"racial equality" Lincoln: the massacre of Indians

1864, due to the encouragement given to slaves by Lincoln's Declaration on Abolition of Slavery signed three years ago, the civil war ended in complete victory in the north. After the end of the civil war, the westward movement of the United States once again set off a frenzy. Farmers from the north took advantage of the federal military victory to plunder Indian land, more fearless than in the past. In addition, some Indian tribes helped the Confederate army in the war. Team, it gives white people a reason to take their land. The spearhead refers to the "Plain Indians" living west of the Mississippi River, including Cheyenne, Alabaho, Sioux and Nez Pelce tribes. White armed vigilantes acted as depth charges in the process of killing Indians.

Their unbridled slaughter of Indians was fully reflected in the Shaxi Massacre in 1864. This year, the Colorado region * * * persuaded Xie An and the Indians of the Arabach tribe to gather at a place called Fort Lyon on the bank of the sand stream, and claimed to ensure their personal safety. There are about 600 Indians here, two thirds of whom are women and children. One day in May, a group of armed vigilantes, led by a colonel named J.M. Chivington, came to Lyon fortress. Chivington bluntly declared to Major Anthony, commander of the federal forces stationed in Fort Lyon, "I came here to kill Indians. I believe that in the eyes of God, it is reasonable and fair for us to destroy Indians anyway. " Two officers under Major Anthony pointed out that * * * has claimed to ensure the safety of Indians in Lyon fortress, and the federal forces have the responsibility to protect them. If vigilantes are allowed to attack Indians, it is equivalent to killing innocent people. As a commander, Anthony ignored the advice of his subordinates and let Chivington's thugs kill Indians.

On the day of the tragedy, Chivington's militia and some regular federal troops, holding a white flag and the American flag, deceived the Indian sentry and rushed into the Indian camp. They shot at everyone and slaughtered 133 Indians, including 105 women and children. White people won't stop. They cut off the scalp of every dead person as a trophy. Some white people even cut off a woman's * * * and nailed it to a saddle or a hat. Its cruelty is unbelievable.

In the Shaxi Massacre, the lawlessness of white thugs and the ferocity of killing methods made the United States feel very embarrassed, so Congress organized the so-called "Indian Peace Committee" to negotiate with Indians on land issues. In the two negotiations with Indians, 1867 and 1868, the United States unilaterally asked Indians to move to some barren areas in Oklahoma and Dakota, and asked them to hand over the places where their ancestors lived and multiplied to European immigrants who were eyeing up. * * * The official reason is to separate the two sides of the conflict. There is no justice here. Many Indians are very angry about this, but they know that if they resist, they will only ask for trouble and have to obey silently.

The final completion of genocide

Until 187 1, when the United States treated Indians, it nominally regarded Indian tribes as "* * * countries", but in fact, the United States repeatedly reneged and trampled on Indian tribes. 187 1 year, the "* * *" of Indian tribes actually disappeared. This humiliated the United States, and Congress decided to tear off this fig leaf and forcibly bring Indian tribes under the jurisdiction of the United States. The formulation of this policy means that the United States will exercise the right to Indian tribes from now on, and "legally" crush Indians who dare to resist the order. 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Division Act. This bill authorizes the president to distribute the land of Indian tribes to tribal members, and all Indians who accept the land allocated by * * * will immediately become American citizens. This bill makes Indians farmers like white Americans. Thereby breaking the collective ownership of primitive communes and the organizational structure of Indian society and weakening the authority of tribal leaders. This is a drastic measure for Indian culture. In other words, after the white people conquered the Indians by force, they further destroyed their culture and social organization.

Since then, the United States has stepped up its pace and used military and political means to force the few surviving Indians to accept the American way of life and move to the "reservation" established by the United States. After the military conquest, it was followed by "political training" for Indians, including compulsory education for Indian children. With the support of * * *, white educators set up Indian schools to accept Indian children. In school, children should not only learn English, but also participate in Christian worship and other activities. This "enlightened" authoritarianism aims to completely change the way of life, values and even religious beliefs of Indians. 1898, Congress passed the Curtis Act, which deprived Indian tribes of their rights on the reservation and abolished all Indian laws and regulations. At this point, the violent conquest of the weak civilization by the strong civilization has been completed. /kloc-At the beginning of the 0/7th century, when the first British colonists set foot on the land of North America, there were about 4.5 million Indians living on the land of the United States. By 1860, the number of Indians had been reduced to about 300,000. After the Indian War, there were only 654.38 million Indians in the United States.

Violence against Indians in the western region is also appalling. General Sheridan, a famous American army officer, described the violence in his area like this: "Since 1862, at least 800 men, women and children have been killed in my area, and the killing situation is appalling. Men are usually scalped, their limbs are separated, and their genitals are cut off by the murderer and put in their mouths. Women were attacked by thugs, sometimes as many as fifty or sixty times, and then killed. Their scalps were peeled off by murderers and beaten with sticks, some before death and some after death. " He concluded that no matter who the perpetrators are, the relationship between whites and Indians is that there is no room for reconciliation between you and me. Only when the Indians are extinct will there be final peace in the United States.

As a soldier, richard brinsley sheridan, like other American soldiers who took part in clearing Indians, must faithfully implement the * * * * policy. In the conflict between whites and Indians, they all sided with whites without exception. Sheridan thus defended * * * *' s policies and his military actions: "However, it is meaningless to discuss moral right and wrong on the Indian issue. Because Indian society is about to die, which is irreversible. For some people, it is unthinkable to gather Indians and kill them all like useless livestock. But this way of alleviating the suffering of Indians is not without merit. "

The Indian experience is a very prominent example of genocide in history. Americans have long avoided talking about this, and even if it is mentioned, it is only an understatement. In fact, this attitude is not difficult to understand: because too many Indians died of disease and white violence during this period, their culture was seriously damaged, the genocidal violence against them was too cruel, and the examples of abandoning Indians were too common. What white people did to Indians and its consequences, no matter what scale they used, were the longest tragedy in human history. In the last two or three decades, this situation has changed slightly, and some serious scholars have begun to study this history and re-evaluate what the United States has done to Indians.

Looking back at the injustices that white Americans have done to Indians in the name of progress and Christ, some American intellectuals today have made such confessions: "The land where all other Americans and I live and work in peace and contentment was stolen not long ago. In order to achieve this goal, we will kill all those who dare to resist us and then take their property for ourselves. When I first realized this, I immediately doubted the standards I accepted: crime and punishment, justice and injustice, property and theft, legality and illegality. "

There is a long-standing joke in the United States: 17 ~ 18 th century when white people came to the North American continent, they had almost nothing in their hands except a Bible; The local Indians don't have a Bible, but they have a lot of fertile land. Through various trading methods, a hundred years later, every Indian has a Bible in his hand, but no land. White people not only acquired Indian land, but also held the Bible in their hands.

Throughout the history of the United States before the 20th century, it is not difficult to see that the American regime against Indians is, in the final analysis, a racial war and a racial conquest. White people want Indian land, what they can buy, what they can take, and what they can't get. If you want to grab it, then do whatever it takes. After grabbing it, I might as well express my regret. It can be said that the establishment of American civilization was at the expense of Indian genocide.