“Up to 95 percent of the original Native American population, estimated at roughly twenty million people, disappeared after the invasion of European colonizers. While there was direct violence toward Native Americans, many of these deaths can be attributed to the introduction of smallpox. Smallpox is a virus that is spread when one comes into contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated objects such as clothing or blankets. The virus then finds its way into a person's lymphatic system. Within days of infection, large, painful pustules begin to erupt over the victim's skin. In school curriculums, this has often been taught as an unfortunate tragedy, an accidental side effect of trade, and therefore a reason to claim that the Europeans did not commit genocide. However, in recent years, many historians have recognized that the spreading of smallpox was an early form of biological warfare, one which was understood and used without mercy from at least the mid-1700s. Noted conversations among army officials include letters discussing the idea of "sending the Small Pox among those disaffected tribes" and using "every stratagem to reduce them." Another official, Henry Bouquet, wrote a letter that told his subordinates to "try to Innoculate [sic] the Indians, by means of Blankets, as well as to Try Every other Method, that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race." They followed through on their plan, giving two blankets and a handkerchief from a Smallpox Hospital alongside other gifts to seal an agreement of friendship between the local Native tribes and the men at Fort Pitt, located in what is now western Pennsylvania.” EuropeNativeGenocideNative AmericanIndigenousUs HistorySmallpoxEuropean HistoryBiological WarfareHenry Bouquet Book:Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity Source: Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity
“No one wanted to use the word 'murder' then, using instead words more apt to talking about a pest problem than a human race. Even today the United States still has not officially recognized genocide in its history.” United StatesMurderNativeGenocideNative AmericanIndigenousUs HistoryEuropean HistoryBiological Warfare Book:Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity Source: Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity
“I wanted to devour this woman's dignity. Congratulations for what exactly? For having a family who made it through genocide? For being part of the slim population of surviving Native Americans post-colonization? An anger simmered in my throat, begging to be let loose on this stupid woman who was there to simply enjoy her vacation. How dare she remain blissfully unaware of the modern existence of Native Americans when all she had seen were movies making us look like history? As mad as I was, I knew it wasn't her fault and I couldn't muster up the energy to boil my anger into a response.” NativeGenocideNative AmericanIndigenousUs HistoryArizonaColonizationEuropean HistoryEuropeanBiological Warfare Book:Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity Source: Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity