Foundation of my Forefathers

This country was built on the foundation of my forefathers
MY forefathers? I think not, but if I stand up too loudly and say this, then I am unAmerican.
Me! UnAmerican!
I am the definition of an American, maybe not since My forefathers are the ones who named it America.
Sometimes I get so confused about what to "label" myeslf as, but they say labels are bad anyway.
This country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty!

As a child I always loved what I was taught.
I was taught that immigrants came to America to live the free life.
I thought about how great it must be to live in America and be free,
Until I learned MANY years later in high school, that things weren't always so peachy for the Native Americans.

To those who truly believe in this great country and love it for all of the things I use to love it for, I love those people,
But for those people who truly know what this country is truly about and choose to ignore and pretend to not know the consequences of what the actions of the United States of America has done to my people...
I hate that.

It's one thing to know and apologize, but it's another thing to know and not acknowledge it.

I would like any city that is celebrating any amount of time to give a shout-out to all of the people they killed, raped, and tried to change to be white in order to make that city what it is today.

Today there are a lot of government-to-government relationships that have been well-built over the years, but I don't think any amount of time should pass where the dominant government stops acknowledging the transgression of their ancestors, because Native Americans carry the inter-generational trauma of their Ancestors.

There is a non-Native elected official whom I love. They truly love the area they are an elected official of. I am a Native of this land, and this elected official makes me excited to be a part of this land, and strive for a better overall community.

From my perspective, this land will always be our, as in Native Americans, land. You may have your business built on our land, I may go into your business and purchase goods. You may have been born here, and be a Native of the community you live in, but please don't forget the true Natives of the land you live on, who host you in their territory.

When you stop to thank your Veterans who made this the land of the free, don't forget to think of all of the Indians that they had to kill, so that you could call this your land.