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To: MissAmericanPie
I would say that original Ameicans seem less entitled than others.

What do you mean by "original American"? Do you mean white people? Tell that to the 75% of my skin-toned white ancestors who arrived a century ago. Do you mean Anglo-Americans whose ancestors founded the country (a good portion of my remaining 25%)? Or do you mean Native Americans, who predated all of us on the continent, yet had little to do with establishing or organizing our system of government?

72 posted on 12/08/2003 11:30:29 PM PST by ChicagoHebrew
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To: ChicagoHebrew
"Original Americans" are probably extinct. Groups such as the Olmecs, Toltecs, Anasazi, Mound Builders, etc. were long gone before the first Europeans came over, their culture lost to the current 'native' residents (when the Europeans arrived). As some of the earliest Americans may have arrived as far back as 32,000 years ago, (maybe farther back than that), it is difficult for Europeans and later invaders to decide just what the original American cultures were like.

"Native American" (my wife prefers "Indian"--she is Chippewa) is no better a term than "white". It embraces a plethora of tribes and cultures which varied widely in lifestyle (nomadic, sedentary, etc.) and culture,largely determined by geography and the available resources and materials which affected their technological development.

A parallel exists, the Native Americans were forbidden to speak their language, taught in schools which did not teach (and often forbade) their culture, and greatly lost their cultural identity.

Now "White" children are going to schools which do not teach their history or culture, and often forbid it.

History repeats itself?

90 posted on 12/09/2003 8:55:29 PM PST by Smokin' Joe
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