Geoncide Against Native Americans
Long before Adolph Hitler committed the atrocity and the Jewish during the holocaust, the European settlers, British garrisons and later the United States Army had drastically reduced the numbers of Native American by committing the same actions. Was genocide committed against the Native Americans? Many may argue the decline of the Native American population was caused by new diseases being introduced by the Europeans to which the native tribes had no immunity. Others argue forcing the Native Americans from their homes was a necessity for the development of this new land. However, the thousands of Native Americans killed during the Indian Removal Act can be compared to the thousands of Jewish people killed during the holocaust.
In order to determine if the Native Americans were victims of genocide, we must first understand what the definition of genocide is. According to the Genocide Convention, any of the following actions, when committed with the intent to eliminate a particular national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, constitutes genocide: (1) killing members of the group, (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to kill, (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and (5) forcibly transferring children out of a group. (Encarta 2009) In addition, there are four categories of genocide. Ideological genocide is used in effort to create a society which members hold the same beliefs or are alike much like the Jewish Holocaust. Next is Retributive genocide used to eliminate the risk of a potential threat. The 1994 Rwanda riot demonstrates this type of genocide. The Hutu group wanted to maintain control of the Rwanda government by destroying the Tutsi rebels. Developmental genocide is one used against people in the area for economic gain. In the late 1960s Paraguay government forced the relocation and execution of the native Indian
In order to determine if the Native Americans were victims of genocide, we must first understand what the definition of genocide is. According to the Genocide Convention, any of the following actions, when committed with the intent to eliminate a particular national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, constitutes genocide: (1) killing members of the group, (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to kill, (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and (5) forcibly transferring children out of a group. (Encarta 2009) In addition, there are four categories of genocide. Ideological genocide is used in effort to create a society which members hold the same beliefs or are alike much like the Jewish Holocaust. Next is Retributive genocide used to eliminate the risk of a potential threat. The 1994 Rwanda riot demonstrates this type of genocide. The Hutu group wanted to maintain control of the Rwanda government by destroying the Tutsi rebels. Developmental genocide is one used against people in the area for economic gain. In the late 1960s Paraguay government forced the relocation and execution of the native Indian
References: Campbell, J. (2006) Sand Creek massacre background booklet #. Retrieved April 24, 2009 from Sand Creek National Historic Site Website http://www.sandcreeksite.com/ Exploitation vs. Extermination. (2001). Retrieved April 10, 2009 from World Free Internet Website: http://www.worldfreeinternet.net/AmericanHolocaust/exploit.htm Genocide. (2009). In Encarta Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia: http://encarta.msn.com/text_761554053__0/Genocide.html The Holocaust. (2009). In Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 14, 2008. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007403 Lewy, G., Were American Indians victims of genocide? Retrieved from History News Network website: http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html Madley, B. L., (2007). Killing for Land in Early California: Indian Blood at Round Valley, 1856-1863. The Americas, 64(2), 279-280. Retrieved March 20, 2009, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1381939941).