Independence day of the USA. But this country belongs to others.
Today on 4th july is the independence day of the USA as the USA declared to be a own state with an own government, own rules and the freedom to do anything they want and cut the bindings from the european countries which used the USA as a big colony.
But do the americans have the right to celebrate this day? They think it is their country and their ancestors fought for the freedom to do whatever they want. But there were already people living there long before. The indians. The real natives of America. To them I devote this notebook entry.
They never were allowed to have their own independence day. The american people who think their ancestors freed themself from european dictatorships are not a bit better then their old european leaders because at the same time as they fought for their "freedom" they killed and enslaved thousands of indians which lived there already for thousands of years before. No one ever asked the indians if they allow the europeans to conquer their land. No they just went into and declared that this would be their country.
Till today the indians live in reservates much smaller than their original areas where they lived in. All their old traditions have been more and more destroyed by the western capitalist society. Where once Bisons had been hunted are now Mc Donalds burger shops and capitalistic skyscrapers. And this is what the americans call freedom?
Even the true metal band ManOwaR wrote a song about this topic on their album "The Triumph Of Steel" which came out in 1992. The name of the song is "Spirit Horse Of The Cherokee".
Here are the first parts of the lyrics:
"The trail of tears began for the Cherokee
The white man came to trade and borrow
But then they would not leave
Some of us were taken by boat and died at see
Those of us who lived where sold to slavery
We welcome them as brothers knowing nothing of their greed
Born hunters not the hunted as the white man hunts for me
We are descendants of the animals we live among them free
Our trail of tears would end one day at Wounded Knee"
Thats why I hate it that the americans are proud of their country and call this "patriotism" while germans which are proud of Germany are mostly very fast called "national socialists" altough they are not. I mean its not like that I would be proud of Germany but how the americans can be proud about their flag and national anthem when it is all just build on the killings and enslaving of the real native americans this country belongs to?
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Corrections · 27
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Although this is not really a correction, I am posting it in the correction box because the comment box appears too limted in size.
The original posting by chinafan is about five months old, but I just discovered it today, in December, 2012, and would like to comment.
In the history of the United States, it is undeniable that the so-called Native Americans were not treated with justice. (I say "so-called Native Americans" because those peoples were not truly natives of America. They most probably came to the Americas from Asia. Probably a more accurate appellation would be "First Americans.")
However, it should be known that similar conquest and colonization have taken place throughout history and throughout the word. There are few places in the world today, including chinafan’s native Germany, which haven’t been populated, at least in part, by invaders. For example, vast Siberia was conquered and colonized by Russians from west of the Urals. Parts of China, as well as Tibet, have been colonized by ethnic Han Chinese. Almost all countries which we call "Arab" countries were invaded, conquered and colonized by Arabs proceeding from the Arabian Peninsula. Black Africans of Central-African Bantu descent invaded and conquered southern Africa from the lighter-skin Bushmen. These are just a few examples of historical conquests. There are many, many more.
"Native Americans" acted similarly for thousand of years before the arrival of Europeans in the New World. This is because Native Americans were not one homogenous people. Rather, they were divided into literally thousands of different tribes, with different customs, religions, and languages. They frequently invaded each other’s territories, conquered and reconquered each other, and took members of conquered tribes as slaves. Indeed, in numerous instances, when the Europeans arrived in America, the Indian tribe they found in a particular place had previously conquered that place from its prior inhabitants.
In short, history is replete with examples of one people conquering another. To shine the light on the United States, while ignoring similar events in the rest of the world, demonstrates prejudice against America, not a principled opposition to imperialism. I can only wonder if chinafan will write another essay calling upon the Russians to leave Siberia; all Arabs to return to the Arabian Peninsula; black Africans to return to Central Africa; and yes, the Chinese to leave large parts of present-day China, as well as Tibet.
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Wow I see so many useful information again. :) Well you know what Bill Cosby was always very boring to me. The best sitcom from America was always Married with Children. It is always shown in german TV until today. Well I couldn't feel the same about Berlin. I would be happy if I could move out of here. We also have very different parts of the city. Guess it is because we were devided for quite 40 years. But I couldn't be that sentimental. :)
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Yes, Philly is a short form of Philadelphia. (City of brotherly love, in Greek). I think it was the capital of the USA for some time before they built Washington D.C.. There was some kind of debate about this or something. I remember, after living near NYC for some time in college, returning to Philly was kind of almost sentimental for me, because of all the memories associated with the place. None for Camden though, meh!!! Sometimes when I drive down I-95 I look out over north Philly and it seems like the avenues with row houses and some industrial buildings go on for miles and miles. Like many American cities, there are parts that are 'ghetto' or 'inner city' with poverty, crime, the drug trade, etc. Much manufacturing has moved overseas but there is still some economic activity I think. There is a large Afro-American population, the present mayor (mayor Nutter) is representative of this. Will Smith maybe grew up in Philly, also the comedian Billy Cosby, even though in his sitcom his family lived in middle class Brooklyn.
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@Steve: Nun wenn du es sagst, wird es wohl stimmen. :) @Alex: I thought the independence hall is in Washington? Is Philly a short form of Philadelphia or the real name of a different city? Well you must know it I surely do not know much about the history of the USA although in the 8th grade we had the colonization as a topic. It was very interesting and I received very good marks. :) But thanks for your information it is helpful! :)
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In Philly, near where I live, there is Independence Hall, where the declaration of independence was signed, and where the constitution was ratified by all the delegates from the thirteen colonies. It was originally the Pennsylvania statehouse I think, even though the state capital is now Harrisburg. You're probably familiar with Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Thomas Paine, etc. There are some things in my hometown from that time period, for example the county courthouse, and also I guess all up and down the east coast. As you go further west though, there are less things dating from this time period, for obvious reasons. Maybe I'm telling you stuff you know already again...lol
Usually the fourth of July celebrations are done by the municipal governments. Sometimes though, for whatever reason, they're on the 2nd, or 3rd, or maybe the 5th. I think one year even Mount Holly couldn't afford the do the fireworks display. I don't remember all of this exactly. If you go to DC you can see the constitution under bulletproof glass, it's really under lock and key. For some reason the Magna Carta is also there, right Steve??? I don't know how that ended up in America. Ich soll diese auf Deutsch schreiben, aber jetzt ich bin muede gegen. Vielleicht ich habe diesem Satz bevor geschreibt.
My history teacher said if these people had been captured by the British, most of them would have been executed. Maybe that's true. Also near where I live is Washington's Crossing. If you read the account of what happened, it was good military strategy but also a kick below the belt. They basically attacked the Hessian soldiers in their sleep, while some of them were drunk on freaking Christmas Eve I think.
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