The End of The Line
“American Indian Wars are the numerous armed conflicts between European empires or colonists, and later by the American settlers or government, and the indigenous peoples of North America. These conflicts occurred across the country beginning with the Tiguex War in 1540 within present-day New Mexico and ending with the Renegade period during the Apache Wars in 1924 within the Southwestern United States.”
I awoke from my dream thinking, “I have to find safety – the Indians are attacking!”
My heart was beating fast and I could feel the cold sweat beneath my thin night shirt. I had sat up with a start so, I swung my legs out of the bed and onto the floor and just sat as my head cleared.
Boy was that ever real. Seems like I’ve been watching too much of The History Channel lately. I’ve been reading up on some of our own U S History; it’s not very glamorous – really. So many of the old western movies I watched as a kid during the 1950’s and into the 1960’s, were much like the early WW2 movies made during the same periods. They always painted the “bad guys”, be it those German soldiers or Native American Indians in our own North West, as the evil ones.
Granted the German Nazis were bad news and in my opinion were really “the bad guys” but I didn’t find that to hold true with the indigenous peoples in America. “We the people” were the intruders here using our more modern powers of technology especially modern weaponry, overwhelming forces in numbers of soldiers and settlers, coupled with a lustful desire and greed, to confiscate this “new world”, and make it our own – Shameful.
In my dream I saw a land green and lush, filled with many Indian tepees.
Women squaws tending to fires cooking and children playing, a meeting occurring with tribal leaders from several different Indian Nations. These leaders were chiefs and skilled warriors gathered together to discuss strategy. They were as different in their appearance as the people of the countries making up the European countries.
Voices were raised and tempers flared as the main topic was “discussed”, that topic being; how to survive the continuing onslaught of the European invaders. The tribal elders spoke of treaties made and treaties broken by the foreign invaders.
The often younger warriors raised voices along with weapons to make their point that no matter what they did, treaties were signed then ignored. Promises made and immediately broken, and the only way to deal with the threat of their physical demise was by force of their own.
The “white” man was not going away, he was seeking land not peace and their aggression would continue, until the indigenous people were no more.
Like most dreams, this one seemed to go on forever but after a few minutes of wakefulness, I could hardly remember it at all.
My last remaining thoughts of it were the “savages” destroying General Custer and his troops at Little Big Horn then… then it was only the “Trail of Tears”, the endless line of a defeated people, making their way off and into oblivion – shameful.
When Synapses Go Bad 