Why do white people think this is THEIR country?

Question

I AM WHITE! I am ashamed of what my ancestors did to the Native Americans who lived here thousands of years before we came here only a few hundred years ago - mostly as ILLEGAL immingrants I would like to add! Do you think the Pilgrims whom we CELEBRATE at Thanksgiving had Visa's? Why do I continually hear white people say this is OUR COUNTRY? We hearded up the Native Americans like cattle and forced them to walk the Trail of Tears (anybody remember that?) where most of them DIED or wished they had as they were confined to reservations (is that so different from a concentration camp?) where THEY STILL LIVE TODAY?

WHY DO WHITE PEOPLE THINK THIS IS THEIR COUNTRY?!?!

Why do you feel that you now have the right to exclude anyone who comes with the same dream your ancestors did - to make a better life for their family?

To Billy M - land had value to the Native Americans because it was all they had, they lived on it, worked it and respected it. We are destroying it with our "progress".

Seems to me from most of the answers that the real answer to the dilemma wold be to make it EASIER for the immigrants to come here LEGALLLY and legalize the ones that are here so they can pay taxes which, by the way, some already do - I know firsthand.

Dear Mike J - never lived in a trailer in my life. In fact, my house is just about the nicest Victorian in town - bought & paid for by my former "illegal" husband.

Answer 1

are you from the united states? if so don't you care about the united states and your children's future? don't you care where your tax dollar goes..I'm white and this is my country, it also belongs to the blacks, the Indians, the Chinese, and so one it belongs to anyone whom is LEGAL...we have laws for a reason and the illegals don't want to obey them..my ancestors was the ones that was treated like crap by the white people..and most native Americans don't want the illegals here either..ask that question and i think you would be shocked by the response you will get..

I welcome any immigrant here as long as they do it the right way and become legal..i don't want no illegals here..do you realize the diseases they are bringing here? Everyone deserves a chance at a better life as long as they follow the laws of the land .

Answer 2

They are not teaching you young ones anything in school.. it's so sad you get on here and spew nonsense that you don't even know what you are talking about. I'm part Native American and part White and I got to tell you... this whole subject is getting old... why all of a sudden are we beating this dead horse... shall I go back and tell my ancestors to change history and slap their hands for what they did? Give me a break... The Peace Policy isn't something we would do today, but it wasn't today and Native American's have a lot of laws that protect them and help them thrive - laws that don't apply to me and you - so while you are paying your property taxes on your Victorian home that your former illegal immigrant husband bought for you.... know that any Native American does not have to pay property taxes on their reservation...Next time you go to a casino on a reservation, know that is pure profit for a Native American...
Second... there were no illegal immigrants back then because there was no country-no country no immigrants... look up the definition....
Live with it or move.. every country has something bad in it's past and all we can do is learn from our mistakes and move on.....

It's good to learn about history so we do not repeat our mistakes, it's not good to dwell on them otherwise we never move on

Answer 3

Your teachers have really brain washed you with guilt. I am sorry you are ashamed to be white.
My Native American ancestors actually walked the trail of tears and brought their black slaves, that they had bought and paid for,with them. During the Civil war My ancestors tribe under General Waite, a Cherokee, fought with the Confederacy and were Proudly the last army to surrender to the North. That reservation you speak of no longer exists, it is called now the state of Oklahoma. All the native Americans were made citizens there and the tribal leaderships broken up because they took sides in the Civil war. As a result they prospered. The Cherokee count their numbers higher than at anytime in their history.
My Cree ancestors were murdered by the Lakota for no other reason than they were on land controlled by them. Two of their 4 children survived. The 2 teenagers, 15 and 13, that survived, walked to the safety of Russian held territory, today Washington State.
This is all ancient history and nothing to be ashamed of. In fact you should be proud that your ancestors persevered. It is the history of the growing pains of a nation uniting into the greatest nation in the world. A Nation that would later bring the end of 2 World wars and freedom to, since 1945, 1 billion people around the world.
It is our country. "E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One")

Answer 4

Maybe if you would quit railing against the white people some people might take you seriously. I am white and this is my country. It is also someones who is black , brown, yellow or what ever. It belongs to all Americans. I dont feel I have the right to e.xclude anyone as long as they do it the legal way! And for the record I am not ashamed of my ancestors. You cannot change history. Comparing todays reservations to concentration camps is wrong. Nobody makes the Native Americans stay on a reservation. They can go where they want like any American.

Answer 5

Because it is. Mexico surely isn't our country!....No, our country is The United States of America. We are Americans - not Mexicans. And you are sadly mistaken if you really believe the illegals are just trying to make a better life for their families. There's a lot more to it than that. All I can say is if the illegal immigrants don't like the way they're treated here in the US, they need to go back to their home country and stay there. They have no rights in this country - because they are, simply, illegal.

Answer 6

It might be helpful for you to ask a single question but I'll certainly do what I can to help inform each of your requests.
The Pilgrims whom we honor on Thanksgiving did have a visa, or rather since there was no US Government they had a writ of colonization from the sovern of this land, King George. The people we honor who are criminals would be the founding fathers who rebelled against their Government.
Native Americans had to walk a long way. Most people who are conquerred and loose their right to govern themselves end up walking a lot. The difference between a Reservation and a Concentration camp is that on a Reservation you can indulge in unfair competation agianst other businesses in your state without paying taxes on your income and you have the right to legally discriminate how your tribe will spend it's money. In a concentration camp they preform inhuman experiements on you and you get gassed to death.. so I guess.. pretty much nothing to do with one another.
White people think this is their country because despite the guilt tripping of the world at large we were born here and we are citizens. We have a right to participate in the government and to fight for what we believe in.
We Americans feel that we can exlcude those who come to our Country because they didn't come here like our ancestors. Our ancestors faught for our independence from the greatest imperialist power in the world, we stood our ground through a civil war and we stuggled through two world wars, a great depressions and the cold war. We made this the land of opportunity that so many want to enjoy. We welcome as many as we can into our Country, those who try to steal America do not recieve our love.

Answer 7

As a non-white person I will answer your question.

You should not be ashamed for your ancestors. You cannot judge the past on the culture and ethics of today. In those days the native Americans were a primitive people who hunted and killed each other with stone tools. In Mexico the Aztecs would capture their enemies by the thousands and cut their hearts out alive, so that their blood would trickle down the steps. In America each tribe regarded each other with suspicion and would measure a man's worth by his courage in the face of battle. Those were rough days.

If the white Europeans never came to America then the natives would still be in the stone age, still fighting each other, still struggling to survive in a wilderness. The Europeans saw America as a wilderness that could be developed, and made more useful to them. They did not see the value of the land in its natural state. Instead they used the European methods of conquering, governing and developing and it worked.

Today we can see the shortsightedness of some of their values but we also need to understand the value of their vision as well. We must accept the bad with the good and seek to improve upon the work of our ancestors.

No one is excluded. However, if we are to remain a country with laws then we must enforce the laws we have or change them. You must ask yourself, can this country continue if there is no law determining who are its citizens?

Answer 8

I am white. I am not ashamed of my ancestors. My family was still living in Sweden and surrounding countries. What makes me made is that everyone seems to attack America and they do not look at their own violent history of their people in their country. I do not hold onto the guilt that others attempt to hold me back with. Slaves, I personally didn't own any. Had I had the opportunity, I would most likely pass. If I had owned them, I would have been very fair with them.
I did not chase the American Indians off their land. I did not have to live at that time so I do not know what exactly was going on. I am not saying it was right, much of what happened was wrong, but I am not going to say sorry for something I personally had nothing to do with.

I am sick of hearing people turn on their own race and be haters and let others feel less worthy of something because of what some other relative did. I did not control them!

Get off your pity pot and do something constructive and help the American Indians if you can. Complaining and whining is simply lip service! Be useful!

Answer 9

This argument is so damn old. For one we had no control over what our ancestors did. Two in the pilgrims day they didn't even know what immigration was lol. So how does any of that have any justification to the illegal immigrants of today? Get a grip. Its not just the white mans land it belongs to all legal Americans. Why you got to bring the whites in it.

Answer 10

It is my country because I am an American, not because my skin color is white. It is my country because my family fought and died for this country. It is my country because this is where my allegience lies. This is my country because I am concerned about the best interest of every citizen in this country, not just a "special" group of them. This is my country because I beleive in the principles our founding fathers had. This is my country because there is no-where else I'd rather be.

I do not exclude anyone who wants to come to America as long as they do it legally. Being a citizen of this country is more than just wanting more money and a better financial life.