To The Herald-Whig:

In October we observed Columbus Day because he discovered America for Europeans. Now we know others came sooner. Norsemen like Eric the Red and Leif Ericson came before 1014.

"In bringing Europe to America, Columbus caused the death of millions and destroyed entire cultures. For Native Americans, every Columbus Day is like salt in our wounds. Those are days of mourning," wrote Seneca educator Stephanie Betoncourt in the book, "Through Indian Eyes."

At last we have Native American Day to remember and honor our native people to be celebrated yearly after Thanksgiving. History is full of struggle between Indians and whites. None more bitter then the forced removal of the Cherokee in 1838.

For generations they'd lived in the mountains and valleys of the Tennessee area and the southeast. United States treaties recognized Cherokee sovereignty. Yet after treaties diminished all promises, whites wanted the land. Andrew Jackson, an Indian fighter, was president and when gold was discovered in Georgia, their fate was sealed.

Soon federal troops began a roundup of Indians and by riverboat, wagon and horseback and foot, the forced exile began. Thousands of men, women and children are thought to have died during that fateful journey. Silent graves stretching from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains to the new Cherokee territory in the West mark what is now known as "Trail of Tears."

There are many such "Trail of Tears" causing much suffering, yet history books and encyclopedias I've read barely give mention. Many today say the Holocaust didn't happen, an equally ignorant and cruel concept.

Someone once said, in essence, history forgotten is bound to repeat itself.

Betty Ash

Keokuk, Iowa