Richard,
I think it's absolutely silly to pay American Indians for the land and resources that they never owned
You are right. They NEVER owned the land in the way that YOU and I think of owning land. As a matter of fact, it went against their principles to 'own' land.
Their 'owning' land had more to do with having the FREE USE of the land. When that FREE USE became jeopardized, they then had to adapt to the 'white man's' meaning of 'owning' land.
I have a hard time seeing which parts, exactly, of my argument, are stricly made on an emotional level. I DID acknowledge that the issue is a difficult one, for both sides of the fence. That's it.
The only reason, Richard, I even mention the Native American issue is because of the commonality of the struggle BOTH have had in even being recognized as humans, not as dogs. And that they should have the same rights under our constitution as any other American.
(hey, did you know they don't even want to be called 'Native Americans' because to their ancestors, they were here before this place was even NAMED America. But hey, who am I to say they're being overly idealistic?)
--->>>Julie, I TOTALLY agree with you. A sacrifice is a sacrifice no matter who made it, and I didn't intend to diminish the sacrifices made for civil rights by white Americans, just pointing out that the onus of the struggle rests on those whom it will benefit the most.