How much guilt does America feel for taking the land of Native Americans?

The short answer? Not enough. I'm just not sure how well that can translate into action.

Consider the things some of my ancestors have in common. A country was basically sold to a foreign nation that proceeded to force its ways onto the people. It tried to suppress native music, dance, and dress. It almost succeeded in eliminating the native language. It persecuted people for not adopting the new religion. It developed a system of land ownership and management that caused widespread famine and drove millions of people not just from their land, but out of the country entirely.

The things England would need to do to make up for what it did to Ireland boggle my mind, and even I, a descendant of coffin ship refugees, would find it unreasonable to ask for more than an end to discrimination against the Irish.

However, I do think there is more that can be done for the Native American populations. I am not talking about monetary reparations, because no amount of money can pay for what's happened. We should support tribal economies, of course. But we should also show greater respect for the ways and languages of the land.

If that "English only" movement took their own advice and learned the language of the land before immigrating here, we wouldn't be speaking English now, would we?

Oklahoma hosts the most Native reservations in the USA. Notice tiny St. Regis at the top of New York where only 1 out of the 8 bands of Mohawk, for example, are legal entities. Guilty feelings are useless if... keep reading →

The history of the Americas is fairly well known. At least parts of it. Europeans came over across the ocean and landed. Here they lied to the natives who lived here (now called Native Americans), stole their... keep reading →

America or Americans?

How much guilt is there over making blacks come from Africa to be slaves?

It's nice to think about happy past events but why dwell on things that can't be changed.

America is now being taken away, so I guess turn around is fair play

I would like to think that America and Americans feel guilty about it all. Feeling not guilty would be abnormal. I guess the best way to get a feel about it - is to put yourself in the position of the Native... keep reading →

They tell ya “Honey, you can still be an Indian down at the ‘Y’ on Saturday nights. -- "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," Buffy Sainte-Marie The question of whether European Americans feel guilty for... keep reading →