"Dear President Bush. Please send your assistance in freeing our small nation from occupation. This foreign force occupied our lands to steal our rich resources. They used biological warfare and deceit, killing thousands of elders, children and women in the process. As they overwhelmed our land, they deposed our leaders and people of our own government, and in its place, they installed their own government systems that yet today control our daily lives in many ways. As in your own words, the occupation and overthrowing of one small nation...is too many. Sincerely, an American Indian"
(Letter written to then President Bush in 1991 by a group of Native Americans in Oregon. Featured in Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.)
I bet that they never showed you a letter like that in your history class! Why not? Why do we year after year continue to lie to the youth of our country about its history? Why are the schools so afraid to teach the truth? Are we not doing our children a diservice by continuing to teach the same old bulls**t that we have been spoon feeding them for years?
Your first history lesson probably started something like this, "In 1492 Columbus...." You know what that cute little rhyme does not teach children (Besides the fact that Columbus did not find America)? No where in that sweet memory device does it mention him raping and pillaging. It forgets how he wrote passionately about enslaving the Hispanics. It seems to leave out the fact that he tried to steal as much gold as possible. Also along the way the writers of the song omitted the facts that he hung a large portion of his own crew for disagreeing with him, that he was removed from the position of governor, accused of tyranny and incompetence and at one point was sent back to Spain in shackles.
What is wrong with that story? How come they never mention it during the parade? Why do we still celebrate this man with a national holiday? What will be next? Ted Kazynski holiday softball games? It is a blemish on this great country but it is still the truth. It is a cliche sentence but it still rings true; if we do not learn from our history we will be doomed to repeat it.
Another American icon whose past has been blurred by the history books is Thomas Jefferson. Not only did he own hundreds of slaves, he is stated as viewing them racially inferior. He is also guilty of forcibly moving Cherokee and Shawnee tribes off of the land that was rightfully theirs.
Malcom X, no doubt an important figure in the history of this country, prior to becoming a leader in the fight for African American rights was involved in narcotics, gambling and prostitution. The Kennedy brothers...do not get me started.
The short synopsis of the Vietnam war that they teach kids will barely scratch the surface. Talking about the Viet Cong invading the south and the attrocities that they brought with them. The text books mention nothing of the sort about setting up a paper government in as early as the forties when it was still Frech-Indo China and then knocking that same government out.
The problem is we teach history from the eyes of the victor. Ask the Saracen what he thought about the crusades. Teach our chidren from some books written by the Native American regarding the arrival of Europeans. Ask the British their point of view about the revolutionary war. I have a feeling they might substitute the word revolution with terrorist but that is just me. Ask the south how they felt after the civil war, etc...You get the picture.
I love this country and I could not be prouder to be an American. I know that I could not even have the right to write this blog in many parts of the world and that is what makes us so great. With that said, we must face up to the point that we are not and have not always been perfect. You don't believe me? Ask a Native American...but good luck finding one, they are kind of scarce nowadays. Is it hot in here or am I Crazy?
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