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I am part native American. The narrative that the American Indian was a peaceful and benevolent peoples is not accurate. When the settlers came and Americans expanded Westward there were tribes that were agriculture based who tried to get along with others, but even they had a bloody history and engaged in slavery. The more nomadic tribes were anything but peaceful with war and slavery as common practice.

Both sides did things that we regret now. Both. History has been very distorted and the premise that is taught today in our schools that “they were here first” and had somehow lived peacefully on the land before the appearance of Europeans for a long time is NOT supported by evidence.

You would be hard pressed to find any peoples who did not engage in behavior with other tribes that we view as abhorrent today. I wish this was something that more Americans understood. We are NOT responsible for the sins of our predecessors. American academia is hellbent on applying the sins of the past onto the present.

What happened in Armenia was genocide. It should be labeled as such. However, none of the participants of it are alive today and it is beyond our ability to fix. Turkey will continue to deny it or justify it, but in the end what are we supposed to do about it? The injustices in that part of the world are legion and continued through WWII and beyond. We were not alive.