Hello, and welcome to my web site.
I am here to share with you my current topic of active involvement. It has been my most recent project, since before I left for vacation, (June 2003), or even graduation from high school, (May 2003).
Soon after the publication of some of my other web-projects (Christmas 2002), I began to focus on cultures and civilizations of the world, quickly turning most of my attention towards Native American Tribes. It only seemed logical for me to look closer to home with such efforts. However, what I found, and how this subject has affected my life, I never quite expected. I began buying books, which oddly enough, told a totally different story about the indigenous people of North America than those taught in any of my history classes at school. I vaguely remember hearing some talk about abuse and unfair treatment of the "Indians", but I was never taught the true facts to any real depth, and I had never realized the true horrors that actually took place.
I began a website several months ago with my new interests, but continued to read and learn more long after my first attempts at addressing the issue. Since then, I have somehow fallen into a whole new frame of mind concerning Native Americans and their plight. It is more than just a subject of history for me now, and I have come to feel very strongly about the holocaust of the Natives who lived and thrived on the North American continent for thousands of years prior to European invasions.
This doesn't seem to be an isolated story, as the same conditions have happened time and time again all around the world, from the aboriginal peoples of Australia, or the oppression of blacks in South Africa, or the English control of India during Gandhi's days. Even most of the original Natives of Central and South America have been exploited, enslaved or exterminated as well. But closer to home for me, here on American soil, the 500 year battle is still raging on. For me, it has become one of those things that, after really digging into the facts and details of the subject, I just couldn't turn my back and walk away from with good conscience. The facts are what opened my eyes, and once opened, I simply couldn't accept what it was that I saw. What I personally learned is that having a clear and truthful understanding of Native Americans, and what they have been through, puts a whole new slant on the way I look at, and feel about, my country, as well as my basic American heritage.
Without further explanation, I offer now my latest version of "Great Nations", which is, so far, a two page, essay style, webpage project from me about the Native American Holocaust:
Great Nations
It is impotant to mention that these web-pages were not created for Native people, but rather for Non-Natives to learn some facts to the lies and misrepresentations that have traditionally been passed down through the general education system in America. My hopes are that non-native people will come away from my website just a little bit wiser, and a little more understanding of what it would have been like to have lived as a Native American during the last 500 years. I know this isn't everyone's cause, and I know not everyone will feel as passionate as I do about the subject, but it does have to do with freedoms, justice, and human rights. I think anyone who has any compassion at all can connect to those values. Just keep an open mind, and see what you come away with.
Thank you,
Garith
Great Nations
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