Whatever wrongs there were perpetrated against the Indians they are no different than those perpetrated against blacks, or Irish, or Hispanics, or Chinese or scores of other ethnic groups. Further every nation shares some such sorry behavior in their history.
What matters is that we are a nation of reasonably equal opportunity today and you can truly make of yourself what you want. At 14 I was a penniless orphan. At 16 I ran away from the "caring" NYS welfare folks to live in thewoods up behind the local high school.
Today I'm wealthy, have a business, and 5 kids including a doctor and two Marine officers. Only in America could a smuck like me have a life like this.
If anyone asks me ehat I am I'd say an American, if pressed I'd say an American thats a former Marine.
The reason that I mentioned the Cheyenne thing is that someone was calling for a Navajo Chief (in Marine lingo an Indian) to kick ass. So I anted up.
There you go!
I largely agree.
Of course, if the soft-hearted, soft-headed folks want to give gobs of low interest business loans because of 1/16th ancestry (never mind the Frenchmen and Dutchmen who were anything but poor), well, a loan's a loan I say.
But where's the list of the prescribed tribes.
Cheyenne and Ojibwa are on it, but how about the Carib?