Like Americans started off with Dead Indians, the good kind; to Dead Britons, the good kind; to Dead Mexicans, the good kind; to Dead Confederates, the good kind; to Dead Germans, the good kind; to dead Russkies, the good kind, in the Cold War; to Dead Charlies, the good kind; and round back to Dead Russkies, now they follow the Demon King Putin.
Perversely, Native American ownership of black slaves came about as a way for Native Americans to illustrate their societal sophistication to white settlers. “They were working hard to comply with government dictates that told native people that in order to be protected and secure in their land base, they had to prove their level of ‘civilization,’” Miles explained.
How would slave ownership prove civilization? The answer, Miles contends, is that in capitalism-crazed America, slaves became tokens of economic success. The more slaves you owned, the more serious a businessperson you were, and the more serious a businessperson you were, the fitter you were to join the ranks of “civilized society.” It’s worth remembering, as Paul Chaat Smith says, that while most Native Americans did not own slaves, neither did most Mississippi whites. Slave ownership was a serious status symbol.