From as early as the time of the early european

From as early as the time of the early European settlers, Native Americans have suffered tremendously. Native Americans during the time of the early settlers where treated very badly. Europeans did what they wanted with the Native Americans, and when a group of Native Americans would stand up for themselves, the European would quickly put them down. The Native Americans bow and arrows where no match for the Europeans guns and cannon balls. When the Europeans guns didn’t work for the Europeans, the disease they bought killed the Native Americans even more effectively. In a poem by Louise Enrich called Dear John Wayne a line from a cowboy and Indian movie states the position of many European settlers in the Americas ” Everything we see belongs to us”. Native Americans did not like the way they were being treated. Every generation that passes, there would be fewer and fewer Native Americans around the Americas. Native Americans were dying like flies flying around bug spray mist. If it were not a war (The French and Indian war) that were killing them off it would be European disease (Cow and Small pox). The Native Americans saw what the Europeans were doing to their lives, they wanted their old way of life, and they wanted the Europeans to go away. In the movie Smoke Signals a line that was said by a character called Arnold Joseph represents the feelings of the Native Americans ” Poof! The white people are gone”. The Europeans were relentless in their attempts to get rid of the Native Americas ” Come on boys we got them”(Dear John Wayne), was the attitude the Europeans felt about the Native Americans. All the Europeans wanted from the Native Americans were their land, their gold or their labor. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the Europeans succeeded in taking advantage of the Native Americans and in the end the Europeans did get them. Native Americans did not understand European ideology. Native Americans had no idea why the Europeans could fight for land, ” Death makes us owners of nothing” (Dear John Wayne) is what the Native Americans believed. They also couldn’t understand on how one person or group can own land since he or she ” could not own the sky”. The Native Americans were getting sick and tried of being oppressed so one glorious day the Native Americans decided to ban together to stop the oppression. ” Sometimes it’s a good day to die” (Smoke Signals) was an idea that was present on that day. That day was when the Battle of Wounded Knee happened. Unfortunately for the Natives Americans, they lost that battle and Native American resistant was shattered. Native Americans have been through a lot in America. They were the first ones here and they still are here. But the problem is that Native Americans are still treated with disrespect. There are still a lot of prejudice and racism against the Native Americans. I believe that if a race could survive after all the wars and disease that the Native Americans have been faced with, they should be respected and not be treated with disrespect.