Opinion: Virginia Indians advocate 'mythology'
Friday, May 4, 2007
Filed Under:
Opinion
"Chief Ken Adams of the Upper Mattaponi Tribe was less charitable. He opined: "The word annihilation, the word holocaust, the word atrocity come to mind when I think of 1607."
Chief Adams is not talking about the unprovoked mass murder of 347 of men, women and children on March 22, 1622, by Opechancanough, half-brother to Wahunsonacock, commonly known as Chief Powhatan. Nor is he talking about Powhatan's ruthless policies towards fellow Indian tribes. Adams, like Custelow, is fudging on the facts.
He and others like him are capitalizing on America's birthday at Jamestown to train people to reject the last 400 years of historical interpretation in favor of what I call "the new mythology" of Jamestown.
This new mythology is "new" because it has recently been invented.
It's trendy. It's hip. It's also baloney.
And it's even more insidious than the absurd portrayal of a provocative Pocahontas and her environmentally conscious animal kingdom presented by Walt Disney.
The new mythology teaches that America was founded by ruthless Christians who, very much like Nazis, engaged in a "holocaust" against an innocent and peace-loving people. One "new mythology" exhibition in Jamestown portrays the Indians as "in harmony with the life that surrounds them." On the other hand, America's Founding Fathers, we are told, came from a land of "limited opportunity" ravaged by economic despair and governed by a "small elite.""
Get the Story:
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Related Story:
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