WJhonson@aol.com wrote in message news:<141.3706467d.2eae7afc@aol.com>...
In a message dated 10/25/2004 8:45:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
djwebb2002@blueyonder.co.uk writes:
The red Indians were not "American"- they didn't speak English,
were not Christians, did not have the common law, and knew nothing of
Shakespeare. Even up to a relatively late date they were legally classed as
"quasi-foreign nations". No colonists, no America.
Was speaking English really a requirement of the colonists? I seem to recall
some legend that America came within a hair of having GERMAN as our national
language.
Will
When Webb decides to display his ignorance, he makes no bones about
it. His "Red Indians" have always been fully sovereign nations right
up to this moment. The only reference in the Constitution to them is
in the part about the power of Congress to regulate trade, where it
simply says that Congress shall regulate trade between the states,
with foreign nations and with Indian Nations. By law (1924) Native
Americans have dual citizenship - of their tribal nation and of the
US. If they are from a nation on the Canadian-US border, they are
triple citizens as they have both US and Canadian citizenship along
with their tribal nation (as in the Mohawk Nation). Although there
have always been those who have wished to take away Native sovereignty
(a legal impossibility according to International Law), they have
never succeeded.
In regard to an official language, it was only very recently that
the federal government declared English an official language to the
exclusion of others. In California there is no attempt to abide by
this silly idea and I have never heard of anyone in trouble for not
abiding by it. This is a very large country with regions that were
never under English rule (such as my home, California and the entire
Southwest - which was the northern half of Mexico until 1848). English
rule never made it past the 13 original colonies. In some areas the
most prominent European language is French, in others Russian, in
others Spanish. In some areas there are multiple official languages -
generally English and Spanish. I have been to many places in the
Southwest and here in California where the only language you hear in
public is Spanish. People are also practical and wish to get along
socially and economically. For that reason, English has become
dominant - as it is the business language throughout the
industrialized world. At this time in California, people with heritage
from only the British Isles are a numerical minority; in fact, people
with a solely European heritage are now a minority here. The only
reason why anyone would be threatened by a "non-white" majority would
be because of their own insecurity and the fear that they may reap
what they have sown.
Just briefly, Webb's concept of the so-called "Red Indians" is based
on the fiction that came out of war time propaganda. The idea that the
Native people were naked just running around the forest is absurd. The
concept of the Native people of North America as bloodthirsty savages
is also war-time propaganda. During the colonial era, this was NOT the
prevailing image. Far from it. The "Red Indians" symbolized liberty,
freedom, independence, refusal to be governed without consent. In
Paris there were street gangs during the colonial period that shaved
their heads into "mohawk" style and wore what they thought were
"Indian" outfits - to show their rebellious and independent nature. At
the Boston Tea Party, the revolters dressed specifically like Iroquois
(which includes the Mohawks) in order to demonstrate that they, too,
were independent and rebellious. There was never any attempt to hide
their identities as "white". The statue on top of the Capitol dome
likewise portrays this icon of liberty. 75% of the modern diet in
industrialized nations outside of Asia comes from Native cultivation
in the Americas, as does 60% of modern medicines. I could go on (maybe
I miss teaching all this in a classroom...) but suffice it to say that
Webb has no idea about the US and its people, Native or immigrant.
Bronwen