As If He Were Human

The long-expected detachment of Sioux, on their way to the Oklahoma Indian Territory, arrived in Omaha yesterday afternoon... American Horse had his squaw and papoose with him and there were eleven other squaws in the party. One or two were quite pleasing in the face, but the majority looked as though they were natural-born mothers-in-law. Perhaps this is too severe —they all had the appearance of being amiable at times, and the Herald does not wish to say anything really bad about them. American Horse’s papoose was a chubby, sturdy little beggar, and when one of the ladies spoke to him, he set up a tremendous wail, just as natural and lifelike as if he were human.

— The Omaha Herald, November 4, 1876.

 I read this little historical tidbit several years ago. I can not explain the pain or bewilderment at that last phrase. 

The writer took a whole paragraph describing the humanness of these people and then makes this totally insane statement.

Truth us, this is how our Ancestors were looked at, not human. As savage animals. Not even as feral humans.

The REAL truth is that by de-humanizing the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (I am starting the like the new word that has been put forth autochthonous (this last term is derived from Greek, meaning "sprung from the earth". Very accurate to many belief systems.)it made it okay to treat us like animals. 

See, it was obvious we were not plants or rocks, but no good "Christian" could slaughter Old People, women and babies-- therefore we had to be some type of animals. 

There was a problem with that thought process beyond the obvious one many of you are thinking right now. See the Bible has a certain verse in it that says,"A righteous man regardth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Proverbs 12:10 KJV


Now the writer was obviously educated. Commenting that a baby cried ". . .as if it were human. . .", and being able to publish that in a public media source, in a "Christian Country" only goes to prove that it was the general opinion of the day of the larger part of the populace. 


It also goes to show that the truly righteous were unwilling to speak up or may be the fact they did not speak up brings into question their righteousness?


This attitude has not disappeared totally yet, and may never. There are still people in this world that think the only skin color God accepts is white. 

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7 

How many colors of dirt are there? Sand is whiteish in color, fertile soil is dark, browns to blacks, Clay comes in yellows and reds. 


I'll leave this topic for now, the more I write the more I can think of to write. 


Please, do leave comments. Let's turn this into a discussion.