From: Barbara Lamar (altamiratexas@earthlink.net)
Date: Sun Jul 29 2001 - 01:50:47 MDT
Olga wrote:
> Native Americans are another sad tale, and yet
>the black remains unparalled.
As I've heard it, the only reason Native Americans weren't used as slaves
was that they were unable or unwilling to follow orders and had very short
useful lives. In fact, by the time the first African slaves were imported to
the Caribbean islands, the indigenous populations had been effectively wiped
out.
Many different Native American peoples were entirely wiped out, their
cultures and languages lost forever (as just one example, the Karankawa
people, who used to come up from the Gulf Coast with the first north winds
of winter to the south central Texas place where I live to gather pecans,
were totally wiped out. The Spanish struck the first blows, but the job was
truly finished by the Americans who came to settle Texas in the late 1700's
and early 1800's)
I don't think you have a strong argument that the Karankawas suffered any
less than the black slaves, and in fact, even though their culture was
destroyed and they ceased to exist as a people, the Karankawas may well have
ancestors now living. These would be found among the Mexicans and US
citizens along the coastal areas of southern Texas and northern Tamaulipas.
Affirmative action has, of course, been of benefit to some of these
people--at least the ones who are US citizens and who can speak fluent
English. More often than not, the Mexican ones are treated badly, sometimes
even killed, if they try to come across the border to find work. As one of
my mentors once told me, life is not fair.
Barbara
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