I don't believe that this issue is as "black and white" (pardon the pun) as some people make it out to be. The vast majority of those I know who despise and criticize the South for its racist past also glorify and praise the United States, despite its nasty racist history against Native Americans. The truth is that the United States was founded on multiple tribal lands, either forcibly taken by the U.S. government (WASP men) through violating legal treaties with the tribes or by forceful removal and/or violently killing the tribes. Many of these tribes were forcefully removed and displaced onto Reservations, which were also referred to as prisoner of war camps (for example, the Pine Ridge Reservation is also known as Prisoner of War Camp #334). The tragic Trail of Tears, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee also come to mind. And that's not to mention the fact that Native Americans were denied citizenship until the American Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and denied religious freedom until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. For the record, before this federal law, the religious and ceremonial dances of the tribes were illegal and punishable by imprisonment (
read here). It's heartbreaking to even mention the "
Kill the Indian, Save the Man" desecration of Native American culture and abuse that took place within the walls of the American Indian boarding schools.
In my personal opinion, if the people who want to criticize the Confederate South for its racism, social injustice, and enslavement of African-Americans, then it is only fair that they also criticize the United States for its racism, social injustice, and forceful displacement of the Native American tribes. I've noticed that this is hardly the case, though, and excuses are often made to justify what happened to these tribes during the history of this country that proudly professes to be the land of the free and home of the brave. Like I said, racism against minorities and social injustice didn't just exist in the South.