•RIVER: First off, you should be fully informed about what’s been going on with your tribe and the situation with the Whitmans—how the tribe killed the Whitman family, in thinking that they had been heartlessly killing their people when they were sent for treatment for disease, to Dr. Whitman. It was seen that every time Mr. Whitman had been tasked to heal a fellow white settler, they were able to heal, however when Mr. Whitman was tasked with healing Natives from disease, success was lacked. The Natives felt that they needed to rid of the Whitman’s in order to stop the killing of their people. It seems that the miscommunications between the 2 led to this tragic act. A tragedy that purely occurred from their division. • •
•MOUNTAIN: Yes, River, this situation is a horrid occurrence that led to the unneeded killings of lives. If only there had been better understanding, if only the Whitmans has better tried to relate and understand the Cayuse, if only they had spared more time to sit down, and try and search for similarities, if they had at least wondered about their culture, and their people. There had to be a way to somehow understand the Cayuse. One way or another, they are both of the same species. Those of the same species, do strike similarities and understanding, however it seems the Whitmans never did take the time to understand. •
•That is why I feel the story of the Crane is so important—for it is about a grave decision based on a sliver of unproved information. In its contents it describes how the Crane, meets with a fellow bird by the name of little diver, and they decide to wed. Crane believes that through merry Little Diver the work of searching for food would become easier, as the work would be divided. However, what occurred was quite contrary, with Little Diver bringing in family to live with them. Crane was tasked with searching for more and more food, until he was no longer able to get enough.
•Coloring Cedar: With the free land that was given to the white settlers, our tribe feels what has happened with this influx of settlers, is the beginning of something terrible. It was the beginning of a time where populations become to centered on the white demographic, which was a critical mistake, as no perspective was given. The whites only felt strongly about the killing of the Whitmans and used that far beyond what it should have been used for. What happened was taking an incident to far extremities, that has no justification for such. • •
•Beaver: And when they chose the disinterested Kamaikan to represent the tribes, it was shown that the whites had no empathy WHATSOEVER. Not even a sliver of understanding for their fellow humans. They knew so well that they were taking advantage of the situation much too far but persevered further. In a hurry to take land that never belonged to them, the whites trampled away any thought of empathy for you natives, and in doing so, such event after event lead towards today. A today where the reign of the Natives now only encapsulates small islands of reservations amongst a vast sea of mountains, forest, desert, hills, and oceans. A vast sea that was once theirs. A vast sea that was free from the effects of the white man.
