With all the civil unrest and racial tension in our country right now, we have overlooked one of our smallest minorities: Native Americans, the first people in the Americas. From the beginning, encounters between Native Americans with explorers and settlers have been catastrophic. We, referring to those of us who are descended from these explorers and settlers, often overlook and water down our true history, making light of the land that was stolen and the lives lost to ignorance, greed, and intolerance.

Now the Native Americans need our help, and we are no where to be found. Greed is trying to implement a devastating oil pipe that would run through many reservations, impacting agriculture and/or potentially polluting water sources. The government has completely ignored treaties with the tribes who belong to these reservations and have shown disrespect for the leaders of the Native American governments by not including them in the planning or discussions that will have have such a devastating impact on their sacred lands.

What many people don't know is that reservations in their own rights are domestic sovereignties, with each tribe having their own government and ownership of their land. They are not allowed to print currency (and there are obvious other details that are present), but they are given full authority to police their lands. This is why the there are so many differences between the economic stability of each tribe. Some tribes are so poor that many of their citizens live without basic necessities like water and power, while others are able to provide safe housing and benefits for all. This is why the government's disregard of the constitution, treaties, and laws set to protect an already exploited people is so infuriating. They refuse to give assistance to those that need it yet will steal and lie to exploit resources from those same people.

According to the 2000 census, Native Americans make up 2.8 percent of the population, a small percentage of the original in habitants of our country. From the beginning, Native Americans have been painted as savages, only seeking the blood of the European settlers. When America was discovered, many settlers completely disregarded that these natives had souls and were human, and many even argued that the Native Americans were demons and evil as an excuse to murder them and rob them of their lands and resources. In many cases, some tribes had to resort to extreme (and in some cases unethical warfare) in attempt to save their people. However, because the English had the upper hand with guns and explosives, standing up to the “white man” was almost impossible.

As a nation, we even celebrate a day in which 700 unarmed natives of the Pequot tribe were massacred by English and Dutch mercenaries. The day after the massacre, the governor of Massachusetts declared an official “day of thanksgiving.“ There were many more massacres, and each would be followed with a declared day of thanks in which settlers rejoiced at the deaths of “savages,” even placing heads on spikes and kicking the heads around the streets. Thanksgiving was never a celebration of peace between pilgrims and Native Americans. We claim to be celebrating the harvest; however, that is a historical in accuracy that has been perpetuated, because celebrating the deaths of Native Americans would not be politically correct.George Washington later declared that only one day should be set aside to celebrate the massacres, and Abraham Lincoln later declared it a national holiday, even ordereding troops to march on the Sioux Indians the same day.

In 1838 and 1839, as part of his Indian removal policy, our beloved Andrew Jackson forced many tribes of Indians to give up their lands and migrate to what is now Oklahoma and other locations. We refer to this event as the Trail of Tears. More then 10,000 Native Americans died due to exposure, disease, and starvation. This is by far only one of what seems like an infinite number of instances of injustice. Another example is the Wounded Knee Massacre, where the military disarmed an encampment of Lakota tribesmen, creating a small disagreement with a deaf native, and resulting is the massacre of the entire encampment of unarmed people: over 300, men, women and children.

There are many, many ,more massacres, murders, enslavements, tortures, and dehumanizations that have happened throughout our history. While some will argue that some of these tribes murdered settlers and explorers, these incidents usually were the result of the tribes' attempt to save their lands, their homes, and their people. If someone was to invade our homes, we would fight back too.

Over 500 treaties have been made between tribes and the US government. Every last one of them has been broken, nullified, or amended. Even when Abraham Lincoln was fighting to end slavery, native Americans were still being murdered in cold blood, no one even batted an eye.

While everyone is screaming injustice, inequality, and persecution, the Native Americans are still being ignored, and we are breaking the law by ignoring our treaties.

It is time for the people to have a voice. It is time all of us stand up for these underrepresented Native Americans and unite and stop this greed. Stop the desecration of sacred lands. This is not just something that will affect them; this could have an impact on others as well. Our need for oil and money is exceeding our need for environmental stability. We can not continue to sweep this under the rug.

I challenge the media and the citizens of America. Do what every tribe affected by this oil pipe has done already: unite, protest and make others aware of this danger the government will not stop. We allow the Black Lives Matter movement to disrupt cities and public areas, but we arrest Native Americans for protesting for their inherent rights. Let's get our priorities straight. I urge everyone to truly educate himself or herself on our American history. If we rely on our school system, we will just continue to celebrate death every year on the fourth Thursday of November.

Note: I write as a legal citizen of the Potawatomi nation and of the United States of America. I truly believe all people should be given respect and treated with dignity. I do not believe in the “traditional” definition of equality. I read The Giver in school and carried that message throughout my life. We can never be truly equal because we are too diverse and too creative. I believe we should be tolerant, accepting and kind to everyone. However, we cannot force others to change their thinking. We can only lead by example. My recount of history comes from being taught from a young age the history of the people, but my education has also come through self-teaching through the years. If you find an inaccuracy, please submit your findings for review. Due to the nature of this article, I can review your information for consideration, but I may not change anything but will let you know why. Please do not submit a link to Wikipedia's definition of Thanksgiving; I am well aware of what it says.