme Member
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    In my last post in this thread, I said that one of the American's Indian's greatest fights was for the ability to continue to practice their own beliefs and customs. So many Indian youths were forced into government schools that were there to specifically iradicate those very beliefs and customs, and this fight is still going on today. Especially if that tribe doesn't have the financial resources to fight for themselves.

    I did not mean to imply that Indians didn't care about their lost lands, but that the right to their own beliefs and customs were of the most important need in today's world. They are aware that getting those lost holdings back is probably as long lost an opportunity as it has always been. But, fighting that battle does slow down the governments encroachment on their present holdings. If every American would fight for the American Indian's rights, their own rights wouldn't be as hard to uphold.
     
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  12. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Within the lands set aside for the Indian Nations, the U.S. government should have no control. If they are willing to be responsible for paying their own way, they should be able to operate casinos, sell tobacco without state or federal taxes being imposed, or run whatever businesses they wish. Where the U.S. government is subsidizing them, it's another matter, however.
     
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  13. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I live in the heart of the old Indian Territory, surrounded by tribes and reservations. Casinos are everywhere. I don't hear any complaints. I mean I don't see anything in the papers or on the tele news programs. We do have an unfinished Indian museum standing on the banks of the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City that the tribes say they don't have the money to finish. The City Government is trying to get dIndians to donate the museum and land to the city who supposedly will convert it to some useful. The city says it will take another thirty million bucks to finish it out for some useful purpose. I think this is what is going happen. I think we have given the Indians about all the help our government intends to give. We all will have to make it on our on together more or less.
     
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