great, now Alabama is involved

[chickened]

There is as it seems a mental block with folks that walk around today acting like they are personally effected by events that happened hundreds and even thousands of years ago. If they were possibly taught that the past is the past and not to dwell on it maybe it would help them get over it. The past is where revenge lives and thrives.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Quote:
x2

My linage is Native American, French, Swedish, Irish, German, British, and I am proud to say that I am a American as anyone who was born here for the past few thousand years.

 

[farmerlor]

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Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. The past may be the past but by learning from it and remembering it we can perhaps prevent it from happening again. Like this push to make everyone assimilate. I believe I lost something precious when my Irish ancestors were forbidden to speak with an Irish accent or have overtly Irish names or practice some of their Irish customs. I for one hope that future generations are allowed to have pride in their ethnic heritage.

 

[Tanichca]

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agreed. Here in AZ, we need those laws. But i also feel sorry for those people who are just trying to escape the harsh regime in mexico. I knew a very old man, Pasqual, who helped people get over the borders (really nice for a coyote) but he didnt stay here. Hes probably dead now.

 

[KristyHall]

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so should someone able to wander into your house and kick you out because, you weren't really there first? That no one was really there first? That everyone was an immigrant at some point?

Native Americans were here first,

just because you want' to argue semantics doesn't change the fact that Europeans were invaders (illegal immigrants) to a land already owned by millions of people.

Im not saying the Europeans were not invaders at the time. The "we were hear first" was a valid point when it happened. It falls apart once everyone involved is dead an gone. The "old world" has now been a part of the "new world" for 500 years. No one that invaded or got invaded is still around. Both cultures have blended in to a new one. I am not European. I an an American. Born an raised here. As native to this land as any other person living here can be. To say any different is raciest.

the thing is, it hasn't blended and when there is still and continue active forced oppression it isn't in the past. the last Indian school ( and one of the most notorious) closed in 1994, there is still open racism around the poorest reservations, and many tribes are still crawling out of the hole dug for them over the past 500 years.

When you have a group that has been enslaved, forced into poverty, forced assimilation, forcible sterilization (common well into the 1970's) and economic deprivation as well as poverty, it affects them for generations. while most tribes are improving with each generation especially after the laws changed in the 1970's, it is something that isn't fixed yet. It takes generations to change the damage done by things that have been done to a group for hundreds of years.

the saying that it happened five hundred years ago is deceptive and a bit racist in itself, because the continued oppression that occurred and still occurs. It is rare now a days but it still happens.

just look how upset people got when tribes wanted casinos to help them crawl out of the poverty thrust upon them for generations. the people who complain loudest about tribes do not complain about the white people who own casinos all over the us, especially in Nevada. not like they target tribes any how.

or the continued damage done to tribes by shutting down their economic sources. damming of rivers used by tribes for fishing as their primary economic sources, or how waste and disposal sites located on tribal lands edges now poison certain small groups, causing death and birth defects (yes that is occurring now) or the stereotypes and dehumanizing characterchurs (spelling?) that occur today, or the false belief that there are no "real Indians" today by many people because they are taught it is all in the past. But it isn't. it is still happening and the affects are still with us.

 

[cameron]

" the last Indian school ( and one of the most notorious) closed in 1994"

There are still tribal schools in Oklahoma.

 

[ChicksterJo]

That is just the thing...America should be taking care of the people who are here legally, i.e. its citizens and including those who are living in reservations. This is kind of an incomplete thought but just wanted to put it out there.

Also I don't get why the "who was here first" argument is always brought into the whole illegal immigration issue. If we could make this case against white colonialism and the Native Americans we can make the case against every race and ethnic group that ever lived. I am not against illegal immigration based on the "who was here first" argument. I'm against it because, as a legal immigrant, others like me have had to follow strict rules while illegal immigrants do not. My family and I have assimilated into American culture although we still speak our language (and dialects). But we know how to speak English, we don't care if we can't have a translator or a press "Number" on the phone to hear our language, etc...I don't care what person was here first, the native flora and fauna were here first.

 

[redhen]

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I agree.. if you are here illegally..

 

[redhen]

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I think if the parents are getting deported for being here illegally... then their children SHOULD stay with them. Not a good idea to start seperating children from their parents.
Most children would WANT to go with their parents.

 

[gogoalie]

One can only wonder why the immigration process hasn't been "fast tracked" & why is there such a back log of getting people who want to live here, the ability to do so, & become productive tax payin' documented workers/citizens...the antiquated system needs to be revamped & updated...one reason why them ol'e crumundrugeon conservative votin' block don't want it revamped & updated is that they think they'll loose out on their votin' power & fear becomin' a "minority", within a country they've controlled since inception.