Matthew F. Hale, although your letter of Oct. 16 was most disturbing, the bigoted remarks it contained were not surprising since many white people share your ignorant views.

Your comment that Native Americans were defeated by the white man’s superior intelligence and weaponry is absurd. I’ll give you the weaponry part, but if you consider deception and exploitation to be superior intelligence, then I have to question your integrity as a human being. As a law student, you should already know that every single treaty white men have ever entered into with native tribes has been broken by white men. Also, Native Americans live in harmony with their environment, while the white man lives on desecrating and conquering it. You tell me which is more intelligent.

Our forefathers treated the natives in the same manner as the Nazis treated the Jews. They forced them from their homes, rounded them up, and banished them to tiny reservations. There were no gas chambers in those days, but the white man made a good attempt at genocide nonetheless.

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In the mid-1800s, there was a tribe of Blackfoot in what is now known as Quebec, Canada. They were ambushed by a militia of white men who slaughtered all of the tribe’s men and most of the women and children as well. Those who did survive were raped numerous times and enslaved. I did not learn this from any church, school or media. My great-great-great grandmother was one of those survivors and at the age of 16, she gave birth to my half-white great-great-great grandfather as a result of that ambush. He taught his children to respect all people regardless of their race, including mean-spirited men like Matthew F. Hale. My great-great-great grandfather’s teachings have survived the generations, and will once again be handed down to my children.

Please forgive me, Mr. Matthew F. Hale, if I choose not to glorify and celebrate the crimes of humanity that began with Columbus’ discovery.