Example set by Native Americans (Mike Dunigan and John Shanahan) USofA

An example for the world set by Native Americans in the 1800s Mike Dunigan and John Shanahan March 17, 2018

On this St. Patrick's Day weekend, Mike Dunigan, alumni of the University of Notre Dame – the Fighting Irish sent the following article Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar will make an historic pilgrimage to Oklahoma to meet with members of the Choctaw tribe who donated money to Irish famine relief in 1847.

Varadkar will go to Durant, Oklahoma on Monday March 12th to make a presentation to current Choctaw chief Gary Batton. Speaking ahead of the visit, Varadkar stated he was captivated by "one of the oldest connections we have with America".

"Even though some of the people who took their lands were Irish, the Choctaw understood our pain and felt kinship with us, because they had experienced it themselves," he said.

On March 23, 1847, the Indians of the Choctaw nation took up an amazing collection. They raised $170 for Irish Famine relief, an incredible sum at the time worth in the tens of thousands of dollars today.

They had an incredible history of deprivation themselves, forced off their lands in 1831 and made embark on a 500mile trek to Oklahoma called "The Trail of Tears."

Ironically the man who forced them off their lands was Andrew Jackson, the son of Irish immigrants.

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On September 27, 1830, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed. It represented one of the largest transfers of land that was signed between the U.S. Government and Native Americans without being instigated by warfare. By the treaty, the Choctaws signed away their remaining traditional homelands, opening them up for EuropeanAmerican settlement. The tribes were then sent on a forced march.

Read more: Irish town built a memorial to thank Native Americans who helped during Famine As historian Edward O'Donnell wrote "Of the 21,000 Choctaws who started the journey, more than half perished from exposure, malnutrition, and disease. This despite the fact that during the War of 1812 the Choctaws had been allies of the-General Jackson in his campaign against the British in New Orleans."

Now sixteen years later they met in their new tribal land and sent the money to a U.S. famine relief organization for Ireland. It was the most extraordinary gift of all to famine relief in Ireland. The Choctaws sent the money at the height of the Famine, "Black 47," when close to a million Irish were starving to death.

Thanks to the work of Irish activists such as Don Mullan and Choctaw leader Gary White Deer the Choctaw gift has been recognized in Ireland and now given new prominence by the Varadkar visit.

In 1990, a number of Choctaw leaders took part in the first annual Famine walk at Doolough in Mayo recreating a desperate walk by locals to a local landlord in 1848.

In 1992 Irish commemoration leaders took part in the 500mile trek from Oklahoma to Mississippi. The Choctaw made Ireland's president Mary Robinson an honorary chief. They did the same for Don Mullan.

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Even better, both groups became determined to help famine sufferers, mostly in Africa and the Third World, and have done so ever since.

The gift is remembered in Ireland. The plaque on Dublin's Mansion House that honors the Choctaw contribution reads: "Their humanity calls us to remember the millions of human beings throughout our world today who die of hunger and hunger-related illness in a world of plenty." There is also a sculpture in Cork.

Mike Dunigan My wife, several friends and I bicycled around Ireland for two weeks in 2012. It beautiful and a lot of fun, but we saw many places with memories of death and suffering because of the Famine in the 1800s and injustices of the foreign occupiers at that time. The same still happens in many places today. Stories of suffering and compassion come from all over the world throughout history.

To have a better world, we need more understanding and compassion and less bullying, hatred, self centeredness, self importance, self righteousness and condemnation of those who may disagree with certain American leaders – the Mexicans, Germans, Chinese, Africans to name a few.

To have optimum global use of nuclear power, we need a peaceful world with strong economies, good education systems and sound governments, not threats of use of nuclear weapons and chemical weapons, nor have war seeking nations near peaceful nations with nuclear power plants. Destruction of fossil fuel power plants in war time is a simple thing. Attack on nuclear power plants in war time should be a design consideration in the future. Prepare for the worst to best maintain peace.

John Shanahan 3