The most distinguishing thing about humans is not our intelligence or our languages or our tool use. It is our infinite capacity for adaptability. We thrive anywhere from burning deserts to the poles.
I want you to imagine a vastly more advanced civilization lands on earth tomorrow. The humans who will do best are those that find a way to accommodate and adapt to the new reality. Those who will do least well are those that resist and reject the new reality. I see the heroism in those people but I also see the futility in their actions.
The American Indian had a choice to make. The European settler is not blameless but things could have been very different.
It wasn’t all friendliness and flowers in the pre-Columbus age. With 20/20 hindsight would immigrants have tried harder to keep peace between Indian tribes, maybe. But if you are being benefited in harsh survival conditions by tribe A and then they ask your help to fend off enemy tribe B, it is kind of hard to say no. Your attempts to bring peace might get both of them angry at you.
Look at those Indians who chose the Indian way of life versus those that chose the “white man’s way”. The latter are successful and normal. The former are trapped in a cycle of poverty not much unlike the Stone Age poverty in which they were found.
There is a lot to admire about American Indians. Their constant grievance-show and wallowing poverty aren’t to be admired. At what point do you stop being a victim and start living?