On sci-fi movies, aliens that are found on earth are usually hunted, killed, and then autopsied. The Powers-That-Be make harsh decisions that are blinded by their own hate and fears. I have been wondering that if reality proved there were aliens if it would be as movies depict or if mankind could actually take a kinder path.

Somehow, I believe it would be difficult to put aside hate and fear. America's history is laced with such situations and we just don't seem to learn from them.

I have been doing all this research for the Christian historical fiction novel based in 1891. I realized a short while ago, that in the novel the Fourth of July was about to take place and wondered if and how Americans celebrated the holiday back then. Previously, I have written some about that, especially the anvil firing, which is just plain strange. The silly things that people do for excitement, eh?

But much of my research has also been delving into the crimes committed against the Native Americans at the time. My heart breaks each time I read of what was happening, the callousness with which the original inhabitants of this land were treated. Yes, there was vile cruelty on both sides, but the newcomers were the aggressors, greedy ones at that. To be true to history, the main characters all are ignorant to the injustices committed against the Native Americans on the very land where they were immersed in celebrating their freedom even while the freedom of others was being destroyed. To be true to history, that ugly truth plays no part in the story which I am writing. Still, my heart aches.

For years, it has bothered me at that as a nation we have driven Native Americans to near extinction. Yes, some tribes have built an affluent life in casinos, but for the most part, few full-blooded Native Americans still live. Some tribes no longer exist. Their culture and history and way of life have been destroyed by the indifference of their fellow Americans. Some of the poorest sections of our country are on the few reservations left where joblessness and illiteracy reign.

Americans reach into their pockets time and time again for victims of terror and disaster. Why do they then turn a blind eye toward their past and the terrible legacy living still ravaging today? Are we only responsive to the suffering that is politically correct? Give where the giving will gain mileage with friends, fans, industry?

I write this not to say that Native Americans are a pitiful people. No, they should be admired for their endurance and strength, supported and encouraged to achieve their dreams, and lifted in prayer each and every day.


Do you want to challenge yourself? Read Ignatia Broker's Night Flying Woman...