Genocide

We are reading Night in English class. Amazing book so far, in my opinion. The reason I bring it up is not the book, but the term genocide.

My teacher was basically saying that genocide is inflicted upon a specific race or ethnicity, but not just through systematic killing. Sterilization, destruction of culture, and forced transportation of children away from their families are other ways of committing genocide.

Now I looked at this definition, and after a few seconds an idea sprung into my head. What about America's own genocide? What about our own homegrown hate? So I raised my hand and asked that with the definition given couldn't the atrocities committed on the Native Americans be considered genocide.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

That was the reaction I received from my classmates. Granted they didn't yell that, but I could hear the scoffs, the groans, and the mutterings of my peers. Then I also heard the rebuttals of "Yeah, well we didn't put them in concentration camps, and we didn't kill them just because of their race."

I was just amazed at the outright anger that I witnessed from my classmates. Yes, the Holocaust was genocide, and it wasn't done on American soil. Yet, the killing of millions of the native population by early and later European settlers also fits into that category. God forbid we as Americans admit to the bad things our country has done in the past.

In an effort to defend my self, I explained my viewpoint a little more clearly. Then a boy in my class raises his hand and tell the teacher he hasn't understood a word I said.

Blarg.