Analysis Of Custer Died For Your Sins By Vine Deloria Jr.

Superior Essays
The only way to truly understand someone is when you have gone through what this person has gone through. In Custer Died for Your Sins, Vine Deloria Jr. says “Anyone and everyone who knows an Indian or who is interested, immediately and thoroughly understands them.” White people believed that Indians are so easy to read and so understandable, meanwhile they have no idea what difficulties and struggles they went through. The Indians got stereotyped for being something that isn’t true and their beliefs were mistaken for something else. Another issue presented was the unfair treatment of the government policies against the Indians. Finally, the Indians were being taken away from something that clearly belonged to them for a long time which was …show more content…
After everything they put the Indians through, they decided to remove them entirely from the eastern United States; this was called the Indian Removal Act. The federal laws supported and agreed to remove the Indians from their own land. The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834 and the United States army forced the Native Americans west of the Mississippi. The Indians in their tribal lands were decreasing slowly over the years because of this act. Deloria believes that Congress wanted Indians to act like “white farmers” but they failed. Congress wanted only white farmers to live in the areas of the Native Americans so they pushed them out. Because of this act, the government now has full power over the lives and property of the Indian …show more content…
The United States Army was involved as well. The soldiers and state militia forced the Indians out of their area by taking away the land that their own and turning them into camps for the army. They stole everything that they owned from their homes. They also burned down their farm land area and their food so that they have no reason to return. Two hundred thousand Native Americans were marching for one thousand miles to Oklahoma throughout the seasons. The weather conditions were very harsh at times, especially in the winter. It took them eight years to finally reach their destination. They had very little food, clothes and medical care therefore many elderly and children died before they can get to

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