Assimilation, Deportation, Destruction, or Exclusion
The Historical Options to Resolve the Race Issue
One unfamiliar with history might think the current administration's focus on removing people of color from this country without due process, to any country, whether theirs or not, is something new. America, at least white American leaders, have always considered what to do with red, brown, yellow, and Black people, and the answer usually came down to assimilation, deportation, destruction, exclusion, or some combination of the four.
After the injuries we have done them, they cannot love us, which leaves us no alternative but that of fear to keep them from attacking us. — Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson’s statement might have applied to many groups, but in this case, he was specifically describing Native Americans. In his first address to Congress in 1801, he outlined a plan to assimilate the Indians, aiming to civilize them and transform them from hunters t…
