Land Dispossession Quotes
The line, like many in good poetry, has several levels of meaning. The most obvious is that we had explored and conquered the land, before we became a nation.
The century to which he was referring was the 19th century---1800-1899.
In developed nations land tends to be fungible—there is a fair market value to land and there is little emotional attachment to a particular piece of land. However for aborigines and citizens of many lesser developed countries, land is not fungible. Ancestor burial, tradition, family identity, dignity requires a particular plot of land—not just acreage. So taking of land—even with monetary compensation—is often liable to induce violent protest.
Wayne played so many parts depicting whites in the process of expanding Westward that many people saw him as an expert on the history of the Westward Expansion. He did not comment on the whites who then kept huge ranches “selfishly” for themselves or those who selfishly would not share the mineral rich land that they had taken with anyone including the original Indian owners. So in this view, the Indians should have not been capitalists but they should have been socialists and shared their resources.
Miller was the first Black American admitted to a Graduate Program—Johns Hopkins—in Mathematics
