American Settler Colonialism

Piggy-backing on ChrisV’s point, I read this book as research for the book I’m writing:

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Pretty much non-stop mass slaughter and underhanded dealing with Native Americans. I knew it was bad, but it was sooooo much worse than I imagined. This book should be required reading in all US high school classrooms IMO.

It was incredibly depressing and really disturbed me the entire way through. However in some weird way it made me feel better about the current times. Nothing that’s happening is that new. Truth has never won out. We have never been the good guys, except for a few brief shining moments when someone else on the world stage was worse.

Edit: here’s the Preface





If those two Indian boys hadn’t survived the slaughter we’d probably know nothing about, which of course means the slaughters we know about - and there are tons - are some fraction of what actually happened.

One thing that blew my mind is learning California had some 300k indigenous people living in it before colonization. The common trope is CA was almost empty when the whites arrived.

I knew nothing about the US Philippines war - which sounds like one long MyLai massacre.

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Nothwithstanding how disturbing the content is, would you say it’s a high quality book? I am always looking to add to my reading list, and frankly this forum does a better job of making recommendations than just about any other source I can think of.

Yes - it’s very well written and meticulously sourced.

Cool thanks. I will read it.

I am not from the US, I am from the greatest country in the world, but our relationship to native Canadians is equally disgraceful (both in the past and in the present). Similar to your experience reading about US colonialism, we are taught none of this stuff in school. It’s crazy.

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We’re taught maybe Trail of Tears and Little Big Horn (1-1 - fair fight). We also know the US broke all the treaties. But nobody learns about the constant slaughter in HS.

Last year my daughter’s public school American History teacher taught out of A People’s History of the United States, so maybe some people learn about it in school.

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I’m sorry I was not able to reply last night to @Cactus, for me it’s also a difficult time.

Depression can be difficult to deal with and can be different in how some are able to work through it.

If your having trouble sleeping cactus, use some help, if your OK with doing so… And remember nothing here is your fault.

It’s hard to recommend a common aid except to tell you to rap up in cotton wool figuratively Ofcourse and do not let yourself get angry, avoid all possible arguments for now, and when you can help out someone worse off than yourself, those things help me treat my depression.

We can do more damage to ourselves and loved ones than we can to others when having an episode. And in those times I tend to have to be alone and either read, watch or listen to tv/radio or a podcast which is my new goto, and tbh it’s not about concentration as I’m not fully able to do so, for me it’s about not thinking and filling my head with other thoughts and when I’m feeling better I can watch/listen again when I’m able to fully concentrate on it.

I Don’t beat Myself up is very important, I don’t try things that’s are out of my league, I don’t aim for failure when having a episode, instead I do the simple things until I’m able to do more.

Stay safe brother… :v:

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I can relate to a lot of the dread being described here. Just a reminder that we have a mental health thread filled with good advice and compassionate listeners if anyone feels like they can benefit from talking about this kind of thing in a non political space.

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I split my time between Toronto and Midland. I have never been to SMatH but drive by it all the time.

I had AP History in HS and we learned some pretty interesting stuff that the general population didn’t get. The only one I remember is learning that the Spartans buggered their young apprentices.

I also remember my 8th grade Geography teacher going rogue and teaching us all kinds of bad things the US did. Counterpoint to my 9th grade life science teacher telling us he has to teach evolution, but sneering at it the whole time.

Also our 9th grade psychology teacher spent about half the class on serial killers. So fun to learn horrible details that I’m not even going to share here. Yes I needed that in jr. high when my brain is still forming. Thanks asshole.

Basically teachers insert themselves, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

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Sure - I’ll copy the opening few pages which pretty much set the tone.

Took a course in Latin American History, and the Spaniards made the US settlers look downright progressive.

They were both atrocious. They just had different goals. The Spanish wanted to exploit resources. The Americans wanted to acquire land.

My kid is taking a class on thanatology. She wrote my eulogy for it. They also have a class on forensics at her school where they go to an autopsy.

Should I link the CP Grey video again? The worst rulers are in places where the wealth can be dug from the ground because it can be done by dying slaves.

This topic is addressed more broadly in the terrific book 1491. The idea that the Americas were largely uninhabited, and only by primitive societies, was mostly a convenient fabrication to justify European occupation.

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The great civilizations of Mesoamerica - and how little Americans are taught about them - is the primary theme of my book. We basically had Ancient Rome in our own backyards - but we spend about half a day on it in HS history.

I swear they taught us the Mayans just disappeared and no one knows why or where. Um no. There are still 10 million Mayans, speaking their dialect and living varying degrees of traditional lives across 5 countries. (Same for Aztec and Zapotec dialects - although less people). There are Mayan radio stations in the Yucatan. I asked our Mayan guide at Chichen Itza if they know what happened to the great pyramid builders. He said everyone knows what happened - it was a peasant revolt. Hmmmm. Maybe there’s a reason our history class glosses this over.

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Our history in Canada with First Nations is not good but it is better than the states. Theirs was a real genocide. Ours was more of a wholesale land theft and forced enculturation.

Cool.

Even less known were the great cities of America like Cahokia which are it peak was 15,000 people.

Everyone thinks all First Nations in America were nomadic.

I didn’t say or deny any of this, to be fair. In fact, I explicitly acknowledged the legacy of residential schools when I mentioned “enculturation”. It was perhaps a little too coded in the language of anthropology.

There is no doubt the residential school program was cultural genocide. Many children died as well. One of the worst archaeological experiences of my life was excavating a residential school. Worst, as in hardest emotionally.

My point was that Canada’s history was not as bad as the US. It’s a point which virtually every historian and anthropologist would agree.

Also, you are conflating my point here with the discussion in the lolcanada thread where (again to be fair) I discussed in depth the horrible political history of First Nations in Canada.

As for the protests, it is interesting what had happened in the last week. They have really morphed. They no longer have anything to do with gaslink but instead are about the larger history of our governments broken promises to First Nations. Trudeau has turned a small focussed protest into a national emergency. As odd as it sounds, I am far more supportive of the current broader and national focus of the protest movement. I hope it gains traction and grows. In fact, I have some fiends from around here contemplating starting a blockade. This could get huge!

Lastly, I never said anything remotely like only experts should have an opinion.

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