The Only Holocaust?

When hearing the word holocaust the first thing that comes to my mind involves Hitler and the Jewish people.  The film presented in class informed me that there is more than just one holocaust.  One that happened over  a longer period of time and one that no one really concerns themselves with.  The holocaust involving the Indians goes unspoken about and when I was informed of the statistics to this event I was astonished that I was never taught this in former schooling.  The Jewish holocaust had casualties resulting in 6 million, however, the Indian holocaust started with 19 million Native Americans and ended with 260,000.  Almost 19 million people were killed and I was never taught this? The total number of deaths over time has resulted in over 100 million. 

How does such a tragic event go untaught in the school system?  Not even mentioned.  In hopes to change this I found a site that informed me further about this holocaust.. http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/aiholocaust.html

It shows a list of the horrible things that happened to the Indians, along with a video.

The emotions that poured out of me while watching this video made me wanna cry.  I felt so helpless and overwhelmed with the feeling to help change this.  Sorrow, shocked, hurt, astonished... I was completely dumbfounded by the images and thoughts that people could do this to other people for selfish reasons.  These people were completely dehumanized and stripped from their cultures and ideals. 

Kids were taken from their homes and told that everything they knew was wrong and they were taught a whole new set of traditions.  Brainwashed of their identities. 

"Almost every Indian carries scars and wonder when it's all over will I be Indian or will I be white?"

-Quoted by a Native American

"The only good Indian is a dead Indian"
-General Phillip Sheridan, U.S. Army

America is supposed to be a free place where people can come and openly display their cultures.  Yet we eliminate tribal government and lands become apart of America's "melting pot". We relocated, isolated, and alienated the culture of these people.  Around 12,000 Navajo in the last 25 years have been forced to move to land where noone wants, land near the largest radiation spill.  All because some were too selfish and were more interested in the large coal deposits than protecting and preserving their customs.