Into The West

Having just finished watching the series "Into The West", I have a renewed sense of shame and anger at this chapter in our country's history. This 6-part series was aired on cable last summer, and is now out on DVD. It covers about 60 years of history and follows the lives of a white family from Virginia as they move west, juxtaposed to the challenges the Lakota face with this encroachment on their land and culture.

I enjoyed watching this movie because I think it does beautifully capture some of the Lakota culture and language, while not every white man is portrayed as a villan bent on destorying the Native's way of life. However, this movie is also a painful reminder of the brutality played upon the Native Americans as the whites - generally the Army - indiscriminately killed the men, women, and children they viewed as "savages". More than once I found myself crying over the injustice of it all.

This hysteria against the Native Americans, and the resultant violence often brought about by greed, pride, or comunication barriers, was distrubingly encouraged by the reporters of the day. These reporters clearly gave false testimony as to what was really happening on and off the reservations, giving fuel to the fire of people's ignorance.

After watching the last installment of this series last night, I couldn't help but ponder on how the media today influences so much of my thinking about what is happening in the world. I want to believe that I what I read and hear is truthful, put the pessimistic side of me wonders what part of the story is not being told or what is being embelished.

How much does our society value people when many Native Americans continue to live on reservations with shockingly high rates of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and alcohlism. The complex nature of intergenerational poverty reaches into any ethnic or racial group- from the reservations, to the cities, to the Appalachians.

So, this is not really the most cheery post, just some of the thoughts in my brain.