Read the Essay below. Be able to answer and expound on the following questions.

(1) Did the Native Americans know who and what their enemy was?
(2) If the Native Americans had been white people, would that have saved them?
(3) Were the Native Americans up against a warped psyche? Explain.
(4) What was the overall result of Native Americans' failure to understand who and what their enemy was?

Class #4 Essay [Audio Version]

Finally, the Native Americans had inadequate knowledge of what their enemy was. To be sure, white people were their enemy, but beyond this is the fact that the white frame of mind was their enemy. In addition to everything else, their enemy was a frame of mind that had a superiority complex, that was unbelievably materialistic and acquisitive, cruelly calculating and ever-insecure. The superiority complex dictated that white people would view Native Americans as less than their equal, and would therefore forever seek to dominate them and put them "in their place." Because they were so materialistic and acquisitive, they would always be attempting to take other peoples' land and valuables, robbing and stealing, and feeling inadequate if they failed to constantly seek more than what they already had. Because they were cruelly calculating, they would scheme for days, years, even centuries, in order to get what they wanted. Day-in and day-out they would be straining their brains trying to figure out ways to ruthlessly take advantage of other people. And because they were ever-insecure, they could never trust anyone else, not even another white person-- but particularly not a non-white person. Anyone who did not understand them and act like they act, have their values and look like them was never to be trusted. Therefore, even if the Native Americans had been imitation white men, it would have only been a matter of time before the whites would have attempted to wipe them out.

There was no way Native Americans could have imagined that they were dealing with a mind and group personality as warped and inhumane as that of the white race. They could not have known that these people were being driven by a destructive force stronger than logic and common sense and more reactionary than obsessive emotions. They could not have known that white people are the product of a very, very cruel environment. This cruel attitude, bolstered by explosive war power, is what the Native Americans were up against. A people who loved to kill and destroy life so much that they had to invent weapons that would help them do it is what the Native Americans were up against. A people who placed no large amount of value on ideas like love, peace, humanity and human rights is what the Native Americans were up against. A people who had a relatively warped psyche is what the Native Americans were up against. Native Americans were up against this attitude, this explosive power, this warped psyche and tens of thousands of human bodies housing all of these anti-social qualities. Native Americans did not recognize who or what their enemy was, so they got steamrolled and were practically exterminated.

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