Lpez: American Diaspora (The Campaign to Drive Native Americans into Reservations)

They made us many promises, more than I can remember. They kept but one. They promised to take our land and they took it,” – Red Cloud (1822-1909), Oglala Lakota Sioux.

The eloquent words above justifiably explain why, from the Native American perspective, no white European ever immigrated to America “the right way.” They just brutally took the land from its rightful owners.

Most readers may be familiar with the word “Diaspora” as it relates to the Hebrews’ Biblical uprooting and exile to Egypt, Babylon, and elsewhere. The fact is that one of the most massive, multi-faceted diasporas occurred right here in the U.S. Indeed, no place was safe for Native Americans living in ancestral lands that European-descent people wanted and took without mercy from sea to shining sea.

Besides the enslavement of African people in the U.S. (meriting its own designation as a diaspora), no other part of U.S. history is more appalling, more disturbing than the fate of Native Americans in what is now the U.S.

Alas, the deliberate, degrading displacement shows how much U.S. policies were focused on depriving indigenous people of their most cherished communal possession – their land. Crafting what plainly became extermination strategies, U.S. government mandates sent Native Americans to their death. How? By forcing indigenous families to walk great distances, resulting in the loss of the most vulnerable – women, children, and elderly. The ones who survived the march were sentenced to a prison-like existence in faraway stockades.


https://riograndeguardian.com/lopez-american-diaspora-the-campaign-to-drive-native-americans-into-reservations/