Blog post M. Childress 9/23

In today’s reading, Howard Zinn highlights a specific example of a person who’ s story and character has been told in a way that is not entirely accurate, Andrew Jackson. On page 130, Zinn describes the way in which in most historical textbooks, Jackson is characterized as being a “frontiersman, solider, democrat, and man of the people”, then draws the comparison of another fitting description of Jackson being a “slaveholder, land speculator, executioner of dissident soldiers, and exterminator of Indians”. It goes back to the common point that we refer back to so frequently in this class: the victors get to tell their story and we tend to accept it, and pass it along. What about the other side of the story though? In this case, it is the native American populations. Furthermore, as mentioned in the podcast, grouping all native Americans together is not necessarily the best thing to do, because they were not all the same, the did not share the exact same beliefs, actions, or specific experiences. However, the thing that I will unite them under, is the immense oppression by white settlers. This extortion of native populations is shown beautifully in the reading “Welcome to your authentic Indian experience”. Trueblood (the main character) is victim to a series of events that turn his world upside down. First, “white wold” (coincidentally named), seems to be down and wanting something more out of his experience. Trueblood, representing the Native population, invites him to become friends, goes to a bar, and spends time with White wolf. However, White wolf turns around, steals Trueblood’s wife, home, job, and sanity in the blink of an eye. Furthermore, he makes Trueblood feel ashamed and guilty of his actions and identity. These tactics are so cunning and sly that native populations were blindsided, as such greed is not prevalent in the majority of their cultures. In his farewell to his home, Blackhawk says that “he (the white man) would be put to death and eaten up by the wolves (based on their behavior)” (Zinn 131). 

What I am most interested in talking about though is the extent to which the native American’s stories have been silenced. Black and female rights movements have taken place and moved somewhat in the right direction towards progress, but is continuing to offer native tribes (relatively) small amounts of money, and letting them govern by their own rules in their own small reservations enough for the widespread pain and horror that was brought upon them? To be pushed further and further away from their own lands, and have “the white man warm himself before the Indian’s Fire” (Zinn 135), is nothing short of widespread, large scale robbery. 

Lastly, I think it is interesting to go back to the point of comparisons of superiority and inferiority. Colonists assumed that they were superior to the native people because they had superior weapons and were Christian. They hoped that “Indians will cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community” (Zinn 140). That obviously did not happen. but the podcast and Zinn both discuss ways in natives were far superior, in terms of lack of greed and selfishness, respect and connection to the Earth, and unity among the tribes. Before this class, I would have assumed that the colonizers had good motives behind their conquest, but the more we read the more I realize their motives were far more selfish and greedy, with insufficient excuses as support.