Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Has anyone read the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee? I have been reading this book and it makes me sick to my stomach. For those of you haven’t read it, the book is about how Native American lands were stolen away from the Native Americans in the mid to late 1800’s. It is written from the perspective of the Native Americans. The book tells about the lies told to Native Americans, the treaties they were forced to sign, how the treaties were broken, and how the Native Americans were treated by the US Army (massacres, forced marches, killing of horses and livestock). What really gets me about how the US Army, farmers, miners, railroads, traders, etc treated the Native Americans was: each of these groups did their genocidal best to exterminate the Native Americans but then what did the white people do? We named our states for Native American groups or with Native American words. For example: Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Utah, Indiana, and Alaska. All of these states are Native American words or names. We named our cities after Native American groups, Native American leaders, or with Native American words. For example: Cheyenne, Omaha, Chicago, Detroit, Sioux Falls, Indianapolis, Tallahassee, Chattanooga, Mankato, Oglala, Manhattan, to name a few cities. I am sure there are many other examples of cities, most likely where Native Americans haven’t lived for a hundred or more years. We name our counties after Native American groups or names. For example in Iowa: Chickasaw, Kossuth, Winnesheik, Allamakee, Black Hawk, Pottawattamie to name but a few. We name our sports teams after Native American groups. The Fighting Sioux, the Fighting Illini, the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Redskins, the New Hampton Chickasaws, the Chicago Blacj Hawks, etc. Apparently the Native Americans were not good enough to live near the white farmers, miners, and traders, but their words and names were good enough to use as state, county, city, and sport names. What a bunch of hypocrites we were and still are. What the US did 150 years ago to the Native American peoples is no different then what is happening in Darfur, Sudan. Or from what happened in Rwanda and Bosnia. If the United Nations had been around 150 years ago, the US would have been accused of genocide, and that is just what was happening. The government was giving its tacit approval and many times overt approval for the destruction and forced removal of Native American groups. Every American whose ancestors came to the US before 1890 has Native American blood on their hands.