And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: Stephen Russell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Some of you might find this banal. Certainly not big news. But it gets
noticed so seldom I could not resist posting it. A little recognition for
my g-g-g-grandmother who made that walk.
Steve Russell
COMMENTARY
Milosevic has soulmate in
Andrew Jackson
By Tim Chavez / Tennessean Staff Writer
By the account of an American on the scene,
"Women were dragged from their homes by soldiers
...
"Children were often separated from their parents and
driven into stockades with the sky for a blanket and
the earth for a pillow," said U.S. Pvt. John G.
Burnett.
"And often the old and infirm were prodded with
bayonets ...
"In one home, death had come during the night. A
little sad-faced child had died and women were
preparing the little body for burial. All were
arrested
and driven out, leaving the child in the cabin.
"I don't know who buried the body."
The past month, the news media have often reported
this kind of story from Kosovo and the refugee camps
on its borders. But the above tragedy is about the
atrocities of U.S. troops -- 151 years ago -- when
they ransacked Cherokee homes to begin the Trail of
Tears.
And its legacy still wounds today because this nation
and state honors the leader who set this episode of
ethnic cleansing in motion. Meet Slobodan
Milosevic's historical soulmate -- Tennessee's
all-time
favorite son, Andrew Jackson.
While politicians today say the actions that emanated
from Jackson's Indian Removal Act and refusal to
enforce a U.S. Supreme Court decision were wrong,
few have offered to turn over the riches accumulated
from land brutally seized. Or question the heaping
honors given Milosevic's role model.
Among other things, this country has immortalized
Jackson on its $20 bill. Concourse A at Nashville's
airport features "Andy Jackson's Tavern" where
visitors from around the world can take refuge.
Vice President Al Gore has verbally ravaged
Milosevic. But he holds "thank you" parties for pals
at
The Hermitage. And there, he praises "Old Hickory"
in hopes he can ascend to the same high office.
Ah, morality. What a slippery slope it becomes when
America stands upon it to preach to the world.
Consider if Britt Hume of Fox News could have been
standing in Van Buren County with the Cumberland
Mountains in the background some 150 years ago.
Ultimately, it was President Martin Van Buren who
sent troops in.
"Crossing this terrain is difficult in the best of
weather," Hume would say. "But for these refugees,
it's been made harder by the onset of winter and this
whipping sleet.
"Pneumonia is rapidly ravaging children and the old.
And tonight, the wife of Cherokee leader John Ross
lies near death in this wagon.
"Europe has refused to intervene, even though the
Cherokees aided the British during the Revolutionary
War. We've got a tragedy of biblical proportions
here. Yet there's little empathy to be found."
Of these refugees, 4,000 perished.
So when you pull out a $20 bill, wink at America's
heavy-duty ethnic cleanser. Consider how Milosevic
would look on a new $3 bill.
And to honor other killers of women and children,
ask Gore to hold his next political party at the home
of Gen. George Armstrong Custer.
On Dec. 11, 1890, as he turned 88, John G. Burnett
of Sullivan County, Tenn., recounted the plight of the
Cherokees. It's quoted in the book The Cherokee by
Theda Perdue.
He hoped this country would learn from what today
would be considered ethnic cleansing. It has not.
Despite its global preaching, this nation still runs
the
School of the Americas. It exports the art of atrocity
and terror into Latin America, where nuns are raped
and murdered and Indians there are slaughtered for
their land.
And it continues to honor its ethnic cleansers here,
while bombing their successors in Europe.
� Copyright 1999 The Tennessean
A Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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