The Prevalance of War

       


           I often think about why race is so important in the world.  It seems to give a sense of individuality to some people, but a sense of unity to others. However, what happens when one person or group of people values their race so much that they would rather eradicate any other race that may do it harm?  In Naimark’s Ethnic Cleansing, chapter 2 that is just what he makes reference to.  The Nazi Attack on the Jews represents one of the strongest instances of racism in the world’s history.  Naimark states: “ According to Nazi Ideology, the mere existence of Jews posed a threat of serious contagion to all healthy European nations…(pg. 59).”  The mere existence of another race having the ability to mingle with their own created the idea of Nazi racism.

            The more and more I read about “fires of hatred” like the Nazi example, the more I think about the origins of the United States of America.  While the Native Americans were in a different scenario, the racism there exists all the same.  According to an article from PBS, the Natives were given treaties of peace and land ownership, but none of them mattered when they refused to move their living grounds.  Europe came in with a “my way or the highway” attitude.  They deliberately used their advanced weaponry as a sense of higher beings against the Native American race. 

           

            Now, I am nearly 90 percent German, but I feel that the Native American culture is one that I can very closely relate to.  At a very young age I was around a family who was very involved in Native American traditions.  Through programs like the Boy Scouts of America I became so interested in the culture that I started going to true Native American Powwows and soon, even started to sing and dance competitively in them.  As I became more involved with the culture, I began to learn the translations for many of the songs.  There are a large variety of topics, but I have been able to narrow it down to three major topics I have heard the most: war songs before battles, celebration songs for after battles and mourning songs for those lost in battle. 

            I am not claiming that wars were not fought before Europeans started to inhabit America, but it seems that currently almost their entire culture revolves around that of war.  The Indian Removal act was one of the major steps in relocating Native Americans to reservations.  It seems to me like it is nearly identical to the Jewish ghettos formed in Germany.  According to an article from education-portal, “certain Native Americans attempted to stay behind and become American citizens.  Unfortunately, white settlers refused to accept their Indian brethren as equal…”  Natives never really had a say in any part of their relocation, much like the Jewish in Germany.

            At this point in our country’s timeline, I question whether or not the settlers even thought of the Natives as people.  Whatever the case, I wonder that had war not been so prevalent, perhaps the Natives would center their culture around something else.  People always make mistakes, but the point here is that there is nothing we can do about what our ancestors have done except treat others how they deserve to be treated.

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/native-americans/

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/indian-removal-act-of-1830-summary-timeline-facts.html