Introduction

        The documentary, “Dakota Conflict” examines the causes, events and aftermath of the fighting that broke out in 1862 between Minnesota's white European settlers and the native people of the state. This is not an isolated incident and the United States continues to have arguments over land with the native people. The most relevant learning objective to this topic is number two, demonstrate an understanding of key concepts necessary for intercultural knowledge and competence, such as privilege/power and social construction of identity.

Reflection

          As stated in the introduction, this is far from the first and only fight that white European settlers have had with the native people who were here before them. The documentary depicted what the events were that led up to the Dakota Conflict of 1862. This started in 1851 when the United States government and Dakota people signed treaties making the land that Dakota’s could occupy much smaller than before. Roughly 10 miles along the Minnesota River. The treaty stated that the U.S. government would give the Dakotas a set amount of money and supplies as their end of this bargain, which was not held up. This continued for some time and as the United States entered the civil war it became worse for the Dakota people. They are confined to an even smaller area, they have people starving as food was scarce, they decided to reach out for help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs but most were denied food. As a result of this, four young Dakota men ended up killing five white settlers which stirred the pot even more. This led to fighting for six weeks. The conflict ended with a large amount of death on both sides. 

        This documentary came to no surprise to me, I knew that the white European settlers came in and killed the vast majority of Native Americans. I know that it happened all over the United States but it is still a little shocking to me that our neighbors, both white European settlers and Native American descendants, to the west went through such a gruesome time in history. White Americans have acted like they deserve everything because of their wealth and their skin color. They look down on others because of their skin color and the way that they live their life. The Dakota Conflict is a prime example of this because when the white European settlers were selfish and believed that they deserved the land, not those who had been living here for many years before. 

        This power and privilege complex has not gone down. We see this in many other cases, the hyper segregation that is still in the United States, the Ahmaud Arbery case, all of the fatal shootings and black men and women being gunned down, the systems of inequality that are in place. We are living in a country where the immigrants were the ones who came in and took the land, forced their way in and had to mass murder people in order to do it. Yet now, the same country is working on keeping immigrants out of the United States. It's appalling and as I hinted to in one of my other papers, I feel guilty for being white because of the way my ancestors acted and behaved. I know I didn’t do it and there is no way to turn back time. However, I am still ashamed and many other countries make fun of us for this. It is embarrassing the way that some Americans act like they deserve everything. It is a perpetuated system that I can't see an end to.