Why am I to blame for native american injustice, and why I am to pay for compensation?

That in itself is not a reason, there are people who push the agenda, is it really helping anyone?

I didn't say it's a good reason, but it's pretty much the reason.

@Fangirlsarah1996: Do you think Israel exists because of "political correctness" ? I'm just wondering if you see things differently when the aggrieved are white.

Israel is another whole ball game, with different circumstances, history, and lead up. The Jews were given a country of their own, but not special status in another country. There are some complicated politics around Israel. But it is a country now, and has proved itself very capable in organization, economics, and warfare. But keep in mind that I am talking about blaming here and tax exemptions. Two things which do not apply to Jews. This isn't a racial thing. Jews don't keep blaming Germans and all of white society for the holocaust and for centuries of oppression. They realized that those people are dead and gone... And of course that is a general statement and there will be some Jews that do, but it isn't a systematically pushed agenda of guilt.

@mar3sword: we're neither giving the Native Americans their country back nor another one to replace it. It IS an entirely different ballgame---these people were white and thus considered more important. And there are many things Germany has done in attempts to compensate them.

There is not an ongoing payout from Germans to Israel, a leg up and then get on with life.

The things that happened to the Jews were also much more recent in history. When governments acted more responsibly and forceful conquest is not considered okay anymore by the ruling powers or the UN. So of course the response was different. And it is debatable whether the response was right. But again, I did not create Israel and it is a country now. And will remain a country.

The idea that the same be done for the Native Americans is a little far out now. There are too many individual tribes, tribes which warred with each other constantly before western intervention.

@mar3sword: So basically we're paying rent. Different European tribes warred with each other. It was still considered different when the Moors came.

Yes, and Europeans suffered occupation for several hundred years before alliances expelled the moors. Again in a different time. There is going to be no expelling westerners from North America. As many of us are as North American as you can be now.

We shouldn't pay rent for things that we have worked hard for. The world has changed. Canada is as much my home as the next person, and I have every right to live here, own property, and work as anyone else. Descendants of Native American's have the same right to live here, own property, and work, have liberty and pursue happiness. But they are claiming more rights on the bases of things passed that can not be changed.

@mar3sword: perhaps they'd feel differently if they had been able to expel the descendants of the Europeans. Aren't the Irish in Ireland still angry ?

@bijouxbroussard: Perhaps they would feel different, but then the world would be totally different, and not necessarily better. Yes, there are Irish in Ireland still angry. I don't know too much about that. But for the most part I believe they have accepted the way things are.

@mar3sword: That's the point, isn't it ? People are not obligated to accept their subjugation with [i]grace[/i]. They don't have to forget, they don't have to "move on" to make things convenient for others. Especially not others who trivialize and dismiss what happened because they don't understand how the past affects the present and even the future.

@bijouxbroussard: Of course the past affects the present and the future. Our history affects who we are. However, hanging onto wrongs that happened a long time ago doesn't help anybody. I am not trivializing the wrongs, they were horrendous. They were also very common throughout history.

@mar3sword: That is dismissive. "It wasn't just you." In any other situation this is how you tell someone their pain is not important. And that is why people are still angry, and are likely to always be. This is the eternally mortgaged home in which your ancestors chose to move. It's not your fault. It's not the fault of Native Americans that you are resentful.

@bijouxbroussard: 'Their pain'? Nobody alive experienced it. I am pointing out that this historical event is not isolated. Every piece of land in the world is covered in blood.

I don't resent them. I resent the blame, and the idea that because of my skin color my thoughts are crazy because there is no way I could possibly understand. And not just me, but much smarter more educated people.

Yes, it bothers me a bit that some people are special citizens. And I am suggesting that the best way for the modern world to move on from the dark history is for people to move on from it. For people to stop tossing around blame and expecting compensation for pain they didn't experience from people who didn't inflict the pain. For people to accept that the world is the way it is and that the way forward is through education and making a home for oneself.