19th century thinking

Crossing into Oregon last month, I considered the pioneers who drove their wagons and livestock north over a series of ridges that must have seemed endless to them.

In my 20th-century car, those ups and downs didn’t present much of a challenge. My underpowered Saturn traversed them with ease – in high gear.

Though I’ve watched wagon train re-enactments and have a sense of the physical challenges involved, it’s just not possible to gain a feeling for the combination of factors that made migration into the frontier so dangerous and remarkable.

It’s no wonder that those who undertook the task and overcame the risks felt entitled to lay claim to whatever they discovered at the end of the trail and felt justified in pushing aside the “primitives” who had never bothered to set down real roots – to build fences and roads and permanent buildings.

Observing how settlements became towns and towns grew into cities with impressive buildings and rich histories provides an appreciation for those who not only survived but thrived and who led the way to expansion.

Manifest Destiny was first introduced to me as a completely positive force in our history. Perhaps in mid-century, enough time had not yet passed for Americans to reflect on our treatment of indigenous peoples and on the land itself.

During my formative years, television and cinematic westerns portrayed native Americans and Hispanics for the most part as anonymous “savages” capable of horrible atrocities and lacking the qualities that make people worthy of rights or fair treatment.

Maybe the context of war in Iraq and Afghanistan – where Americans seem once again willing to disrupt the lives of folks who have survived for millennia without our help by attempting to impose our values – has heightened my sensitivity to the imperialistic tendencies of our past.

In any event, in the context of my travels I’ve been troubled by evidence that part of my culture stems from the notion that some of “us” are more entitled than some of “them.”

There’s no need to go into details – and probably little benefit to be derived from such an exercise. But realizing that our great success in creating this more perfect union was achieved, in part, by disregarding some fundamental principles when we dealt with others.

In practice, it seems to me that American decision-making continues to be based on the notion that we are entitled to whatever we can get and that our lives and fortunes are more important or valuable than those of non-Americans. That group includes, of course “native Americans” whom Columbus ironically labeled “Indians” as if he somehow knew European immigrants would soon co-opt the title of “Americans”).

While on the road, I’ve engaged dozens of people in mealtime conversation. I’m discouraged by how often words like “they” and “them” are applied to large groups of people whom, it seems to me, are being viewed as less worthy.

No one can claim that “we” were here first. For purposes of determining entitlement, then, our logical refuge is a variation on the idea of Manifest Destiny. And it seems to me that while this view persists, this land is NOT your land; this land is OUR land and ours alone.