500 Nations

500 Nations
500 Nations is a documentary about early North America and its original inhabitants. It tell the story of who these ancient people were, how they lived and what happened to them. I realized during Kevin Costner's introduction, that I too had very little knowledge of America before 1492, the year Christopher Columbus arrived in this land. I had never really given this much thought until now and I am curious to hear the true story of these people.
When I hear the word Indians or Native Americans my head conjures up images of red skinned men and women in full headdress, chanting and dancing around a fire or a circle of people inside a teepee, smoking the peace pipe and listening to the chief tell stories passed down through generations.

Parents helplessly watched their children die from starvation. They were treated cruelly, like animals. Finally in the late 1880's The Ghost Dance began, a dance to restore the past when Indian nations were free.. It makes me sick that these people were treated so inhumanely that some of them that had joined the dance, died from sheer exhaustion from dancing so hard in hopes it would bring relief from their suffering. And then, as if they had not endured enough, the U.S government outlaws the dance because it scared them and made them uncomfortable. It is shocking how millions of men, women and children were stripped of their freedom, their families, and everything they owned. It is even more disturbing that almost an entire race of people were annihilated except for the few who still live on those reservations that are comparable to third world countries. Genocide has taken place many times throughout history and every time I hear of the sadistic disregard for human life, that it seems many among us are capable of, it leaves me in disbelief that a person can watch or be responsible for the anguish of a living being and feel nothing. It baffles me still.
500 Nations was an eye opening documentary for me. I learned