Originally Posted by MaskTVMaura

Everybody is bitching about the Natives, but you know what? WHITE PEOPLE DID THIS TO THEM! In Canada, we rounded up all the Native kids, took them away from their families to be raised (by raised, I mean being beaten, demoralized, sexually assaulted, and abused in pretty much every conceivable way) by cranky Catholics at far away residential homes for a couple of generations. This action resulted in the Natives losing all sense of self, community, and purpose.

Sure, we eventually closed down the schools and put the Natives on reservations to rebuild their communities, but you know what? All that damage that the Catholic residences did is what NOW gets passed down from generation to generation. Our modern Natives don't have the connections to their heritage that bring them peace of mind and purpose anymore -- and WE DID THAT TO THEM.

I am very saddened by this, and while I acknowledge that it is the responsibility of each Native to find their own purpose in life and create their own successes (just like the rest of us), we certainly had a huge hand in handicapping them in the first place!