America's biggest disgrace*

I TiVo'd the mini-series "500 Nations" which is playing on the Discovery Times channel. Kevin Costner opens each episode, and said something about six episodes, but I've only seen four of them. The series is about the large number of Native American tribes, and their individual stories. Also, I stumbled across a website called 500 Nations.com that provides background into how the series was filmed.

For many years, I've been fascinating by Native American culture. Even given a lifetime to study it, there's so much that it would be nearly impossible to understand it all. About 12 years ago, PJ and I spent two weeks in northern Arizona and southern Utah, now part of the Navaho Nation. The remarkably stunning landscapes are visible every time I fly from DFW to northern California.

The sad truth is that their way of life was systematically eradicated by our greedy, land-stealing ancestors. Now, the remaining tribes are "governed" by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I'm draw huge parallels between what was done to these Natives, and what the Radical Right (the so-called Fristians .. disciples followers of Republican Tennessee Senator Bill Frist) are trying to ram down our collective throats today. The Natives naively negotiated treaty after treaty to give away their lands and culture; our white ancestors laughingly broke every treaty, every time.

We should remember that lesson, as the Radical Right continues their attempt to dismantle our country, and re-form it In Their Image. Give an inch, lose a foot.

* before George W. Bush