By Issa | News from the Other Side
There’s a passage in scripture that says:
“Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.”
It’s a powerful statement about justice, about morality, and about how a nation treats its most vulnerable.
In America, we talk a lot about racism, about injustice, about the wounds of history that still bleed into today.
But there’s one group whose suffering is so deeply buried that even in conversations about oppression, they are often left out.
Indigenous people—the original inhabitants of this land.
America’s greatest sins are slavery and genocide.
✔ Slavery built the economy.
✔ Genocide built the country itself.
And while we have had some reckoning with slavery, the destruction of Native peoples and cultures remains almost invisible.
Until we confront this truth, America will never heal.
How America Erased an Entire People
We are taught about Native Americans in the most sanitized, Disney-fied way possible—as if they were a footnote in American history, rather than the foundation.
What really happened?
✔ Mass Land Theft – Native lands weren’t just taken—they were stolen through war, deception, and broken treaties. Over 500 treaties were made with Indigenous tribes. Every single one was broken.
✔ Systematic Massacre – Native people weren’t just displaced—they were slaughtered. Entire communities were wiped out, women and children included. The U.S. government placed bounties on Indigenous scalps.
✔ Forced Removal (The Trail of Tears & Beyond) – Native people were forcibly removed from their lands and marched to designated reservations, where they were expected to die off. The Trail of Tears alone killed thousands.
✔ Cultural Genocide – The government and the Catholic Church took Indigenous children from their families, forcing them into boarding schools where they were:
- Forbidden to speak their own language
- Forced to abandon their traditions
- Physically and sexually abused
- Raised to hate their own people
✔ Erasure from History – To this day, Native history is barely taught in schools. Their suffering is not widely acknowledged, their stories not recorded like those of the Holocaust or slavery. Their genocide is the one America never talks about.
The Catholic Church Finally Admits Its Role—But Is It Enough?
Last year, the Catholic Church issued an apology for its role in the boarding school system that tore apart Indigenous families.
This was a step forward—but far from justice.
✔ Where is the compensation for families who lost generations to this abuse?
✔ Where is the accountability for the church’s role in these atrocities?
✔ Where is the inclusion of this history in our national education system?
The truth is, acknowledgment without action is meaningless.
And yet, Indigenous voices are still drowned out in conversations about racial justice.
Why? Because America is still afraid to face its original sin.
Why We Can’t Ignore This Any Longer
We tell the stories of the Holocaust so it never happens again.
We tell the stories of slavery so we never repeat its horrors.
But where are the stories of Indigenous genocide?
- Why aren’t we preserving the testimonies of survivors?
- Why aren’t we demanding that our children learn this history?
- Why do we still allow Indigenous communities to live in some of the most extreme poverty in America, forgotten and ignored?
Because if America fully acknowledged this truth, it would have to act on it.
And action means justice, reparations, and a rewriting of history to reflect what really happened.
That would change everything.
America’s Choice: Keep Hiding or Finally Face the Truth
The Indigenous problem isn’t just their problem.
It’s our problem—a deep wound that weakens the entire nation.
✔ Until we fix this, history will repeat itself.
✔ Until we acknowledge the full truth, the divisions in this country will only grow.
✔ Until we stop erasing Indigenous suffering, America will remain broken.
The choice is simple:
Continue ignoring the “least of these” and let the disease of injustice consume the country.
Or finally have the courage to say, “This was wrong. We will never let it happen again.”
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