Stolen Land

First, I want to thank DeJante` for giving me space for this blog. She's been sharing her amazing new novel series LoverBottoms and I'm sure you will want to read it all, but this week she has allowed me to take her place. Thank you, DeJante`.

I want to speak about an American idiot, Jesse Watters. He's a conservative who likes to believe he knows about things that of which he has not the slightest inkling, and one of them appears to be the concept of theft.

Mr. Watters, powerful intellect that he is, says that "...this country wasn't stolen from Native Americans. We won this country on the battlefield."

Now, this leaves me wondering, in a country that is supposed to be "One Nation" just who we is. It also makes me wonder, given Mr. Watters broad parameters, how we could ever again arrest someone for stealing. Let's take a look;

Watters believes history is about the clash of civilizations (a concept he stole from Samuel Huntington, by the way. More on that in a moment) and since these clashes are inevitable we shouldn't view the result of these 'clashes' as theft, or any other type of crime, but merely the inevitable result of the way people treat each other. Or, in fewer words, might makes right.

Now, if Mr. Watters woke up one night and there were two people with guns robbing his house, and one killed someone in Mr. Watters household, Mr. Watters would likely say this was a crime. That the two people were thieves, and murderers, and should be justifiably punished. But, what if the two people simply claimed they were of a different culture and civilization than Mr. Watters, and that this conflict within his own house was simply "A clash of civilizations"?

Interesting, yeah? Are they robbers, or entrepreneurs? If you wear a thousand-dollar suit and steal from people, that's acceptable? But if you wear jeans and a hoody and you shoplift, you're an unacceptable criminal? Would Mr. Watters just say, "Well, you know, I wasn't able to defend myself, so I guess they get to keep my stuff and treat my family any way they want to." Or would he scream bloody murder and demand that other people step in and protect him because he is a victim?

Mr. Watters is about as wrong as a person can get. Europeans came into the house of the People and stole what they wanted, killed who they wanted, and ruined everything they didn't like, just because they could. They may have won a battle, but they are now finding out that they didn't "win" anything. They lost their souls because of what their ancestors did. And the descendants of those people are now going to pay the price.

Doing the right thing is always possible, and if we continue to do the wrong thing and justify it, the price for our children will be higher still. Mr. Watters is wrong, dead wrong. He's just another scared, entitled man from the ruling class who sees the reckoning coming, and he's trying to protect himself from a judgment that is long overdue. But there is no protection for you when you commit a crime, not in the end. There is a price, and you will have to pay it.

Better to pay now, Mr. Watters, and admit that the land was stolen. It would be much better than the alternative you will face if you continue to defend a crime.

Thanks,

Luis L'Oreteca