From Right Field: It’s great to be a native

November is the start of Native-American month. It is about time that we have a month that everybody is supposed to remember people like me. See, I?m an American native. I was born on American soil, as were my parents, as were my grandparents, as were my great-grandparents.

In fact, one must go back to the early 1700?s to find an ancestor on either side of my family that was not born on American soil (see Jerel Thomas Pedigree Chart).

Yep, I?m a native. My American ancestry pre-dates the birth of the country, so that makes me Native-American. I think I?m beginning to enjoy this hyphenated-identity. I see why you leftists like it so well.

Now, I fully recognize the contributions that the Indians gave to the Pilgrims and all that. We need to remember these contributions as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Of course, Pilgrims, like Columbus, did not really discover anything and killed people, so we may not get Thanksgiving this year, but in the event that we do, please remember the contributions of Americans indigenous people.

Here in the year 2001 history teaches us to be very sympathetic toward Indian tribes in the modern day. We here such things in History classes that our treatment of the American Indian is a black mark on our society. We are supposed to feel ashamed for pushing them off their land. The Indians were a pristine people, one with nature and protectors of the environment. We are told we have a lot to learn from the American Indian.

I must question this. I am sick and tired of hearing how bad we treat the American Indian. Allow me to offer a fresh perspective on this delicate matter. I say we have treated the American Indian better than any other nation has treated their indigenous people.

We had a land war with the American Indian, plain and simple. As the Mafia says, ?It was nothing personal. It was business? (see The Godfather, part one, Paramount Pictures, 1973). We wanted to expand westward and they occupied the land we wanted. A simple land war. After we had won the land war, we turned around and allowed them to maintain their culture, giving them semi-sovereign status on various reservations. Furthermore, we give these reservations federal subsidies every year. They even have their own Bureau in the federal government.

All this because we felt bad about winning a land war.

What other country has EVER done this for the loser in a war before? Where exactly was the Jewish reservation in Egypt? I have heard nothing about the various reservations of ancient Rome. Nazi Germany did not set up a Polish reservation. Usually the loser of a land war has two options; assimilate into the culture or die. There is no gray area. If a group of people have a problem assimilating, they are killed or put into slavery. That is the way it is done in the rest of the world.

Here in America it is different. We have a history of helping out the loser. One of the best things that can happen to a country in the modern world is to be beaten by the United States. Look at post-World War II Germany and Japan. Look and the American Indian.

I know what y?all are going to say. Look at the rampant poverty and alcoholism that runs rampant on reservations. This is our fault and we need to fix it. Well, we already have the mechanisms in place to fix it. Nothing stops these reservations from accessing the mainstream American economy. They have free schools and, thanks to affirmative action measures, have preferential access to college. Our greatest disservice to the American Indian is not forcing them to assimilate into the American culture. We conveniently stuff them away into their reservations so we do not have to deal with their problems.

History classes taught by leftists these days teach Americans to feel guilty about our winning tradition. We are constantly told how bad we are for winning the war for the west. The problem is it is hard to make people feel guilty about winning, especially when you help out the loser. We have been more than gracious in our victory. We have bent over backwards to let the Indians keep their culture and way of life.

Americans have been nothing but honorable in our wartime victories. If you have doubts about this, just remember something: If we lost World War II, we would not have an American Reservation. We would all be eating sauerkraut and drinking saki right now.

Jerel Thomas

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