The story of the Native Americans is one truly sorrowful and atrocious. Its a tale of a people betrayed, split, and forced away from every inch of dignity and culture they could ever have attained. Their hamartia was that they were too trusting. They allowed the strange, charismatic people of Columbus onto their land and they imagined everyone living peacefully together. However, back in 1492, they were the only side who desired this peaceful co-existence. This was painfully brought to their attention when the much more advanced Europeans turned against them with their weapons of iron, powder, and flame. All the Native Americans could rely on was nature, their guerilla warfare tactics, and their primitive weaponry. As the odds were undoubtedly stacked against them, its easy to say that the Native Americans had simply lost the battle for their freedom. However, I would never say it like that, for these people didn’t lose a battle, they went down fighting for what they believed in through acts of honor and valor. This is no loss, dying in such a way could only be fitting for such admirable warriors of flora. However, they did lose what they were fighting for.
I chose to include this video because of its informational content. It yields a peek into the harshness these native people have been put through. Every day is an uphill battle, and Aaron Huey depicts their stubble so soulfully. It also gives great insight into what we might not otherwise be able to observe - what its really like on the reservations. His pictures hide nothing, his story keep no lies. All this man does is attempt to enlighten the world on how much work these people have had to do to obtain such little status.
As you can see in the pictures, the map of the united states has changed rather drastically. Before the Europeans discovered America in 1492, the American states were instead divided up between the different native american tribes. This land was not only their holy land, but it was the area that they had spent their entire lives, as well of the lives of every previous generation, cultivating and building upon. When the Americans arrived, they slowly spread through almost all of the land in the country, forcing the Native Americans across the Mississippi River to the places the Europeans themselves didn't currently find desirable and full of potential. However, their thoughts did change and they pushed the native Americans into small, confined plots of land across the US. This meant that the Native Americans were forced into new places, out of their holy lands, and had to start for absolutely nothing. The hard work that each generation had put in was all lost. As Aaron Huey says in the TED video, “we have indeed taken the best part of the meat," which we did, leaving the native Americans with nothing but the hard, uncultivated soil of their new homes.
I decided this video was worth putting on because of its informational value. It depicts the struggle these poor people went through and allows us to see a bit into their troubled past.