Good evening, my name is Steve Melendez. \u00a0I am of the Paiute tribe and I am the President of the American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston. \u00a0It is certainly a pleasure to be here today to pay my respects to those who died here one hundred and sixty five years ago. \u00a0I have come here to honor the dead. \u00a0And \u00a0the best way I know to honor the dead is to tell the truth about the way they died , \u00a0tell the truth about the way they lived and to tell the truth about the ideas that were prevalent at the time when they lived. I wanted to read something from President \u00a0Mirabeau Lamar\u2019s \u00a0first message to congress , Dec. 21, 1838. \u00a0And this was seven months \u00a0before this battle took place here. \u00a0He spoke of, \u00a0\u201can exterminating war upon their warriors, which will admit of no compromise and have no termination
\nexcept in their total extinction or total expulsion.\u201d To give another example of some of the ideas that were prevalent at that time, I would like to read
\nthe thoughts of one of our former Presidents: \u201cThe most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with \u00a0savages, though it is apt to be also the most terrible and inhuman. \u00a0The rude, fierce settler who drives the savage from the land lays all civilized mankind under a debt to him. \u00a0American and Indian, \u00a0Boer and Zulu, \u00a0Cossack and Tartar, \u00a0New Zealander and Maori, –in each case the victor, horrible though many of his deeds are, has laid deep the foundations for the future greatness of a mighty people. \u00a0The consequences of struggles for territory between civilized nations seem small by comparison. \u00a0Looked at from the standpoint of the ages, it is of little moment whether Lorraine is part of Germany or of France, \u00a0whether the northern Adriatic cities pay homage to Austrian Kaiser or Italian King; \u00a0but it is of incalculable importance that America, \u00a0Australia, and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, \u00a0black, \u00a0and yellow aboriginal owners, \u00a0and become the heritage of the dominant world races.That was from the book The Winning of the West Vol. 4 The Indian Wars Page 56 by President Theodore Roosevelt.<\/p>\n
Many people are amazed to find that all thirteen of the original 13 colonies had scalp bounty laws. For instance, \u00a0The Acts and Resolves of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay \u00a0Vol. 1 \u00a01692-1714 which we have on display \u00a0offers a reward of 50 pounds sterling for the scalp of a male or female Indian and 10 pounds sterling for every child under the age of \u00a0ten. \u00a0Anyone who would like to see this book, it is on display at our booth.<\/p>\n
This was the atmosphere and the ideas which were prevalent at that time.<\/p>\n
What was it like one hundred and sixty five years ago? \u00a0According to this \u00a0book, the West Texas Historical Association Year Book \u00a0Vol. 37 \u00a0October, 1961, bounty hunters grew rich selling scalps of Indians to the Mexican Government. Chihuahua\u2019s Fifth Law of may 25, was an example of Mexico\u2019s centuries-old bounty system. Two of these bounty hunters were ex- Texas Rangers. The article entitled \u201cLong\u201d Webster and \u201cThe Vile Industry \u00a0of \u00a0Selling Scalps\u201d \u00a0explained that once the bounty hunters had reduced the Indian population \u00a0such that the business saw reduced profits, they dressed as Indians and turned on Mexican villages. \u00a0Leaving arrows sticking in the sides of animals, they cashed in Mexican scalps while putting the blame on, and causing more hatred toward the Indians. \u00a0When the Mexican government caught them doing this, the government put a bounty on the bounty hunter, \u00a0Lt. John Joel Glanton, \u00a0who once rode in \u00a0P.H. Bell\u2019s \u00a0Regiment of Mounted
\nVolunteers.In 1848 they were doing this and that was nine years after the battle here. This was the\u00a0 atmosphere \u00a0and what it was like to be an Indian \u00a0in Texas at that time. It wasn\u2019t a happy time.\u00a0 It was a time of great fear throughout the land that found thirteen tribes huddled together in this area.<\/p>\n
The reason that we chose the name genocide for our museum is because the name means, the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. \u00a0The most obvious examples of genocide in modern times is when a government orders the extermination of a group of people within its borders. \u00a0In 1915 the Turkish government issued an \u00a0\u201cOfficial proclamation\u201d which read:<\/p>\n
Our Armenian fellow countrymen,\u2026because \u2026they have\u2026attempted to destroy the peace and security of the Ottoman state,\u2026have to be sent away to places which have been prepared in the interior\u2026 and a literal obedience to the following orders, in categorical manner, is accordingly enjoined upon all Ottomans:
\n1. With the exception of the sick, all Armenians are obliged to leave within five days from the date
\nof this proclamation\u2026
\n2. Although they \u00a0are free to carry with them on their journey the articles of their movable property
\nwhich they desire, they are forbidden to sell their land and their extra effects, \u00a0or to leave them here
\nor there with other people\u2026<\/p>\n
This sounds very much like the order the President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar, gave to chief Bowles here one hundred and sixty five years ago. \u00a0In the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association \u00a0Vol. 1 \u00a0\u00a0July, 1897 to April, 1889 , John H. Reagan , who was present \u00a0when the president\u2019s message was delivered to Chief Bowles, gives this eye witness account:<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Lamar in that communication said to Chief Bowles that he had appointed six among the most respectable citizens of the Republic, \u00a0and authorized them to value the unmovable property of the Cherokees, \u00a0Which was understood to be their improvements on the land but not the land, and to pay them for these in money\u2026 The President also said to them that they could take all their movable property with them and go in peace. \u00a0But go they must; peaceably if they would, but forcibly if the must.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chief \u00a0asked Mr. Lacy, \u00a0the agent delivering the Presidents message, \u00a0\u201cif action on the President\u2019s demand could not be postponed until his people could make and gather their crops. \u00a0Mr. Lacy informed him that he had no authority or discretion beyond what was said in the communication from the President.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is only \u00a0\u00a0fitting that we should honor those who were slain here one hundred and sixty five years ago with the truth that the \u00a0only request the Chief made was, \u201cCan the President\u2019s demand be postponed until we gather our crops?\u201d<\/p>\n
I think it is ironic that we stand here today at \u00a0the site of a destroyed Delaware village. \u00a0For it was the Delaware Indians in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania who were given the smallpox blankets back \u00a0in 1763. \u00a0Many people don\u2019t believe that the Indians were given smallpox blankets but we have found the invoice from Ft. Pitt if you would like to see it , we have a copy \u00a0on display over in our booth. It reads, \u201c \u2026Replace\u20262 blankets\u20261 silk handkerchief, 1 linen\u2026taken from people in the hospital to convey the smallpox to the Indians\u201d<\/p>\n
Was there genocide in America? \u00a0The killing here continued in the surrounding area until July 24th. \u00a0A militia force was stationed to the north to cut the Indians off if they fled north but \u00a0they never saw battle. \u00a0They were not needed.<\/p>\n
At some point in history, America has to acknowledge the wrongs that \u00a0were done and call them what they were–Genocide.<\/p>\n
At \u00a0some point in history , America has to acknowledge that the way they confiscated native lands was not right.<\/p>\n
At some point in history, \u00a0America has to call things like what happened here–they have to call it extermination, which it was.<\/p>\n
Now, when Mirabeau Lamar told Chief Bowles that he was going to appoint six reputable men from the Republic to value their land –that happened again recently as history repeats itself. \u00a0And that \u00a0is what really bothers me, that history keeps on repeating \u00a0itself over and over and over again. And \u00a0it will keep repeating itself \u00a0until the American people say this was wrong and we have to change it. \u00a0What we did was wrong and we have to change. Because ten days ago on July the 7th, our President George W. Bush signed into law bill H.R. 884 which arbitrarily confiscated 24 million acres of Western Shoshone Land.
\nIn it\u2019s Final Report to Congress the Indian Claims Commission , which was the vehicle they used to value the land, \u00a0describes itself as a commission and not a judicial court.
\nThis commission of arbiters , arbitrarily set the price of Western Shoshone land at 15 cents an acre.
\nFifteen cents an acre! \u00a0We had the All Star Game in Houston last Tuesday and hot dogs were
\nselling for five dollars apiece. \u00a0At this kind of an exchange rate, the Western Shoshone would have
\nto sell 33 acres of land just to buy a hot dog. \u00a0But history seems to keep repeating itself over and over again.
\nOnly when America acknowledges the wrongs of the past will they admit to the wrongs that are being perpetrated in the present.
\nAny memorial that is erected here should not be called the Battle of the Neches. We should honor
\nthe dead with the truth, and call it what it was–genocide in the Americas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","yoast_head":"\n