Peter d'Errico questions why author of
Ethnic Cleansing and the Indian: The Crime That Should Haunt America
won't acknowledge genocide against Native people:
A new book by Gary Anderson, Ethnic Cleansing and the Indian, is bound to attract attention as a "pro-Indian" book. The subtitle, "The Crime That Should Haunt America," will provoke people who minimize the violence against Native Peoples throughout American history. The chapter titles point to "penetration," "invasion," "stealing," "removal," and "land grab."
Unfortunately, there's a dark aspect to Anderson's work: he provokes not by detailing ethnic cleansing, but by arguing that genocide did not occur. This grossly undermines the value of his otherwise excellent history of anti-Indianism in America.
Anderson foreshadows his conclusion with the bizarre statement that, "Indians' survival had much to do with the implementation of [a] dominating policy of ethnic cleansing."
Read it again. Anderson suggests a benign aspect of ethnic cleansing: it prevents genocide!
Again and again, Anderson concludes a review of U.S. Army and militia violence against Indians with the statement that these were "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity," not "genocide."
Get the Story:
Peter d'Errico: A Strange Case of Genocide Denied
(Indian Country Today 6/13)
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