Chapter 6 explains how policies, including forced displacement, cultural damage through boarding schools, and the loss of millions of acres of land due to U.S. expansion, resulted in systemic oppression for Native Americans. The goal of these authorized acts of violence was to wipe out Native identity. The image's "fighting" represents their centuries-long war against racism and colonization for recognition, survival, and freedom.

Native Americans have been defending their homeland from invasion ever since Europeans first arrived. The date of 1492 refers to Christopher Columbus coming to the Americas, which started centuries of violence, disease, and land being taken from Indigenous peoples. He killed them all and said he's the one who found America. Columbus is one of the first examples of terrorism against Native Americans. The picture above shows Native men with weapons to represent how tribes resisted colonization. In the chapter, it explains how Europeans forced Native Americans off their territories and tried to control their way of life, which the poster suggests was the real “terrorism.” The message argues that Native people were the original defenders of this land and have always protected it from those who tried to take it away.

The fight is not just for their land, it is also for their identities. Throughout American Minorities, we learn about white supremacy and the ideas of how a perfect society, in their eyes, consists of only white Americans who all live in “little boxes” (reference from Malvina Reynolds - little boxes) that all look the same. However, as mentioned in chapter 6 and in class discussions, Native American boarding schools were put in place. These schools forced Native American children to abandon everything involving their culture, which included their language, their style, and even their name. These schools changed these kids, attempting to change them to appear more like white children. Native American parents were also targets of CPS. In many cases, child protection services will take children away from these Native American families and bring them to white families and homes. The reasoning for why was due to poverty; however, Native Americans were not given the same opportunities as others to prevent them from falling into poverty. 

I believe that there is a bigger picture to look at, such as how terrorism is not just from the Europeans that took their land and gold, or the Americans that sent these children away from both family and culture. However, in my opinion, the true terrorism is the belief in white supremacy. These beliefs make the white race more powerful than other minorities, justifying the white culture while painting a bad image of the minorities they have wronged. In history classes growing up, we were told how Christopher Columbus founded the land, not how he stole land. Native Americans were painted to look like animals, not people who have been wronged numerous times. The image ”fighting terrorism since 1492” shows just how corrupt society truly is toward any group that is not wealthy, white, or a man.

Native Americans continued to face a massive catastrophic loss of life as America started to develop under English control and colonization. This division was a result of wealth and power. Cultural imperialism was one of the main reasons why Native Americans were forced onto reservations and boarding schools. With this came centuries of policies that were made to “protect” and “keep peace” between the Native Americans and the American government. For example, the Indian Removal Act relocated Eastern tribes westward, forcing them to accommodate American culture. By weakening the tribes, the American government felt it would be easier for them to assimilate. The phrase, “Fighting Terrorism since 1942,” is just another way of saying they fought to keep power against the less superior.

            Chapter 6 shows how early European contact brought disease, armed conflict, and massive population loss among Native nations. The chapter details how the U.S. negotiated treaties that were consistently violated and how federal policies because termination aimed to take away tribal independence and make Native people fit into mainstream society. This chapter proves how Native communities worked together to defend their rights, culture, and recognition. The image shows that Indigenous peoples have been resisting colonial oppression since first contact, and the chapter’s history supports this.