I'm pretty taken aback by this video, to be honest. Could definitely say I'm sickened.

The video presents these attitudes in a way that, I guess, checks out in our current society. Apparently kids watch this stuff. It tiptoes around giving any agency to the Native Americans it speaks of, and more than borders on portraying them as lawless, even directly calling them "uncooperative natives". At best, they are depicted as noble through the inclusion of various images created by white immigrants. There is extreme generalization. Apparently the Lakota Sioux's experience "perfectly exemplifies the struggles of this time period." They even go as far as to say "in many instances, people on both sides were in the wrong." WTF??

To me, this video represents the brainwashing that immigrants to America have received since immigrants began coming to America. I don't even know where to start. Its a barrage of whitewashed and dumbed down half-tellings that more or less amount to propaganda. It's about as white-centric as you can get, portraying the struggle as inevitable, and white settlers as amazed that "generations of Native Americans". It in no seeks to portray the ghastly realities of the crimes that were committed against indigenous people before and after the creation of the United States.

The westward expansion of the United States was fueled by a complete disregard of the humanity of indigenous people and also by a deep hatred of them; the exterminations exacted by the United States government and its citizens, officially and unofficially, were disgusting and often systematic.

I think that most American citizens don't realize the true nature of this culture clash and the resulting genocides. People will naturally look the other way because it is difficult to know how to deal with, or they feel like events in the past are no longer important. "Oh, we call them Native Americans now instead of Indians, everything is alright." I argue that it is critically important to understand not just the heinous crimes that were committed but the attitudes that propagated such heinous crimes and have, until this day, allowed white Americans to deal with the guilt (or, more accurately, not deal with it.)

It is impossible to even comprehend the anguish experienced by tribes and nations across the North American continent after the arrival of overseas immigrants. Beyond the millions of brutal killings and rapings, entire cultures were forcibly stripped away from people who had participated in them for tens of thousands of years. The stigma imposed upon these people and the resulting actions of the immigrant population eradicated cultures without trace. They have been lost forever. How can Americans--especially those who are direct descendants of the cultures that carried out the centuries of extermination--admit, acknowledge, or understand the severity present? What will it require?