Native Americans suffered from foreign attackers

To the editor:

My heart was saddened as I watched on TV the attacks on America. Innocent people died by the thousands due to being Americans. Why did these foreign people come to our country? I saw Americans jumping out of buildings, falling to their deaths.

Blood has flowed, staining American soil, in the European war against Native American tribes. In the first attack on America, native people could not understand why foreigners came to kill and degrade. Now there was no one coming to their aid. The whole world landed on the shores of America. They killed tribe after tribe.

It was the same as the attack on New York. It was just a different time. I've heard how native people end their lives by jumping off cliffs. They did the same in New York.

Americans now fear diseases such as anthrax. My ancestors feared the same attack. They experienced smallpox, chicken pox and many other diseases which wiped out entire villages.

Tears come to my eyes sometimes. They speak of the thousands killed. How about the millions slain?

It was never made right with native people. It never could be made right. This great land has a rich Native American history. As the years pass, wounds mend, leaving bad scars as a reminder.

Will modern-day America keep sweeping under the rug the attacks on the true Americans?

JOHNNY MOTT

Cape Girardeau