Some have never had the Dream or the Freedom

The past couple issues of the Village News I’ve read opinions from the Iraq war to the plight of America. As a Native American I think it is very ironic that people talk about the “American Dream” while complaining about the nation losing the delusion and speaking of principles that made and will keep this country free.

These people must not know that some have never had the “dream” or the “freedom.” Native Americans have been living on these lands long before America was founded. There are Americans on reservations who have been pushed far out of sight from mainstream society since the nation’s beginning. These Americans live in extreme poverty far below the national average that if you were to visit their homelands you would think you were in a third world country.

Many people seem to lack the whole historical perspective and don’t see the underlying truth of what their nation and dream were built and founded on. I won’t tell you the truth either because if I were to, it would be seen in the eyes of most born and raised Americans as un-American.

Perhaps I’ve said too much already and this is a ghost letter that I sent to a biased newspaper. After all, I can already see that Fallbrook feels no wrong in stereotyping my Native people by supporting a derogatory school name and mascot.

The nation needs to open its eyes, look at history and see the undeniable truth. It needs to understand it has been ill for a long time. This has been evident with every people of race it’s had contact with. This sickness has never healed because it has never been dealt with honestly. And if this sickness is never realized and the truth never admitted it will be doomed for its own destruction.

Anson Black Calf