Many often diminish the action of colonizers regarding the Native Americans after the discovery of North America as a massacre opposed to a genocide. This is often due to the accepted established history of the founding of the United States as being a ‘consensual colonialism’ for the Native Americans which would benefit “them.” This accepted narrative often ignores the injustice committed against Native Americans due to perpetuating the myth of American exceptionalism by labeling of the foundation of America as being free of carnage and not related the heinous acts that are most associated with the Jewish holocaust after the term “genocide” was created.
Many argue that the actions of European settlers towards Native Americans should be labeled …show more content…
"Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, [political] or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical [as well as social] destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” (UN.org, 1)
When comparing the acts of colonial settlers against Native Americans as genocide by the 1948 definition standards, settlers provided provable intent in the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous populations through physical and cultural genocide, efforts to prevent spread of culture through children of Native American descent, as well as the inflicting group conditions meant to bring about social and physical …show more content…
Policies regarding indigenous children often varied. However, most did attempt to bring about the social and cultural destruction of the Native American children by forcibly transferring children to military-like boarding schools. (Dunbar-Ortiz, 9) Often the children who were sent to these schools found themselves completely cut-off from their communities, culture and families by ingraining them with the selective history previously mentioned. In one particular story, girls who attempted to run away from the missionary school they had been sent to were punished with no visitation for their families for a month. (Crow Dog,
Many argue that the actions of European settlers towards Native Americans should be labeled …show more content…
"Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, [political] or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical [as well as social] destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” (UN.org, 1)
When comparing the acts of colonial settlers against Native Americans as genocide by the 1948 definition standards, settlers provided provable intent in the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous populations through physical and cultural genocide, efforts to prevent spread of culture through children of Native American descent, as well as the inflicting group conditions meant to bring about social and physical …show more content…
Policies regarding indigenous children often varied. However, most did attempt to bring about the social and cultural destruction of the Native American children by forcibly transferring children to military-like boarding schools. (Dunbar-Ortiz, 9) Often the children who were sent to these schools found themselves completely cut-off from their communities, culture and families by ingraining them with the selective history previously mentioned. In one particular story, girls who attempted to run away from the missionary school they had been sent to were punished with no visitation for their families for a month. (Crow Dog,