De Las Casas

Of all the stories so far, I can relate to the De Las Casas reading the most. De Las Casas was all for Native American rights. He actually witnessed the cruelty that the Indians of Hispaniola encountered from the Spaniards. I related to this story the most because it reminded me a lot of how African Americans suffered through the same cruelty as the Indians did. In De Las Casas "The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies" it talked about how Indians were separated form their families and beaten. Also, how some wives were raped by the Spaniards in front of their husbands. Very harsh images came to my mind while reading this. The Spaniards would even do harm to children and babies. The Spaniards would chop up women and children, stab them, drown them, and even burn them to death. Some they even hanged. All of which were very similar actions African Americans encountered. At some points the Indians rose up and went against the Spaniards and were even successful in killing some of them but for every Christian killed by Indians, they would slay a hundred Indians. All this harsh behavior on Indians took place in the 1500's. Around 400 years later, African Americans went through the same punishments. Slaves were separated from their families, beaten, raped, and hanged. The two situations greatly compare although for different reasons. Indians because of wanting to take over/expand their land, African Americans, just based off the color of their skin.