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What Christopher Columbus Didn't Know
| Open Poetry #29 |
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What Christopher Columbus Didn't Know |
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Marge Tindal 
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores 
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What Christopher Columbus Didn't Know ~*Marge Tindal*~ Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue He took his little ships and his unlikely crew They set out to conquer the lands to the west He landed in America and thought it was the best Lo !When he arrived the American Indians were standing tall So he didn't DISCOVER America after all The American Indian Natives decided to let him stay No doubt a decision regretted to this day With them they brought the greed of white man It took years for them to strip the Indians of their land Chris was welcomed at the first Indian feast Thanksgiving shared with friends from the East It soon came to be that the tradition seemed pretty shallow for the Indians who started the deed Little to be thankful for as the white 'turkeys' took the land and 'stuffed' the Indians full of promises that were bland *A poetic chronical of True American History that you won't find in the school books* *The viewpoint of one of true Native American Indian Heritage* Columbus Day - October, 2003 ~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost, |
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| © Copyright 2003 Marge Tindal - All Rights Reserved | |||
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James_A_Fraser Senior Member
since 2003-09-03
Posts 972Out Making Anticlines |
I'm a native American -- did you know? When the Europoeans came in their ships, our tribes first accepted, then tried to resist, but their weapons were stronger, they were organized in ways we didn't understand...they took our land, made slaves of whom they would, forced us to accept new ways, new language, even new religion that eradicated our own. The strongest of us, who they didn't quite defeat, they forced onto the reservation, walled us out of what had been our own. We were bitter for hundreds of years and some few of us still carry that resentment. But I am not one of them. I'm glad the Romans forced civilization on my Pictish tribal ancestors in Brittain. That's the way of the world, and now I'm on the future's side of it. And yes, I am a native American -- born here, and belong here, thanks to Columbus and others like him. Oh, and that reservation? The line of demarcation is still there. It's called Hadrian's Wall. But my people don't live there by force any more. Now some of us live here. |
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Marge Tindal
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
James~ No, of course I could not have known you were a native American. This isn't about ... Native Americans, anyone born in America is now considered a native, it is about Indians of Native American heritage and birth who were here long before the founders from afar came and drove them almost into extinction. quote:I'm not sure I understand your point there, but I don't believe that the American Indians who suffered the loss of their land, homes, lives and were (and still are) designated to live on the *gift* of government alloted land would agree that the landing of the white settlers were a blessing to them. So much carnage, so little done in the name of progressive greed~ Thank you for the read and your opinions~ Sincerely~ ~*Marge*~ ~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost, the spirit rejoices over what it has left. - Sufi epigram [email protected] [This message has been edited by Marge Tindal (10-14-2003 03:44 PM).] |
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Trillium
since 2001-03-09
Posts 12098Idaho, USA |
Dear Marge: The Indians are still paying for the "gifts" the white man brought to America! This is well done and worth reading! Love Betty Lou Betty Lou Hebert |
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Seymour Tabin Member Empyrean
since 1999-07-07
Posts 31720Tamarac Fla |
Marge, A good write, ennjoyed the read. |
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James_A_Fraser Senior Member
since 2003-09-03
Posts 972Out Making Anticlines |
Sorry Marge, but that's what happens when an advanced culture encounters a primitive culture -- every time. Are you saying that we should have kept the local population in a sort of stone-age zoo, where they could remain uncivilized nomads forever without the threat of modern civilization improving their lives in any way? For that matter, when Europeans arrived, they were well on the way to converting the North American continent into a desert. They’d already killed off whole species of raptors and large carnivores, and the ecological imbalance was taking a serious toll. The paradise we envision them as living in would have ended here in much the same way it crashed for the Mayans, though with a longer time frame. I can't fathom the notion that it would somehow have been better to have denied them what is now available for the taking. They were treated badly, abominably in some cases, but so were my near-stone-age ancestors, and the other half of yours. I don't want to hunt with a spear for my next meal, and I doubt that any modern American Indian would look forward to that prospect either. And as to Columbus, he was considered a rescuer by the tribes he encountered, someone who might be able to give them a measure of protection from the local scourge, a vicious outfit that the more peaceable locals gave a name that meant "The Throatcutters" in their language. Or are we talking about the Indians of our Southwest? They came from Peru, pillaging and slaughtering the local population as they went -- a literal genocide, not the made-up pretense that’s applied to the Europoean migration to this continent – and in doing it, they traveled a distance that is farther than the distance from, say, Southampton England to Plymouth Massachusetts. Not much here that has to do with the poetry, which is cleanly written and well conceived. Maybe this poem should have been posted in The Alley, where it could and probably would get a full answer. |
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Marge Tindal
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
BettyLou~ Thank you dear lady. It's so nice to have intelligent readers~ Seymour~ My friend ... thank you for a complimentary intelligent reply~ *Huglets* to you both~ <))><~*Marge*~<))><  *jkka* ~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost, |
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JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
Enjoyed this point of view...many local Hawaiians would like to see the foreigners out of Hawaii...James |
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Betty Senior Member
since 2002-08-13
Posts 1159Virginia |
Marge I really enjoyed this. Maybe I could have learned my history better if it had been taught like this. :-) Love ya, Betty |
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suthern
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723Louisiana |
A fairly substantial part of my heritage is Cherokee... a greater portion is Scot... I wouldn't deny any of my ancestors or give one greater importance than the other for I wouldn't exist without all of them... but *I* am an American. And as an American, I know there are parts of our history that shame us all... Remembering those times are vital so that we don't repeat our mistakes. But we can't rewrite history, either... and the people who suffered from my ancestors actions are as long dead as the ancestors who were suffering themselves... those of their line who live today are no more entitled to something because of a long ago then than I am to a hunk of Scotland. I am a blend... would not be but for common ground found long ago... It's that common ground I'll embrace, not the devisive factors. [This message has been edited by suthern (10-15-2003 10:04 AM).] |
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