What Caplis thinks about mascots of Native Americans

[wdmll]

Today and yesterday on the CAPLIS AND SILVERMAN Denver radio show (KHOW), Caplis again showed his distain for Native Americans. The subject was about icons and mascots of Native Americans. If I understood, Caplis said (in contemptuous chuckles) the lawmakers had better things to do than regulate Native American icons and mascots used by non-Native Americans.

No other minority is subjected to the blatant abuse Native Americans are subjected to.

I’m not a fan of Ward Churchill nor am I a bleeding heart liberal. But I do study history and I have been on a replica of one of Christopher Columbus’s ships in the Mediterranean (while I was in the Navy). What stood out in my mind was how small the craft was and how small in stature people must have been in the fifteenth century. I have also spent time in the Caribbean on the sister Islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Island of Nevis was sighted by Columbus on his second voyage (1493) to the New World. I walked on the beach of the eastern side of the Island, wondering if the natives had seen the sails of Spanish ships. If they saw the sails, did they understand their way of life was about to end? On Saint Kitts, I walked through the ruins of early seventeenth century sugar cane plantations and later viewed a seventeenth tapestry of a plantation showing slaves working on the plantation. The slaves were not African slaves, they were Native American slaves. The African slaves came later, after all the Native Americans died off or were killed. Yes the greatest loss of life of any group of people the world has experienced, starting in the Caribbean (in the late fifteenth century) then spread to South America, Central American and Mexico and ended up in the West, Southwest and the Western coast of the USA, in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Over a period of about four hundred years, tens of millions of people perished to disease, starvation, slavery and the cutting edge of a sword or a bullet. In Mesoamerica (from Central America to Mexico City), there were approximately 25 million indigenous people. The Inca Empire in South America had a population of about 12 million people. The Caribbean Islands had populations up to a million native people.

I wonder if Caplis (who is a lawyer) understands the ramification of what happened to Native Americans or if he cares. After all, it was only about fifty years (or less) after the Wounded Knee massacre (1890) that Germans were killing Jews. At Wounded Knee (South Dakota), US troops took vengeance for Custer against the Lakota Sioux, killing about 300 men, women and children. In North America, starting early in the seventeenth century, the English (later followed by Americans) began attacking Indian villages killing men, women and children. Bloodletting was perpetrated by both the white man and by the Native Americans. But the Americas were invaded by the outside world and the Native Americans were vanquished, never to be masters of their dominions again.


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[Bubba]

Great post. I always respect a person that has empathy for other people in the human race. The Native Americans were bound to lose their land and their lives to superior forces. There were just too many riches in the Americas for it to be otherwise. The Native Americans were incredibly brave. Going up against the firepower of the conquering forces with arrows and spears.

Dan Caplis only has empathy for unborn fetuses. People that are alive and need help are the butt of his jokes. He has no use for them unless they have a connection to someone he can sue.

[Anthony703]

Originally Posted by wdmll

Today and yesterday on the CAPLIS AND SILVERMAN Denver radio show (KHOW), Caplis again showed his distain for Native Americans. The subject was about icons and mascots of Native Americans. If I understood, Caplis said (in contemptuous chuckles) the lawmakers had better things to do than regulate Native American icons and mascots used by non-Native Americans.

No other minority is subjected to the blatant abuse Native Americans are subjected to.

I’m not a fan of Ward Churchill nor am I a bleeding heart liberal. But I do study history and I have been on a replica of one of Christopher Columbus’s ships in the Mediterranean (while I was in the Navy). What stood out in my mind was how small the craft was and how small in stature people must have been in the fifteenth century. I have also spent time in the Caribbean on the sister Islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Island of Nevis was sighted by Columbus on his second voyage (1493) to the New World. I walked on the beach of the eastern side of the Island, wondering if the natives had seen the sails of Spanish ships. If they saw the sails, did they understand their way of life was about to end? On Saint Kitts, I walked through the ruins of early seventeenth century sugar cane plantations and later viewed a seventeenth tapestry of a plantation showing slaves working the on the plantation. The slaves were not African slaves, they were Native American slaves. The African slaves came later, after all the Native Americans died off or were killed. Yes the greatest loss of life of any group of people the world has experienced, starting in the Caribbean (in the late fifteenth century) then spread to South America, Central American and Mexico and ended up in the West, Southwest and the Western coast of the USA, in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Over a period of about four hundred years, tens of millions of people perished to disease, starvation, slavery and the cutting edge of a sword or a bullet.

I wonder if Caplis (who is a lawyer) understands the ramification of what happened to Native Americans or if he cares. After all, it was only about fifty years (or less) after Wounded Knee massacre (1890) that Germans were killing Jews. At Wounded Knee, US troops took vengeance for Custer against the Lakota Sioux, killing about 300 men, women and children. In North America, starting early in the seventeenth century, the English (later followed by Americans) began attacking Indian villages killing men, women and children. Bloodletting was perpetrated by both the white man and by the Native Americans. But the Americas were invaded by the outside world and the Native Americans were vanquished, never to be masters of their dominions again.

http://neighbors.denverpost.com/view...57637#p1257637

Ok--Then what??

You have now regurgitated the politically correct history of columbus and the mean ol europeans. To what end?

Missing in your analysis--what results when history is hyper emotionalized and it's context removed. The first question that comes to mind--why are native americans given special dispensation from normal human foibles and transgressions while the european is not? Were you to really dig into your history, actually everyone's history, those native americans in all areas of the new world don't really come off looking quite so noble as that old myth tries to let on. Also knowing the real population numbers might help in knowing the actual what, where and why. My research--native americans on the north american continent numbered somewhere around 5 - 6 million, so the prospect of tens of millions of them dying off is a bit of a stretch. Now the meso americans is a bit different--when the spanish showed up on the scene in the 1500's, there was around 25 million there. What happened in the subsequent 20 years of that date--all but 5 million were killed or died. Ok--the bloody hand of the european is in evidence. Now then--those meso americans on closer examination--equally as bloody a lot as any european. Recent research of archeologists of their temples have confirmed that human sacrifice was at the least--a booming industry. The implication--not just tens of thousands but hundreds of thousands were offered up to the gods. Eye witness reports described 24/7 sacrifices using shifts of priests to keep the assembly line on time--40,000 at a pop. So prolific--human blood proteins were still present on the temple floors--five hundred years after the fact.
I just find it a bit irritating when political correctness seeks to skew the realities of history in one direction or another. It's interesting enough without tyring to make it about good guys and bad guys.

[rmr76]

The Washington Redskins I think are a little over the top. I do not think that team should be forced to change there name but I think they should out of respect. It is a racial negatively charged name. Can't they come up with a better name than redskins maybe something that would honor native Americans or a tribe like college teams do. Cleveland Indians on the other hand I think is okay, while serving in the military I knew several native Americans who wore Cleveland Indian memorabilia and they thought it was cool. I not native American but I do have some native American blood well some but more that whitey war chruchhill.