A friend of mine recent posted an article regarding the acts of genocide committed by ISL. This is a snippet, “The five graves arranged at the foot of Sinjar mountain hold the bodies of dozens of minority Yazidis killed in the Islamic State group’s bloody onslaught in August 2014. They are a fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria.
In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group’s territory shrinks.
In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region.
For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth.
Still, even the known numbers of victims buried are staggering — from 5,200 to more than 15,000.” (1)
We all gasp in horror and disbelief and yet atrocities like this have taken place through the centuries. The list for the last century alone is too long to put in this article. Before however, we start pointing the finger at others, let us turn it and point it at ourselves. Manifest Destiney gave the right, so we thought, to take land from First Nation people, or as some call them Native Americans. I absolutely refuse to call these people ‘American Indians’ as though they are the white man’s possession or a tourist exhibit. Numerous atrocities against First Nation People over the centuries starting with the exploration by colonial conquerors to the American settlers. Taking the tribal lands; their culture, and even their children thinking we knew best and needed to convert these ‘savages.’ Today there are over 500 First Nation tribes in the United States, each with a distinct culture, way of life and history. Even today, First Nation people face the challenges of poverty, alcoholism, and discrimination.
There were:
- 10 million+ Estimated number of First Nation people living on land that is now the United States when European explorers first arrived in the 15th century
- Less than 300,000 Estimated number of First Nation people living in the United States around 1900
- 5.2 million identified as First Nation people or Alaska Native in the 2010 census
(1) Butler reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Balint Szlanko and Salar Salim in Irbil, Iraq; Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad; Zeina Karam and Philip Issa in Beirut, and Maya Alleruzzo in Cairo contributed to this report. The full article can be found at https://www.yahoo.com/news/buried-thousands-72-mass-graves-ap-finds-061041339.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genocides_by_death_toll
