I just read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Doe Brown, published in 1970.
Our good friend and registered member of the Pima tribe left it for me outside my door one day. I highly recommend it. Dee Brown describes in-depth the destruction of the culture and the civilization of the American Indian from 1860 to 1890. He goes year by year, tribe by tribe and covers pretty much every region of the Midwest and Western parts of what is now known as the United States.
What makes this book different is that he tells it all using the words of the Native people.
I am a relatively learned guy, went to college, I read a lot. So in a vague, fuzzy, undetailed way, I’ve known for a long time that this country was founded on the genocide of the Native peoples. But reading and digesting this book brought it totally and graphically and concretely home for me. And made me truly question rather than avoid my place in it all.
I have absolutely never sought out info on my roots, genealogy, my family history. Chances are pretty high it would not be good news. I just know that I am a priveleged white guy and live life every day trying to undo these historical truths as much as is humanly possible.
But the truth is that my collective ancestry was and is about extremely violent white supremacists and conquistadores. The content of this book It is that there are set to and this genocide is the root Great Again! is the root meaning of ‘Make America
As we at Casa Maria live and work here among many Native people in South Tucson / Barrio Libre. May the Creator God help me to be a very effective traitor to my race and class in the struggle to defend the barrio from gentrification