By

Joe Wilkins

Copyright © 2014

Recently, on the Fox network’s program “The Five,” one panelist started condemning America for conquering and subduing the Indians, continuing the mistreatment over the years. His response was in concert with the tendency of many people to take the position that America is an arrogant power—and always has been—trying to impose its will upon the rest of the world.

Trying to connect America’s recent military actions with past mistreatment of America’s Indians is a stretch, in my opinion. In his view, we are a cause for most of the problems in the world today, citing our belligerence for starting the wars in Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.  Though many may argue the appropriateness of our engaging in certain military actions, he neglected the fact that America rescued the world during World Wars I & II, without our help we would probably be speaking German and Japanese today. He seemed to be using our treatment of the Indians to justify his attitude that America needs to be “perfect” when engaging in foreign affairs and wars—actions which are impossible.

If all groups of people followed the Golden Rule, then his view of how nations should behave would be possible. Unfortunately, throughout history, almost all groups, tribes, and nations have conquered and subdued others for their own benefit. It appears to be the basic human way of behavior. A review of the history of slavery, for instance, shows that almost all nations have engaged in slavery in one form or another. Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Greece, Persia, China, European countries, Rome—the list goes on and on.

And some of the American Indians are not innocent either; they too, like all of humankind, suffer from this condition, whereby conditions in the collective human psyche, and numerous external conditions, impel one group to control and subdue others—usually for economic or survival reasons.

About the American Indian situation, the first American settlers—our ancestors—came from Europe seeking religious freedom, economic opportunity, and escape from various forms of oppression. They did not come with the idea of suppressing the Indians, being rather unaware of the New World in many respects, especially the extent of the American Indian population. Most of the original colonists tried to cooperate with the Indians simply to survive the harsh conditions, but were often treated in a hostile manner, causing them to reciprocate in a like manner.

The point of this column is to show that it is often inappropriate to connect or blame present day groups for the sins of their ancestors. It is doubtful if any reader of this column has ever thought ill of, or mistreated, an American Indian. Perhaps Hollywood’s western movies are guilty of misrepresenting Native Americans, but there have recently been many movies representing them in a more accurate light.

Even so, the Indians seem to suffer from the same human frailties as the rest of us. It seems to be a major human flaw to portray today’s misbehavior as being caused by events in the past. While the past does have its role, it is not the cause of today’s misbehavior, because we still possess free will, and we need to choose to exercise it more often.

Thus, I am advocating the use of past human misdeeds, not for blame, but as learning experiences to correct our behavior today.