Into the West

If you watch TNT you know how they advertise the heck out of any new programming that they introduce for their channel. Through this route, they completely turned me off to their new series Wanted. However, a show that they have advertised that I was excited to see was the 6-part mini-series called Into the West.

I have always been intrigued by the "wild west" and the learning about the expansion of the United States beyond the Mississippi River. Although skeptical of the drama component of the series (after all, TNT is the place for drama), I was intrigued to watch a show that would talk about the West. I loved the 1970's series Kung Fu, also about the west. Check out this show if you haven't already: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068093/. Anyway, I digress...

I must say that despite some hesitation about how "cheesy" the series would be, I was actually very impressed with the series. Despite some continuity issues, I thought the acting was superb and the social issues of the time that they hit upon were very poignant. In fact, I find myself slightly troubled after seeing this series as I look back at our Manifest Destiny.

In our quest to reach the Pacific Ocean, we essentially took a native people and forced them onto reservations so that we would take their land. Granted, I did learn about this history classes and it has been touched upon in other films that I have watched, but some reason Into the West really struck me. I couldn't help but feel a deep sense of guilt for what happened over 100 years ago. As I reflect on these episodes, it makes we wonder what I can do now.

What is an appropriate response? Do you simply feel bad for what happened and let it go with that? Do you do your best to research and understand what happened to native americans so that you know the whole story? Do you apologize to native americans as a group? Are reparations in order? I honestly don't know the answer...and I'm not sure what I can do, but Into the West definitely got me thinking again about how the United States treated native americans in the 1800s.