Be that as it may, I would also like to point out that although Europeans turned slavery into an industry in Africa, they didn’t exactly introduce slavery or inter-tribal hostility to that continent. Indeed, I believe African tribes near the coast were more than happy to raid inland villages to keep the slavery pipeline full throughout the 250 year history of slavery: it simply could not have lasted for so long without considerable native support.

I would like to take issue with your paragraph on Native Americans in one regard: the use of past tense. Just as in Africa, these are more current events than we like to believe. Many tribes are losing their native languages because of the practice of education children in English only boarding schools. Loss of traditional language destroys the traditional culture. lI have a friend, now in her thirties, who is a member of a tribe (Mississippi Choctaw) that still has many people who have Choctaw as their first (or only) language (in the mid 80s, fully 40% of Mississippi Choctaw spoke the language as their first language, I do not know what the current statistic is). When my friend was 7, she was literally snatched up from the dirt road in front of her home and taken by truant officers to an English only boarding school. Her grandmother was not given a choice, they just took her granddaughter away. In fact, her grandmother didn’t even know until hours later, when after a long and fruitless search, the grandmother went to the police to report my friend as missing.

In the boarding school, my friend was punished for speaking Choctaw, and she says that for nearly 2 years, she just sat in class, having no idea what was being taught. She is a bright person, I’m sure she could have learned what was being taught sooner, but in her words, “I was stubborn.”

The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978 to stop people, particulary Mormons, from taking Indian children. Mormons apparently believe that Indians are one of the ‘lost tribes of Israel’, so they get special perks from God when they “save” an Indian from hell. They were convincing young parents, in droves, that the newborn would have a better chance at a good (meaning financially secure) life if the newborn were to be adopted outside of the tribe (they were probably right). In many instances, the parents were paid for their children. You do not have to take my word for that, it is well documented, much of it in the testimony prior to passage of the act.

Look around reservations today, what do you see? Payday lenders, who loan money at 250-350%, and used car dealers who sell the same worthless car over and over, sometimes not even bothering to give the customer a title, so they can repossess the car later with east.

My point is that the anglo oppression is continuing, although sometimes it doesn’t appear so bloody and vicious. It is there, nonetheless.