native american indians

The history of native American indians is fascinating for many reasons-the the evolution of thought and understanding about the History of  native Americans and the white European civilizationation is actually inspiring for how it shows the progress -the awareness-of how and in what ways the natice american civization was systematically destroyed-We all know about the broken promises- the treaties that were ignored- the land they were deprived of-the countless ways in which they were exploited and abused-but we also know that there were atrocities committed on both sides-and that the wars that began in the 17th century lasted to the end of the 19th and notably continued in to the early 20th century-Wounded Knee tells a story all who studgy this history that almost nothing else can-But the ways in which the kind hearted,progressive,and enlightened white people deided to help the native americans is the most interesting story of all-that they tried to help at all is something to consider-given the fact that so few did for so long-but the way so many of them chose to help- by forcing the native americans to speak,dress,and behave like White people-is probably the most damaging thing over time-that native americans were also expected to adopt the white civilizations beliefs and values goes along with what i am saying-and it is now clear that the indian civilization was superior in many ways and especially with regard to their beliefs and customs-regarding the stewardship of the earth-the lack of an emphasis on material values-and their abiding devotion to family life and their more evolved notions of how to raise children-nontheless-there was really no other choice but to assimilate them in to white civilization at the time-it had to be done given the circumstances-but how it was done-that could have changed had there been greater understanding at that time-it is also important to note that the reformers-the people who started schools- who intervened with the governemnt on the Indians behalf-the people who did learn their languages and showed respect for their culture-dserve high praise for doing so-and in many ways were way ahead of their time-Sitting Bull once said that with the white man MATERIALISM IS A DISEASE-he was right in many ways and it would be interesting to see what he thinks of the unregulated and wreckless greed that has led to our current economic woes-there is still much to learn about this history-and to learn from Native American culture-and lets not forget that when History is re-examined for injustice-discrimination-inequality-the native Americans always seem to come last-I hope our current administration will consider the plight of the remaining native americans on the reservations and make a priority of addressing their needs.

the real all-americans

The THE REAL ALL-AMERICANS by SALLY JENKINS is definitely a possibility for a screenplay if  anyone  is interested- the story is both dramatic- heart rending and highly fascinating and educational-anyone out there looking for a good historical subject to write a screen play on should investigate- this is the kind of film that ED ZWICK often does- like GLORY-LAST SAMURAI and most recently DEFIANCE.

the real all americans

sally jenkins new book the real all americans is the best recent historical work on native american indians- it highlights the carlisle indian football team in 1912 that beat the best teams in the country at the time- including harvard and west point- sally jenkins is well known as the co-author of lance armstrong's famous book IT IS NOT ABOUT THE BIKE.

millionaire's seminar

it was actually a bilionnaire- he rented a group of 200 Cida students in johannesburg south africa to tell them how to get rich and live a happy life- he filmed it of course for one of his videos that would be offered for sale to the public-the students were promised three daysoff rom school-a free lunch each day-and a party on the last day of taping- expensive plasma tvs weree installed around the room-and the camera men were sure to tape the response of the audience to the billionaire's exortations- he would repeat some obvious point like it is importamt to write their goals down then he would almost shout thte question DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?- IF THE STUDNETS DID NOT RESPOND LOUD ENOUGH HE WOULD REPEAT THE QUESTION UNTIL THEY DID-what he was actually doing was sorting himself a free audience of impoverished balck students- to prove his humanitarian ideals-but there were many downsides- one was that the students missed valuable class time to prepare for a test they had later that week- another was that the billionairre had no intention of returning to the campus in the future to follow up on the project- perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this project was the fact that the students were led to believe that he could teach them all they needed to know to get rich in three days- education takes repetition and consistency- you cannot learn anything effectively in just three days-so they were exploited in so many word and the officials of the university who allowed it were more responsible for this than anyone else- they no doubt received a big check for providing the students-but the students had no say in how the money was spent- it was painful to see the looks on the student's faces when they realized they had been exploited- but it was a useful lesson.