"A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority." - Booker T. Washington
Lies repeated may be believed as the Nazi, Goebels stated during WWII, but that doesn't make them true or make propaganda right.
“I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.” - Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington wrote about slavery in the United States - lived experience, born as an African American during the last years of slavery and a childhood spent living through the Civil War. He was an influential educator, author and speaker, and an advisor to several U.S. Presidents. He founded a school which became Tuskegee University. (biography.com)
Maybe hatred just slows you down. Let go of the baggage and lighten your load. Denying or ignoring the past doesn't help us learn though. Remember the lessons and ask questions of what 'everyone knows'. Everyone knew that slavery was okay, until everyone knew that it was wrong.
Read more quotes of Booker T. Washington, (1856-1915) on GoodReads.com.
It is Indigenous People's Day in the United States - everyone knew that Indians were dangerous as all the school books and Western movies might suggest, -- except those early pioneers whose lives may have been saved by generous gift of food from indigenous people. Native people have been living here for 15,000 years. The United States has been a county for 244 years.
Pocahontas was the daughter of a chief of many tribes, a region where early English settlers arrived. They were given food, but gradually made larger demands than the indigenous people could provide due to a droughty season. The English settlers had guns - does might make right?
Pocahontas was a young girl when the settlers were being given food, and then demanding food. They were aware of her status as a favored daughter of a chief. She grew up and married an indigenous man and had a child. There were rumors that the English planned to kidnap her and the couple moved, but she was eventually kidnapped, raped, impregnated, taken away on a ship. Her child was saved by being with another indigenous family when the kidnapping occurred. Her husband was killed by the English however.
Might does not make right. Rape is a crime. Genocide is an international human rights crime. Propaganda may lead to many people believing a lie, but it doesn't make the lie correct - or right.
Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend (nps.gov) The true story is in the second half of the article, the version the English settlers told, and which school children in the U.S. have been taught, is in the first half.
This Land is My Land? The Legacy of Early Interactions Between Native Americans and Colonists, Sara Galcius, 11/21/2017 (corpsnetwork.org) - this article includes a brief video of the loss of indigenous lands to U.S. settlers and government. More recently than the 2010 end of the video, in July 2020, some of the reservation land in Oklahoma, equaling almost half the state, originally it was one of the largest reservations, was returned to tribal sovereign control, but the Oklahoma Governor has been trying to overturn the ruling.
Oklahoma governor stumbles into treaty rights debate, Acee Agoyo, July 21, 2020,(indianz.com) The current governor is a member of the Cherokee nation yet has made rulings that may not be legal regarding casinos.
Oklahoma Governor Pushing to Undo Tribal Sovereignty Ruling. Ti-Hua Chang, Sep 3, 2020, (tyt.com)
More recently EPA regulations have taken away their sovereign right to control pollution regulations on their land:
Current history - stealing the power from a sovereign nation over pollution regulation: Indigenous Leaders Furious After EPA Grants Oklahoma Control Over Sovereign Tribal Lands. Brett Wilkins, Oct. 5, 2020, (commondreams.org)
