[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

the essay to write today, "Did the treatment of the Native Americans constitute genocide according to the UN Convention on Genocide [Res. 280 A III]?"

the answer of course is yes, but that is the easy part...

it is not death that is the most horrifying part of genocide and mass murder and modern war, it is the immeasurable amount of human suffering and misery that occurs from starvation, disease, brutal violence, forced migration etc etc etc...

all I can say is that people can be pretty FUCKED up when they decide to be..

"
A second, even less substantiated instance of alleged biological warfare concerns an incident that occurred on June 20, 1837. On that day, Churchill writes, the U.S. Army began to dispense "'trade blankets' to Mandans and other Indians gathered at Fort Clark on the Missouri River in present-day North Dakota." He continues: Far from being trade goods, the blankets had been taken from a military infirmary in St. Louis quarantined for smallpox, and brought upriver aboard the steamboat St. Peter’s. When the first Indians showed symptoms of the disease on July 14, the post surgeon advised those camped near the post to scatter and seek "sanctuary" in the villages of healthy relatives.
In this way the disease was spread, the Mandans were "virtually exterminated," and other tribes suffered similarly devastating losses. Citing a figure of "100,000 or more fatalities" caused by the U.S. Army in the 1836-40 smallpox pandemic (elsewhere he speaks of a toll "several times that number"), Churchill refers the reader to Thornton’s American Indian Holocaust and Survival."

 

[akprodr]

One of my hobbies is railfanning--not trainspotting though. And I'm not unaware of the contradictions of it. The rise of the railroad was on the death of the Native Americans.

I went to the Golden Spike Nat'l Historic Site and was disappointed that there was no mention made of the deleterious effects the railroads had on the locals.

Makes ya proud to be an American, no?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by akprodr

One of my hobbies is railfanning--not trainspotting though. And I'm not unaware of the contradictions of it. The rise of the railroad was on the death of the Native Americans.

I went to the Golden Spike Nat'l Historic Site and was disappointed that there was no mention made of the deleterious effects the railroads had on the locals.

Makes ya proud to be an American, no?

yes, of course that and

 

and should we forget?

 

 

[floatingslowly]

I keep dancing, but the palefaces just won't die.

[akprodr]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

I keep dancing, but the palefaces just won't die.

Robin Hobb has an interesting use of dance in her Soldier Son trilogy. The dancers are in pain and misery and the shaman can project those feelings across a distance and whitey experiences it as fear.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

I keep dancing, but the palefaces just won't die.

that's cos palefaces themselves can't dance and lack the proper mojo.

no offense!

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

that's cos palefaces themselves can't dance and lack the proper mojo.

no offense!

Exhibit A: Deadheads

 

[floatingslowly]

Originally Posted by akprodr

The dancers are in pain and misery and the shaman can project those feelings across a distance and whitey experiences it as fear.

it's called ghost dancing.

thought = action

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

no offense!

none taken.

I'm 1/64 injun, 3/64's random fuckery and 60/64's titanium steel.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

"In 1891, as the so-called Indian Wars were drawing to a close putting an end to unabated carnage of the American frontier, columnist L. Frank Baum described what was then perceived as an American victory over the indigenous population writing that “the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation?”[1] Baum was expressing the popular and political sentiment of that epoch, that is, agenda of the removal of the American Indian populations by any means necessary, including outright extermination! Future President Teddy Roosevelt, in his Indian Wars days as Rough Rider expressed this same inclination in his 1889 book The Winning of the West, saying, “I don’t go so far to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”[2]
From the outset of American colonial expansion up until the beginning of the twentieth century, the American Indians were viciously targeted by both the governments and the general populace, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and even millions of people! As with many historic incidences of mass murder and dehumanizing ferocity, it has been a struggle to exactly define this history and there has been much debate. However, it is clear from the evidence of history that, even according to criteria of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, that the brutality inflicted upon the indigenous populations of the United States under either the auspices of the government or the actions of its citizens, constitutes the most heinous crime of genocide.

[1] Hewitt, 61.

[2] Meider, 46.

[akprodr]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

it's called ghost dancing.

thought = action

I suspected this and a lot of the other story devices were actually real; well not real but pre-existing. I don't have the background to identify them. It was new to me and very interesting.

The map of this 'world' is a map of Washington. (Like the map of her other world is Alaska--upside down.)

I think I scared a native american reporter* at KTUU because of my vehemence at the history of relations between whites and natives. She was almost defending whitey. Moving from nomadic subsistence to stationary welfare: that's an improvement? Can you say Honey Bucket?

(* who now works for Palin--go figure)

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

"In 1891, as the so-called Indian Wars were drawing to a close putting an end to unabated carnage of the American frontier, columnist L. Frank Baum described what was then perceived as an American victory over the indigenous population writing that “the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation?”[1] Baum was expressing the popular and political sentiment of that epoch, that is, agenda of the removal of the American Indian populations by any means necessary, including outright extermination! Future President Teddy Roosevelt, in his Indian Wars days as Rough Rider expressed this same inclination in his 1889 book The Winning of the West, saying, “I don’t go so far to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”[2]
From the outset of American colonial expansion up until the beginning of the twentieth century, the American Indians were viciously targeted by both the governments and the general populace, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and even millions of people! As with many historic incidences of mass murder and dehumanizing ferocity, it has been a struggle to exactly define this history and there has been much debate. However, it is clear from the evidence of history that, even according to criteria of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, that the brutality inflicted upon the indigenous populations of the United States under either the auspices of the government or the actions of its citizens, constitutes the most heinous crime of genocide.

[1] Hewitt, 61.

[2] Meider, 46.

its finished, and I am only left more ashamed to be an American, as usual. Bloodguilt can be a terrible thing I suppose, even if people believe that time heals wounds, wounds can remain scars just the same!

the conclusion:

These campaigns of mass murder and siege warfare, since 1948, have come to have a name of their own, which we collectively define as genocide. The only debate regarding applying the UN Convention definition of genocide to the American Indians’ experience is the defining of the intent of the perpetrators. The UN Convention is very specific in this regard, that the concept of genocide only be applied where the perpetrators had the specific intent to destroy all or part of a group, killing the members of that group solely in the grounds of their membership. This is where the debate centers with the American Indians, as many scholars and everyday Americans refuse to accept the possibility that the Americans intentions of that time could have been less than admirable. In truth, this could be considered sacrilege to the indigenous Americans who perished in this Holocaust, regardless of the offense it might cause to the present.
While not every killing of an Indian by the military or by Americans can be considered genocide, it is clear from the evidence of history that there were many instances of genocide committed. In this regard, specific historical instances of the Indian Wars can be identified as genocide under Resolution 260 A (III), however the distinctions must be made for the claim of genocide to remain a valid one. Still, as Russell Thornton concludes:
“the American Indian populations were reduced not only by disease, but also by both the direct and indirect effects of wars and genocides, enslavements, removals and relocations, and the destruction of ways of life and subsistence patterns in American Indian societies accompanying contact with Europeans.”[1]

[1] Thornton, Russell. “American Indian Population Recovery”, 38-39.

[Glice]

Just out of moribund curiosity, could you ever see yourself inculcated in genocide?

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Glice

Just out of moribund curiosity, could you ever see yourself inculcated in genocide?

i'm not sure what you mean exactly, but if I got you correctly, the answer is most assuredly NO, I-man would take flight flight flight! I would rather take my chances and die on the run, i'm just a born gambler like that.

[floatingslowly]

Originally Posted by akprodr

I think I scared a native american reporter* at KTUU because of my vehemence at the history of relations between whites and natives. She was almost defending whitey.

there used to be schools in oklahoma where they would send indian children to white-a-tize them. my wifeunit's grandmother was one of them. I've heard that australia had a similar program for it's indigenous people.

good times.

also, I don't think that many indians call themselves native americans. I'm sure there are some that do, but mostly they either say that they are indian, or name their tribe. native american is a term made up by guilt-ridden white people.


[edit:like woah]

[Glice]

Ok, my point was something to do with the idea that no one can ever be absolved; in a simple sense, the old poem 'and they came for the seventh-day adventists' [etc] suggests we're never absolved. I'm pretty convinced of that. I suppose the more important question is that of dogma, and ethics. Dogma gets a bad name, and I'm opposed to that bad name. On another hand, who of us doesn't, or can absolve ourselves, of blood?

NB scripture is not an adequate answer.

[floatingslowly]

Originally Posted by Glice

On another hand, who of us doesn't, or can absolve ourselves, of blood?

I began to type "I'm not racist and my genes include fragments from safe-house owners of the underground railroad".

I wanted to say that I felt no guilt and required no absolution.

then I remembered how I chose against the free "hero of texas" scholarship. a great-great uncle of mine killed a mess o' mexicans and got famous for it. I wouldn't take direct part in the spoils.

I need a mexican to hug me. right now.

[Kloriel]

don't worry. shovel snow. combine what happened at wounded knee
with the thing i forgot even tho i wasn't supposed 2.

ever wish you could be a dj for time?

[Glice]

The 'I don't give a fuck' defence is an important, and valid one. I just wish you'd stop being such a faux-antognostic, supercilious wankstain about it.

Edit: at Wanking slowly.

[floatingslowly]

I'm serious. I feel terrible about all those dead mexicans.

only hugs can make me feel better (although I'm willing to settle for tacos).

as far as injuns go, my home is practically a teepee.

[Kloriel]

it would be like, you know did you ever have a number line in grade school? it would be like that except instead of numbers broken down into hives
it would be all of time and then you could just attack it with your hands and spin it with your palms. splice 1843 florida with 600 b.c. china and then loop it and add all of the american 30s as a segue to india in 1614.