Generation 1 is a group of men, women, and children who intentionally left their old country because of the political and religious persecution. They left, but wanted to keep their previous identity, culture, religion, and trades. When they come into contact with the original inhabitants of the country they migrated into, they knew they had invaded someone else’s property and lands. Because of their invasion into a new land, they knew that they had to attempt to be friendly with the previous inhabitants so as to remain safe.
They were ill prepared to live in the country they intentionally invaded and were forced to rely on the good nature of the original people to teach them how to survive in the new land. They slowly begin to grow and take more of the land they had invaded. They were without remorse for the taking of that which was not theirs. They stole land and resources that did not belong to them all the time thanking their god for providing them with new lands and a great bounty of which to eat. They hunted and fished on the lands that were not theirs. The Original inhabitants had hunted and fished those lands for millennia to provide for themselves.
Generation 2 came along and expand out into the hinterlands to take more of that which did not belong to them. They communicate back to the old country to inform their family and friend there is free land for the taking and that they can live in relative safety because the original inhabitants of the land were nice. Generation 2 had hundreds of friends and family who left their old country and created a new invasion into the lands that did not belong to them. They came in such great numbers that they too became a Generation 1 population who in turn produced a Generation 2 progeny.
The invaders reported back to mayors, governors, and even their king of the old country that this new country is like the Garden of Eden, a land that is lush and ready to become a new place like they just left, but much better. The big business owners of the old country received word of the vast and untold riches only to pay off the king to give them land grants in the new country. Even though the old country had no rights to the lands in the new country. The king grants the requests of the big businesses and takes his share of the new country spoils. He even sets up his own government and takes further lands and resources that did not belong to the old world people.
The first Generation 1 people left the old world to get away from political and religious tyranny. Their progeny invited the tyranny to the new country to provide a more “civilized” lifestyle than those of the original inhabitants or even their Generation 1 parents. Every Generation 2 population had an entitlement mentality. They were entitled to the lands and resources that did not belong to them because they were “civilized.” The original inhabitants did not behave in a “civilized” manner and therefore they were not entitled to keep their own lands and resources. The original inhabitants were sub human and were not true owners of land or property and therefore the invaders deserved to take the lands and praise their god for granting them with lands and provisions.
Generation 3 is a population which wanted to continue to spread out further and take additional lands which was theirs for the taking. God gave them that land and the original inhabitants should be killed if they did not immediately surrender the lands and property to the invaders. After all, their god allowed for the killing of non-christian, non-whites and the taking of lands and property in accordance with the Doctrine of Discovery. Generation 3 were no more civilized than the original inhabitants, they only dressed better and went to church to justify their actions.
The Generation 4 population believed themselves to be persecuted and ruled over by tyrants like their great-grand parent’s Generation 1. They remembered the stories of how Generation 1 invaded a new country only to leave behind the political and religious tyranny of the old world. Their Generation 2 ancestors invited the same tyrants back into their lives in the auspices of being more civilized. Their Generation 3 parents gave them the “freedom” to do as they please as long as they did not agitate the tyrants. Finally, the Generation 4 population demanded their freedom from all rules and consequences. They did not want to feel the yoke of a tyrant taking what they believed to be their lands and property. They did not want to live near the original inhabitants because the original inhabitants would not give all of their lands to Generation 4.
Finally, Generation 5 is the worldly generation. They were educated in the greatest colleges and universities in the world. They were trained by some of the greatest thinkers of their time. The invaders had come full circle. They went from invaders to revolutionaries. Generation 1 left tyranny seeking freedom, but invaded a new land that was not theirs and they had no claim to in any fashion. They invited their tyrants to rule over them again in the name of civilization. They brought back into existence in a new country the tyranny from the old country and expected different results.
One of their greatest philosophers even had the audacity to write about a king: “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” They stole that which did not belong to them and then had the arrogance to call the lands, “our frontiers.”
From November of 1620, when the Pilgrims set foot on this continent to July of 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, is only 156 years or about 6 or 7 generations. A little perspective shows that from 1776 to 1932 is the same length of time. In our daily lives 156 years is a long time, but historically, it is a very short time.
Question 1. How could a people seeking political and religious tolerance, not have been politically and religiously tolerant to the Indigenous Peoples?
Question 2. How can a nation commit genocide, ethnic cleansing (kill, steal, murder, rape, and pillage) and not hold them accountable for it?
Question 3. How can the United States make things right with the Chickamauga Nation, one of the only remaining Indigenous Tribes who have never been terminated, never been incorporated, never been exterminated, holds more than 16 Treaties with the United States, land held in Trust by the United States, paid annuities by the United States, have a continuing government since before the Declaration of Independence, and never placed on the roll of Indian tribes who are federally recognized and eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)?