Culture Wars

Throughout history, different cultures have come in contact with each other. Sometimes the encounters have been peaceful and mutually beneficial. Other times have seen one group dominate the other one and, at times, annihilate them totally from existence. It becomes a war of cultures. I believe that God is displeased with these meetings where one group takes advantage of and attempts to destroy the other group. America's own history is filled with just such meetings.

Native Americans in the US, First Nations in Canada, and Indigenous Cultures in Latin America were some of the most diverse and prosperous peoples in the world at the time of Columbus' voyage. Once the New World was discovered by Europeans at that time, they saw it as a new land to explore, conquer, and rake up treasures for themselves. Their mindset was one of absolute greed.

After the initial meeting of Columbus with the Tainos, the English, the French, the Dutch, the Swedes, the Spanish, the Russians, and the Portuguese all rushed to take what they could from this "new" land. After some bickering and cajoling, the English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese gained control of the whole Western Hemisphere. Gradually, each European power gained control of more and more land by outright lies, stealing, and forcing the people into indebtedness. Anything they wanted, they went after like King Ahab did in I & II Kings in the Bible.

When I look at our history, I sometimes become saddened by what we as a nation did. Yes, I believe God ordained this country and I am a proud American, but I believe that we could have handled the conflict a whole lot differently. The natives that first met the English befriended them and helped them to survive their first few years in this new world that they knew nothing about. In less than a generation after that initial contact, the English and other European powers were viewing the natives as savage, backwards, and not worthy of being considered equal with them.

Why that view so prevailed, I can't quite understand. Yes, they did things differently than the Europeans. Yes, they also initiated some terrible attacks against the settlers. But I believe that they were forced into those decisions by the way they were treated. The land they had always called home was being systematically taken from them and they were being forced onto inferior land where they could not live as they had always lived. Who wouldn't fight back? Are they any different than the rest of Europe when Hitler tried to expand his Third Reich? Adding insult to injury after the final tribe had been forced into a reservation, the natives were forbidden to speak their own language and were forced to learn English and act like a European. Even Christian missionaries, while preaching the gospel, left the impression that, in order to be truly saved, the converts must act and dress like a white man. When did Europeans have a corner on what God wants and expects?

I realize that it's all in the past now. Some cultures and languages can never be brought back. Some are trying to save what is left of their way of life including language revitalization. However, I think that we can now try to learn about our Native Neighbors at every opportunity and understand that, while they are Americans, they are not Europeans or Africans or Asians. They are truly Americans. Perhaps if we had tried to learn and truly befriend them for who they were then, we all would be in a better place now.