He has Filled Graves with our Bones, Indians and Identities, and Baum's Editorial

I enjoyed reading He has Filled Graves with our Bones. It gave me a great sense on how the Indians viewed the white man. Since it was a speech, I felt the message was more powerful. Once again I learned about how unfairly the white men treated the Indians. Thus, at the beginning of the speech, I was not surprise when I read how the white man wanted to be paid again. However, I was surprised that when the Indians and whites first met, the Indians treated the whites with kindness and hospitality. I was not surprised about how the Indians acted, but after reading so much about how cruel the white men treated the Indians, I was surprised that after the whites were befriended by the Indians, they in turn betrayed the Indians. It made me wonder why did the white men hate the Indians so much? Why did they break their treaties so frequently? Why make a treaty if they knew they were not going to withhold their end? I liked when the chief called the white man “an unsatisfied beggar”; I like the truth of the statement. The white men were selfish, greedy, and entitled. Did they not realize the Indians claimed the land long before the whites did? Also, the murdering of the old man, daughter, and mother and robbing them of their possessions after the family had helped the white travelers proves that the whites were more “barbarian-like” than the Indians.

In American Indians and American Identities, I liked reading the short passage at the beginning about Benjamin Franklin. To me the passage had an excellent point; you can't just suddenly forget or leave your roots. It takes much time and experience for that to happen. Even so, it still never goes away. You'll always carry it with you in some form. As I read about the Boston Tea Party, I was curious as to why the raiders dressed up as Indians. It was interesting that still nobody even knows for sure why the raiders did dressed up as Indians besides the fact for disguise. I liked Lawrence's quote "wanting to have their cake and eat it too". It answered some of my other questions from our readings as to why the Americans wanted the Indians to go away. Americans wanted to have freedom, yet they wanted it in an ordered and civilized fashion. Also, his statement "The desire to extirpate [him]. And the contradictory desire to glorify him." - this reinforced another one of my questions in another reading. In Baum's Editorial about Native Americans, it said "We cannot honestly regret their extermination . . ." When I read Baum's statement, I was wondering why would they even "exterminate" the Indians if they liked some of their characteristics? When I read Baum's statement it was clear to me that my question was obviously an already known controversy.

In Frank L. Baum’s Editorials about Native Americans, I asked myself why did the whites hate the Indians so much? They had so much hate for the Indians. For someone to say, “ . . . better that they die than live the miserable wretches they are” proves how terrible and cruel one can possibly be. What could the Indians have possibly done to receive so much hate?