Okay… So, by now you have probably heard that Ben & Jerry’s, in a “Hold my Bud Light” attempt to see who can alienate the most customers with one Tweet, kicked off July 4th with the statement, “It's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it.” The PR equivalent of blowing your fingers off with an M-80.
Thanks for illustrating that idea that treating all Native American tribes as one is deeply racist. Just because most Native Americans’ skin color was about the same doesn’t mean they all thought and acted the same way and just because we ended up occupying some of the land (even sometimes by force) doesn’t mean the Native Americans were all peace loving environmentalists. Nothing destroys a good narrative better than facts.
Great comment, Rob! Thank you. It is insulting to the earlier inhabitants of any area to imagine them as "noble savages" in the tradition of 18th century French thinkers.
The Navajo and Apache of the Southwest speak an Athabascan-derived language, quite different than the languages of the Hopi and other southwestern indigenous groups. I suspect there was some conquest there, too! Shall we hate the Navajo and Apache and make them give their lands back to someone?
The Apachean languages, of which Navajo is one, are thought to have arrived in the American Southwest from the north by 1500, probably passing through Alberta and Wyoming.[13][14]
Thanks for illustrating that idea that treating all Native American tribes as one is deeply racist. Just because most Native Americans’ skin color was about the same doesn’t mean they all thought and acted the same way and just because we ended up occupying some of the land (even sometimes by force) doesn’t mean the Native Americans were all peace loving environmentalists. Nothing destroys a good narrative better than facts.
Great comment, Rob! Thank you. It is insulting to the earlier inhabitants of any area to imagine them as "noble savages" in the tradition of 18th century French thinkers.
The Navajo and Apache of the Southwest speak an Athabascan-derived language, quite different than the languages of the Hopi and other southwestern indigenous groups. I suspect there was some conquest there, too! Shall we hate the Navajo and Apache and make them give their lands back to someone?
Athabascan languages are mostly from Alaska and the western coast of Canada and the United States. From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_language
The Apachean languages, of which Navajo is one, are thought to have arrived in the American Southwest from the north by 1500, probably passing through Alberta and Wyoming.[13][14]