This week we bring you Natives in the News.

First stop, Peru, where archaeologists have discovered a mass grave in the Lima suburbs.  The grave is shallow, the bodies twisted in odd directions, with no burial offerings.  Researchers have concluded that the bodies must be the remains of an Inca tribe killed way back in 1536, in the first wave of Spanish conquest.  Many of the bodies show signs of violence; in one of the skulls, there is a curious little hole lined with metal fragments.  Only one thing can explain this wound:  a musket ball.  This victim has achieved the dubious distinction of being the oldest identified shooting victim in the Americas.

Skip forward two and a half centuries.  This summer marks the 250^th anniversary of a bloody six-day siege at Fort William Henry on Lake George.  In the long valley between Albany and Montreal, the balance of global power was decided.  The English and the Iroquois versus the French and the Algonquians, winner take all.  The English would lose the battle and the fort, but would go on to win the war and the world.  The French would pack their bags for Orleans and New Orleans.  And the Algonquians?  Their once-mighty nation is gone.  After the war, the “Last of the Mohicans” were systematically destroyed by the British and the Iroquois.

The legacy continues today.  Down at the other end of the British Empire in Australia, the native culture has collapsed.  The Aborigines have neither hope nor opportunity.  They spend their welfare money on gambling, alcohol and pornography, creating a life expectancy 17 years shorter than for the average Australian.  This week Prime Minister John Howard announced a new policy that will restrict alcohol sales to natives, require welfare money to be spent only on critical items like food, and link the distribution of welfare to a school attendance requirement.  Supporters of the program say it is necessary to protect aboriginal youth.  Critics decry the program as paternalistic and patronizing.

What’s it all mean?  Who knows, but it’s something to reflect on this summer, while drinking a mojito and shooting craps at the Mohegan Sun.