IIRC, There are approximately 3 million native Americans in the US today. CIA Factbook lists 'Amerindians' and 'Alaskan Natives' combined as 1.5% of the US population, but does not supply exact figures. I believe the number was more than 10 times that (30 million+) at some point last century.
There are considerably more Native Americans in this country than there are Jews in Arab nations.
More later. Must Sleep. :-)
Jon
What's funny about this discussion: yes the US had a horrible history with native Americans, and still are messing up. (How many millions, billions, do we own them currently?) While I'm not calling reservations a model for the world, how many other countries have places within their own borders that are mostly free of government intervention, or at least have some different rules? The Amish and other sects here in PA, they aren't operating with impunity but for the most part they aren't part of this country. I don't know if they consider themselves Americans, I think they do. We aren't trying to kill them (cough Waco cough), they aren't trying to kill Americans. So it is funny that people point to the mid east and try and draw parallels to the US and native Americans.
Kevin T. - VRWC
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