Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce

Europeans came to the land we now call the United States under the delusion that no significant groups of people were living here and that all land was free for the taking. In fact, there was a considerable population of Native Americans. Some estimate 12 million or more. From Atlantic to Pacific, immigration, the United States government and the United States military defrauded them of their land.

Our annual Thanksgiving mythology might make it seem that Native Americans approved of the coming of the white man. Such is not the case. There were plenty of battles.

We've been reading the ever so tragic story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. The Nez Perce were a people which comprised many bands of Native Americans. Principally, their home was the Wallowa Mountains of Northeast Oregon. The concept of private ownership of property was foreign to them. The annual progression from summer to winter meant their moving to take advantage of the weather. Immigration plays its part in the story. People moved into their lands. The US government stole the land and used the army to move them elsewhere. They were hunted and hounded from Oregon through Yellowstone National Park to the Canadian border. There seems no promise of the US government made them that it ever kept.

The truly sad part is that generally, their story only repeats the experience of other Native Americans through out American history.

The Declaration of Indepedence ideal that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has not and still in some cases does not extend to blacks, Native Americans, Chinese, or Japanese.