In the history of North America, Genocide can be used to represent the characteristics of the Native communities. Genocide means the death of a large number of people by opponents. The Native Americans mourn some of the largest numbers of civilians killed in the community by enemy groups. Genocide also indicates the intention to destroy a targeted group as a whole or part. The contact between Native American groups and the Europeans was marked with massive losses of people from the Native communities. To dominate these communities, the Europeans intentionally killed large numbers of people from these societies. The contact between the Europeans and Native Americans causes a large demographic collapse of the natives. This genocide, which spans centuries, involved eight colonial governments and thousands of independent indigenous empires, cultures and confederations.
Discussion
The interaction between the Euro- Americans and the native people from North America is marked by various events that may constitute cases of genocide. One example of a genocidal event occurred during the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. On November 29, 1864, the Colorado Third Cavalry under Colonel John M. Chivington attacked a community of Cheyenne and Arapaho led by Chief Black Kettle in Sand Creek (Rensink, 2011). The scene left most of the Native Americans dead. Chivington’s soldiers went ahead and mutilated most of the bodies.
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Based on the definition of genocide, the events that happened before, during and after the massacre portray the characteristics of a genocide. For example, while authorizing the attack, Colorado governor John Evans orders Chivington’s men to “kill and destroy the Indians since they were enemies of the country.” Chivington communicated this order to his men and pronounced how he planned to "kill and scalp all the Indians living in Sand Creek” ( Hartmann et al., 2019). Based on the definition of genocide, the US federal government singled out the Indians living in Sand Creek for destruction. The actions committed by the Colorado Third Calvary on November 29, 1864, indicates that the government intended to massacre the members of the group that had been singled out.
Another event that portrays the government's intention to destroy a whole community involves the utterances said by California governor Peter Burnett in 1851. Burnet declared a "war of extermination against the Indian races in North America until they become extinct." (Rensink, 2011). Burnett focused the words on different Native American groups living in Northern California. The government perceived the presence of these groups in this region as causing underdevelopment in a region that had great mineral wealth.
Governor John McDougal, who succeeded Burnett, had the same sentiments regarding the extermination of the Native Indian tribes. Governor McDougal state that if negotiations with the Native tribes did not bear fruits, the Native tribes would wage war against the government. Subsequently, the federal government would be forced to "exterminate many of the tribes” (Rensink, 2011). In the following years, the federal government killed most of the Yuki Indians living in the Northern California Round Valley. In this case, genocide is based on the federal government’s intention to exterminate the Native groups in California.
Other events can be regarded as genocidal due to the shocking brutality that characterized them. Despite the federal government’s lack of declaring the intention to kill whole or part of these communities, these events are regarded as genocidal. For example, one year before the Sand Creek massacre happened, an attack against the Native Indians living in Cache County in Idaho happened. This event was prompted by the increasing tensions between the white settlers and the Shoshoni community residing in the region (Snyder, 2010). Eventually, the federal government dispatched an army that instigated a conflict in the area. The battle reached its climax on January 29, 1863, at the banks of the Bear River. At the time, Colonel Patrick E. Connor's army attacked the camp led by Chief Bear Hunter, who led the Shoshoni tribe. The federal government soldiers killed 400 Shoshoni men and children and raped the women. Before the attack, the federal government had not declared the intention to commit genocide against the Shoshoni tribe.
Another genocide event happened during the Battle of Washita River on November 27, 1868, and the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 28, 1890. During the Battle of Washita River, the soldiers massacred hundreds of unarmed Cheyenne men, women and children (Rensink, 2011). The same issue happened during the Wounded Knee Massacre when hundreds of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota people were killed.
Personal Reflection
The intercultural conflict that happened due to the interaction of the Native communities and European colonialists offers a great insight into genocide. Genocide refers to the intention to exterminate a whole or part of a community. During the genocide, large numbers of people are killed in the battle between the opposing forces. When the European Explorers landed in North America, they found a region that was largely inhabited by Native Indian communities. The Europeans could not establish their rule due to the defiance projected by the Native communities. To dominate the region, the Europeans, acting under the direction of the American federal government, instigated disagreements ad conflicts with the Native communities so that they can conquer the territory. This culminated in several genocide events, such as the Sand Creek Massacre and the Massacre in Cache County in Idaho. I believe that the conceptualization of genocide should include other events that led to the killing of large numbers of Native Indians, such as the Battle of Washita River and the Wounded Knee Massacre. Even though the government did not declare its intention to kill many people in these conflicts, the massacres led to the extermination of many unarmed Native Indians.
Conclusion
The formation of the US is marked by various genocidal events instigated by the American federal government. Genocide resulted from the interaction of the Europeans and Native Indian Communities. In order to exercise their dominance on the Native communities, the Europeans had to exterminate whole or sections of the Native communities.
References
Hartmann, W. E., Wendt, D. C., Burrage, R. L., Pomerville, A., & Gone, J. P. (2019). American Indian historical trauma: Anticolonial prescriptions for healing, resilience, and survivance. The American psychologist , 74 (1), 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000326
Rensink, B. (2011). Genocide of Native Americans: Historical facts and historiographic debates. Dissertations, Theses & Student Research, Department of History, 34. University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Snyder, M. (2010). Review of Native Liberty: Natural reason and cultural survivance by Gerald Vizenor. Great Plains Quarterly. 1-3.
