"A Sad Legacy..."

"I would rather die an Indian, than live a white man." Thus spoke Sitting Bull, the warrior chief and renowned holy man of the Lakota tribe. His words became prophetic when early on the morning of December 15th, 1890 Sitting Bull was fatally shot first in the chest and then the back of his head. His crime? Allegedly for failing to acquiesce to the demands of the federal government that he conform to the white man's rules and way of life. His real crime? He was an Indian. Upon hearing of Sitting's Bull's death the New York Times crowed that Sitting Bull was finally "a good Indian."

I have just completed James Donovan's in depth historical book A Terrible Glory - Custer And The Little Bighorn, in which many layers of historically inaccurate accolades attributed to George Armstrong Custer's legacy as a Civil War hero and "great Indian fighter" were stripped definitively away. Custer was a consummate product of his own vanity, ever seeking greater tributes to bolster his over-inflated reputation as the American hero of his time. In truth, Custer was an opportunist among a nation of opportunist that sought fame and fortune at the expense of lesser beings who stood in their way to achieve their goals, selfishly guised in the lofty proposition of Manifest Destiny. Chief among these unfortunates were the native American Indian cultures that populated the American landscape, who wanted nothing more than to avail themselves of the bountifulness of the land's natural resources, to raise their beloved and honored families, to preserve their social order and cultures, and to live their lives in peaceful solitude. But the newly arrived Europeans, as a rule, would have none of that, seeing the Indian as an impediment to their quests for acquisition of the lands that had been in the birthright possession of the Indians for incalculable generations long before the first white man set foot on American soil. The Indians were thus reduced to sub-human, regarded as "savages," and systematically eradicated with no more remorse than one would regard the elimination of a rabid animal. Custer led his infamous 7th Calvary into the teeth of these native Americans at the battle of the Little Big Horn firmly believing without a hint of hesitation or remorse that his assigned ordered foe aligned in the thousands before his troops on that fateful day had no inalienable right to remain in existence. The Indians had had enough. They were fighting to the death to stave off the unrelenting forces of genocide. History would mark Custer a hero and elevate the battle into untarnished and unquestioned fame and fable. The truth...Custer deserved the inglorious death that brought him that infamous day to the throne of grace.

There are many shrill voices in our country and throughout the world that zealously proclaim America to be the epitome of evil. These are the voices of jealousy and hatred of our unencumbered freedoms and prosperity. But it must be acknowledged that such disquieting rage is not without some qualified merit, for our history as an opportunistic nation speaks to numerous incidents wherein our country's proclaimed self-interest came at the detriment of other nations and peoples. As a nation we have not always made the best choices or upheld the best ideals as we sought to place our country's alleged "best interest" above other entities that would suffer the consequence of our subordinate policies.

The foundation for these often times unsavory suspensions of our better angels stem from our own internal history, the civil war of the 1860s and the subsequent campaign to remove any vestiges of our native Americans, wherein, in the quest to place the white man in the position of preeminence, our forefathers illegally absconded with over eighteen million acres of Indian land, deliberately and diabolically obtained through lies and fraud, and enforced by the systematic and unconscionable slaughter of thousands upon thousands of native American men, women and children. Yes, these atrocities occurred in our distant past and I had no perosonal hand in their instigation. Yet, I feel deeply ashamed and am angered that this is part of our nation's history.

America is a good and decent country that is comprised of good and decent people who are caring, honest and charitable. It is our government leaders, the captains of commerce, and a minority of individuals who regard race, color or creed as a basis to subjugate entire classes of individuals that comprise those who too often lose sight of our America's ideals. This is what I take away from the reading of Mr. Donovan's book...that when our great nation of good and decent people blindly and without opposing questions accept the doctrine of "Our Nation, Right Or Wrong" do we risk becoming less than what President Ronald Regan proclaimed and called us to be, "The shinning light set upon a hill."

Mr. Donovan correctly entitled his book, "A Terrible Glory." Ultimately our forefathers achieved their conquering quest to become the sole proprietors of the American west. But at what price? Our nation's conscience suffered an immeasurable blow for having done so in such a despicable manner. "We the People" must be on constant guard to assure that our nation's best interest do not succumb to subverting our conscience of being the best we can be for the sake of expediency. "We the People" are better than that. "We the People" must be ever vigilant to be better than that. Our nation's overriding legacy of decency demands no less.