Scars of the Past: Is America's Dark History Repeating Itself?
- Jaimes Campbell
- Oct 12, 2018
- 2 min read
The United States of America, seen as the "Bastion of Hope" to many, has a very dark and ugly past.
Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Pennsylvania (c. 1900)
Image Source - Wikipedia
Since the Spanish and Portuguese landed in the America's, the wholesale slaughter, enslavement and "re-education" of the Indigenous Americans began.
The enslavement of Africans, the genocide of the Natives, and then poor treatment of Mexicans in the lands gained after a US victory in the Mexican American War.
During the push westward, not only were Native Americans slaughtered, some of their children were removed from their parents, and sent to re-education schools. These "schools" were to remove the Native children from their culture and identity in order to make them behave more European like.
Fast forward to the present, we are doing the same thing. Instead of targeting the Native children for re-education, this time it is the Mexican and Central American children.
Image Source - (Reuters/Eric Gay/Pool)
Donald Trump instituted the policy of removing migrant children from their parents. Under this policy, "Tender aged" children are being housed in warehouses and tent camps awaiting to see and Immigration Judge and hopefully their parents.
In the past few days, articles have shown that these children are likely to never see their parents again and that many of them may end up being adopted out or placed in the Foster Care system.
This will produce the same outcome as the re-education of the Natives. A group of Latino children, stripped of their culture, language and self-identity.
What is happening to these children is a travesty. We are detaining these migrants indefinitely, without adequate reasoning, holding them in Guantanamo Bay like conditions.
If America wants to live up to our great history of Immigration, we must allow those from Central America into our nation. We must show compassion to those fleeing situations south of our border that we largely created. We must remember that most people screaming the loudest about "Illegal Immigration" are descended from immigrates that the legality of their migration was questionable at the least.
The very same men, women and children that we are denying are more closely related to the Native and original inhabitants of these American continents. We have a lot of work to do as Americans to try to right the wrongs of history and make sure it does not happen again.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
(Article by Jaimes Campbell)