Indianz.Com > News > OJ and Barb Semans: Indigenous people of this country understand suffering
Thoughts for Native American Heritage Month and Day
Monday, November 27, 2023
As the war between Hamas and Israel plays out in front of us, I am so disheartened and sad. In
constant newscasts and social media posts, everyone, everywhere on earth can watch Israeli and
Palestinian people suffering horribly in real time. Lives are being taken on both sides. People are
starving. Hostages are terrified. Babies are dying.
We Indigenous people empathize with the people on both sides of that conflict. It all happened to
us. Since Columbus arrived in 1492, we have been struggling to protect our communities, our
way of life and Mother Earth. The fight continues today, as we still face high rates of starvation,
infant and maternal mortality and — still — theft of our lands and resources.
The hate being spoken by Hamas is nothing new to us. L. Frank Baum, newspaper editor and
author of The Wizard of Oz, stated, “The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization,
are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be
secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians.”
![Wounded Knee](https://indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/08/woundedkneecemetery.jpg)
Oliver (OJ) and Barb Semans are Co-Executive Director of Four Directions Native Vote and live and work on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
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