The Invasion

They said they came for a better life,
Religious freedom and more
They landed by many a tall ship
Upon our eastern shores
They were welcomed into our lands
To share in it’s treasure
They were astonished by our civilization
And our simple pleasures
Our people were innovative
They had built roads and schools
Our society had faith in the creator and churches
And the Golden Rule
Our government was representational
Of a people quite proud
Businessmen and farmers
With great wisdom endowed
They looked upon the immigrants
As foreigners from abroad
No less valued but invasive
And somewhat flawed
They were ignorant of our language
Not willing to learn
They spoke and we didn’t understand them
Yet they showed no concern
They seemed greedy and arrogant
Started taking what they needed
Supply and demand
Our lands illegally ceded
Soon more invaders came
Their expansion grew
Their military expanded
Their power accrued
Our people came together in council
Trying to conclude
The dispersing of their nation
And how it was viewed
Our wealth was vast
But there was plenty to share
Yet the immigrants wanted it all
And the tempers they flared
They came into our homes and plantations
In the middle of the night
With guns and bayonets
Ignoring our rights
They herded us like cattle
Man, woman, and child
Forced us behind walls
Like animals gone wild
No food or facilities
Filth on the ground
Watched and guarded
As armies surround
Then forced to march
On a trail of tears
Over 4000 out 15,000 died
In less than 2 years
Elderly and sick
Families marched in chains
Pushed and stoked
Like a wrecked human train
They marched across mountains
And in the dead of winter snow
No shoes on their feet
In the rivers they froze
They later took our children
To their special schools
Taught them their ways
And by their set of rules
Assimilated us into their culture
And from our world we were torn
This is the United States version
Of a genocidal war.
We are the Cherokee Nation
Still honorable and proud
We are those faces
Lost in the crowd
We are the Americans
Those that were here at the start
We watched and we learned
With pain and suffrage in our hearts
For what is now judged
Of others and their laws
Is just a repeat of history
And the fact that it’s flawed
For what is seen by one
As progress and success
Is a quite different story
For those who are oppressed..


"There were ten million Native Americans on this continent when the first non-Indians arrived. Over the next 300 years, 90% of all Native American original population was either wiped out by disease, famine, or warfare imported by the whites."