{"id":36569,"date":"2024-03-11T21:07:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T04:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36569"},"modified":"2024-03-11T21:07:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T04:07:04","slug":"native-american-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/native-american-genocide\/","title":{"rendered":"Native American Genocide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week’s book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning<\/em> by Nigel Biggar, partly argued that the British Empire and its colonies never intended to cause harm. In fact, their intentions were primarily good. [1]\u00a0 In addition to the book, I viewed an interview with this author. He delineated four areas in which the British “got it wrong.” [2]<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0150 years of slavery<\/li>\n
  2. Offensive racial arrogance<\/li>\n
  3. Insensitivity to native cultures abroad – he explains because the culture gap was so severe<\/li>\n
  4. Diseases brought by Europeans, such as smallpox [3]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Both in chapter four of the book and in the interview, he discussed the topic of genocide and his definition of this word. He defines genocide as a deliberate, systematic, and state-oriented venture to destroy a people. [4] This really got me thinking about the Native American population that I serve.<\/p>\n

    For the remainder of this blog, I would like to examine this topic from their point of view, using the internationally accepted definition of genocide.<\/p>\n

    Genocide Convention<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In 1948, the Genocide Convention of the United Nations defined genocide in the following manner: Acts committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. This includes…<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Killing their members<\/li>\n
    2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm<\/li>\n
    3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring destruction in whole or in part<\/li>\n
    4. Imposing measures to prevent births<\/li>\n
    5. Forcibly transferring children to another group [5]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      This convention does not prosecute crimes before 1948, but its definition serves as a useful tool.<\/p>\n

      Tragic Loss of Lives<\/strong><\/p>\n

      History.com states that by the end of the Indian Wars of the late 19th century, less than 238,000 Native Americans were remaining. [6] When Europeans first landed in North America in 1492, historians estimate there were anywhere from 5 to 15 million Native Americans on the continent. [7] Looking at it this way, the loss of people is just tragic.<\/p>\n

      Many reasons have been given for the violence imparted on the Native Americans by the Europeans during these years. First and foremost, settlers were hungry for their land and their resources. Second, Native Americans sided with the British in the War of 1812, hoping to expel the American settlers. The British lost, and this added to American settler hostility and suspicion. Third, they differed in many ways… racially, linguistically, and religiously. [8] It was easy, then, for settlers to regard them as “pagan savages” who must be killed in the name of civilization and Christianity. [9]<\/p>\n

      Genocide or Not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

      There are still debates in our society today as to whether or not the atrocities committed by the settlers against the Native Americans is genocide, or is it not. [10] Some see the actions of the British and the American governments as deplorable but not genocide. [11] It really comes down to the definition one is using.<\/p>\n

      It is a fact that Native Americans experienced violence directly as a result of settler expansion. They also experienced intertribal violence that was aggravated by the colonists themselves. They were enslaved. They were subject to various diseases. They were stripped of their land and their resources. They endured forced removals, as well as untold assaults on their tribal religion, culture, and language. [12]<\/p>\n

      Voices of Our Past<\/strong><\/p>\n

      I think the most telling part of this story is the intent of the heart of the government leaders at that time. What did they have to say about the Native Americans? Judge for yourselves…<\/p>\n

      Virginia Colonial leaders in 1622 wrote, “a sharp revenge… even to… the rooting them out for being longer a people upon the face of the Earth.” [13]<\/p>\n

      Virginia House of Burgesses in 1711 advocated “exterpating all Indians without distinction of friends or enemies.” [14]<\/p>\n

      Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1755 required “his Majesty’s subjects of this province to embrace all opportunities of pursuing, captivating, killing and destroying all and every Penobscot Indian.” [15]<\/p>\n

      In 1780, Thomas Jefferson wrote to the general of the Virgina Militia, “the Shawanese, Mingoes, Munsies, and the near Wiandots are troublesome thorns in our sides. We must leave it to yourself to decide if against these Indians, the end proposed should be their extermination or their removal.” [16]<\/p>\n

      Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

      There were many more examples like these into the late 19th century. Therefore, in reflection of the book Colonialsim<\/em>, and Nigel Biggar’s writings and interviews, I must disagree that the British did not intend to do harm when they colonized. It was an act of genocide… in the Americas at least.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      ___________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

      \n
      [1] Biggar, Nigel. Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning<\/i>. London: William Collins, 2023, 19-44.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [2] Anderson, John, and Nigel Biggar. “Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning | Nigel Biggar.” John Anderson. June 30, 2023. Video, 1:01:49, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EhNonmBA0Lo.<\/span><\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [3] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [4] Biggar, Nigel. Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning<\/i>. London: William Collins, 2023, chapter 4.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [5] “The Convention On The Prevention And Punishment Of The Crime Of Genocide (1948).” UN.Org<\/em>, (2019). https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/genocideprevention\/documents\/Genocide%20Convention-FactSheet-ENG.pdf.<\/span><\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [6] Fixico, Donald L. “When Native Americans Were Slaughtered in the Name of \u2018Civilization\u2019.” The History Channel. A & E Television Networks, July 11, 2023.<\/span><\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [7] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [8] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [9] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [10] Madley, Benjamin. “Reexamining the American Genocide Debate: Meaning, Historiography, and New Methods.” American Historical Review. Oxford Academic, February 9, 2015. https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/ahr\/article\/120\/1\/98\/47185?login=false.<\/span><\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [11] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [12] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [13] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [14] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [15] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      [16] Ibid.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Introduction This week’s book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning by Nigel Biggar, partly argued that the British Empire and its colonies never intended to cause harm. In fact, their intentions were primarily good. [1]\u00a0 In addition to the book, I viewed an interview with this author. He delineated four areas in which the British “got it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[1300,3113,3112,3111],"class_list":["post-36569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography-drama-history","tag-colonialism","tag-genocide","tag-native-american","tag-nigel-biggar","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36570,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36569\/revisions\/36570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}