Genocide in the Americas

                               Genocide in the Americas

     When we think or talk about genocide it is always in a distant
country. Rwanda, or Sudan, or what is thought to be the "Big One" -
the Holocaust of WW II where Hitler tried to exterminate Jews.

     His wars also killed 25 million people of many nationalities, races
and religious beliefs in Russia. 25 million.

     But, more than 500 years ago (about 510 is closer to the mark)
Columbus landed on San Salvador island, in what is now the Bahamas.
Guanahaní was the name at the time.

     Columbus stayed for one year, and his troops on the island brutalized
the Taino, and they killed his troops. When he returned he had the Chiefs
to a place for a meal, and then Columbus had the small hall burnt to the
ground.

     Within several years almost all Taino dead, mostly from disease.
So we celebrate Columbus Day!!

     When Mexico was finally conquered the Holy Roman Catholic Church
owned 50 percent of the land in Mexico. "My Kingdom is not of this earth."

     In Massachusetts, a year or two after the first so-called Thanksgiving the
colonizers got on their knees and gave thanks to God for the plague that wiped
out most of the nearby Indian population. Many, many Indians died from the
plague, smallpox and influenza.

     The colonizers openly talked of "wiping them out," and deliberately wiped out
the buffalo.

     The indians did not scalp their opponents in battle. "Scalping was introduced
by the Europeans, particularly it was like what one would do if gathering furs
you needed fur to be paid...that practice carried over.

     I believe that all land must be returned to the native peoples. Any non-indian
is an illegal immigrant, or the decesendant of one!

     All the profits from the banks, and major corporations must be returned to the
tribes. It is theirs...and a large sum should be given to the decendents of slaves.

     It must be left to the tribal elders to decide what to do with those who are on
their land! Send them back to Europe, put them in reservations, or let them stay.

     It is their decision.

     There are only two groups that have a legitimate claim to being in America:
the indigenous peoples, and those brought there as slaves.

     But, there will no justice until the land returns to the native people as foretold.

     That is my view

     Paul Meuse