I'm reading a book about Quanah Parker, the Commanche chief who was half white and became a legend. The Commanches are a very unusual tribe, and were the premier warriors on horseback. The account reminds me of the culture clash that occurred between a people believing in property and home, and a people on the move their whole lives, who reveled in combat. They were not unlike the guy in the movie Hurt Locker, who cannot settle and adjust to civilian life. He wants the rush of the dangerous and unexpected. I had not realized, until I read this book, how many Cherokees were in Texas, and especially in the Hill Country. They were pretty assimilated, so the Commanches and Cherokees had nothing much in common, yet when the Texas Rangers killed Indians, they killed indescriminately. Peaceful Indians were slaughtered for raids the Commanches had instigated.
When people are labeled, these tragedies occur. This misunderstanding is occurring right now about the Mosque near Ground Zero in New York. It takes effort and time to see individuals and groups with particular characteristics, instead of wanting to get rid of "Indians" or "Muslims" or some other nebulous group undefined. The Commanches were dangerous and fought to the death for their territory, but a lot of innocent Indians got in the way of blind vengance, and there was no moral right that the Texas Rangers held. They fought as dirty as the Commanches, and killed anyone they could label Indian, including women and children.
Our country has this bloody past and this present danger: simplify the problem and wipe out everyone you label other. If we move in this direction again, we will lose our moral high ground, and be just savages among savages.
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