This is MY America!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes it does.

I abhor the term Native American. It is a generic government term used to describe all the indigenous prisoners of the United States. These are the American Samoans, the Micronesians, the Aleuts, the original Hawaiians, and the erroneously termed Eskimos, who are actually Upiks and Inupiats. And, of course, the American Indian.

I prefer the term American Indian because I know its origins . . . As an added distinction the American Indian is the only ethnic group in the United States with the American before our ethnicity . . . We were enslaved as American Indians, we were colonized as American Indians, and we will gain our freedom as American Indians, and then we will call ourselves any damn thing we choose. Russell Means

But the fact remains, all those groups came from somewhere else, over thousands of years. Some of them were forced to move because they were pushed out by other groups. Some of the groups disappeared completely. Some coexisted and some fought continually.

The world over, since the beginning of time, all territory was controlled by the group of people that could win and hold that land.

Why is it when the Europeans entered the fray, suddenly it's no longer acceptable to continue the tradition that had held sway in the Americas since the first human set foot here?