After today’s discussion it even opened my eyes more on how cruel everyone was to the Indians. It is not right how they were treated. To think that they were only fed four hundred to nine hundred calories a day just blows my mind. When thinking about it, it just makes my stomach hurt because I eat more calories then that at breakfast. When thinking about how the Indians would kill the settlers livestock to feed their families and themselves is the thing I would have done too. This would get the Indians in trouble or killed but they also were so in need of food that they had to do it. After the Indians would do this they would be called thieves or savages because they would be stealing from the settlers. This would make the settlers think its okay for all the cruel things they were doing.
It also blows my mind that people would be used to one of their family members being kidnapped. This plays a big metal struggle in the Indians lives. They would get done with long day of work just to find out one of the members of their family got kidnapped. They would also separate the male and females so that the Indians couldn’t reproduce. This should not of happened.
makayla7 June 21, 2018
The cruelty that the Indians faced is something that is hard to process for me as well. The small portions of calories that they were allowed is unbelievable. The average man needs about 2500 calories a day and the average woman needs at least 2000 calories a day in order to function. So the fact that the Natives were given less than a quarter of that and also forced to do field work and work as slaves is heartbreaking. On top of this, sometimes the settlers would use the money given to them in order to buy food for the Indians and use it for personal benefits. They were treated like cattle.
avestoll June 21, 2018
This is so true. The settlers justified the terrible way that they were treating the Indians because they killed their cattle, when in the big picture that was the only option that they had. The Indians were so overworked and starved and pretty much destined to die one way or another. The settlers were more okay and had a clearer conscious though if the Indians died of starvation or were killed because of their “crimes”. It is also horrific that kidnapping became such a common occurrence that it was almost expected. That is something that never should have been and never will be okay.
blengel June 22, 2018
It hurts my stomach too to think of how little they get to eat. I think of days where I have to skip breakfast, so I have a protein bar instead. In less than two hours, I’m extremely hungry again and need to eat. I can’t imagine living like that. I also can’t imagine the lack of energy they must of had with those diets. It’s hard enough not being able to eat, but then they were also forced into labor. I can’t imagine they lasted long while working in the heat. I also think it’s very disappointing that our history was manipulated in order for us to see the natives as savages. In reality, they were some of the most peaceful people on the planet, we just forced them into doing things they had to do for survival. As far as the kidnapping, it is just mind blowing to hear that. I don’t believe a lot of us could even fathom that kind of experience. What a cruel period of time, and what cruel people.