A Century Of Dishonor: A Synopsis
Julian Crespo 10/19/11 A Century Of Dishonor In reading “A Century of Dishonor”, the assumption that all Indians are victims is made obvious. That is a very true statement. The Indians have suffered many hardships and endured many attacks because of the arrival of the white man in America. The white people came to the Indian people’s land, and forced them out of their way. Jackson also makes the assumption that the Indian people are a very hard working group, and most of them work hard to stay alive. This is proven by the fact that only about 10 percent of Native Americans are completely supported by the government.
Ever since the white man entered their land, the Indian people have had to work much harder to stay alive. They have to deal with a reduction in food and supplies, such as buffalo and cattle, because the Americans have taken over much of their resources. Because of this fact, the Indians have had to adapt to be a harder working group of people. The fact that the American government has broken so many promises with the Native Americans makes the idea of individual property rights for Indians very crucial.
Our government needs to make up for all of the wrong it has committed against the Indians. Jackson makes a very convincing argument in favor of this opinion. She states; “so long as they are not citizens of the United States, their rights of property must remain insecure against invasion…” because it is the government’s responsibility to “clear the swamp” with the Indians. By giving the Indians their property rights, it would make them feel more secure living in this country.
It would take away some tensions that they currently have with the government. The question that really matters at the end of the day is, “Is the American government trying to do the right thing when it comes to our national affairs? ” If the answer is no, we as the American people need to do a better job at pushing our government to do the ethically and morally just thing. And because the Indians have been treated so poorly since the start of our advent in America, we need to make amends with them. That is the right thing to do.
