Chapter 764 - 478: Purpose, Part 2

Chapter 764: Chapter 478: Purpose, Part 2

"Buddy, you guessed it. A full-strength force of 1,200 armed Indigenous combatants."

As Jeff spoke, his fingers tapped a light, rhythmic beat on the coffee table, as if to emphasize the importance of that number.

"So this unit is extremely important. And there’s something else they didn’t mention in the meeting. Because the FAGT’s duties overlap with the AGT and local police departments, each FAGT leader will automatically become the security officer for their area, with a rank equivalent to a second lieutenant or sergeant, responsible for the general public safety of Indigenous People in the region and reporting directly to the state government."

"Buddy, what on earth are Chief Welta and the others trying to do? Could it be..."

Hearing this, Feng Mountain’s brow furrowed.

He had never cared much for power.

In contrast,

he was more curious about the ultimate goal of the Indigenous Tribal Alliance in pushing this plan.

He didn’t say the rest aloud, instead just pointing a finger toward the ceiling in a veiled question.

However, Jeff just shook his head and followed with a silent sigh.

"As far as I know, they don’t have the kind of idea you’re guessing at. The chiefs are probably doing this for self-preservation. Indigenous People have been bullied by white people for too many years, and it’s only let up a little in recent years."

"But white people are white people. They’ll never let Indigenous People live in peace. In their eyes, perhaps the only good Indigenous Person is an extinct one."

As he said this, Jeff’s eyes revealed a sense of helplessness and sorrow.

It was as if those unbearable memories of the past were flashing before his eyes.

Even though the situation had improved somewhat,

the arrogance and prejudice in the bones of white people were deep-rooted.

For Indigenous People to truly live a peaceful life was still fraught with difficulties.

Listening to Jeff, Feng Mountain felt a complex mix of emotions.

He was gradually beginning to understand the difficult but well-intentioned motives of Chief Welta and the others.

Perhaps forming the FAGT was a desperate move for Indigenous People to survive and find stability in this land.

Survival for Indigenous People on the soil of the United States of America was truly difficult.

Ever since the United States’s vaunted Declaration of Independence, white supremacism and white exceptionalism had been rampant. They launched brutal campaigns to exterminate the Indians, even using cultural genocide as a means to completely wipe out their race.

Take the Homestead Act, once passed by the United States, for example.

The act stipulated that any American citizen who was at least 21 years old could claim up to 160 acres (or 64.75 hectares) of land in the west by paying a registration fee of just 10 US Dollars.

Driven by the allure of land,

droves of white people swarmed into Indian settlement areas like starving wolves.

They carried out one bloody massacre after another.

Tens of thousands of Indians fell under the white man’s blade. Countless families were shattered, homes destroyed, and cultures trampled.

That period of history was an eternally unhealable wound in the hearts of the Indians, and an indelible, bloody stain on American history.

That dark history was filled with appalling atrocities.

The infamous 100-pound bounty was for an Indian’s scalp.

At the time, the American Government issued a decree.

For every Indian scalp turned in,

the American Government would grant a reward of 100 pounds.

Over the long course of sixty years, the American Continent became a bloody slaughterhouse for the Indians, and nearly 5 million of them were tragically killed.

By 1900,

the number of Indians who had managed to survive had plummeted to less than 230,000.

Countless Indian Tribes vanished completely from the face of the Earth, forever lost to the dust of history.

However, the white man’s persecution of the Indians did not end there.

By 1930, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, under the guise of "Indian Health Services," was performing sterilization procedures on Indian women.

These so-called procedures, done on the surface under the banner of protecting the health of Indian women, were in reality an inhuman conspiracy.

Some procedures were even performed without the women’s knowledge.

They were stripped of their right to bear children without their consent.

According to detailed statistical data, in the early 1970s, over 42% of Indian women of childbearing age suffered the grim fate of sterilization.

For many small tribes that were not large to begin with,

this was undoubtedly a disaster of near-apocalyptic proportions.

By 1976, approximately 70,000 Indian women had been forcibly sterilized.

They struggled helplessly in the vortex of fate,

becoming victims of the American Government’s policies of racial oppression.

Then, starting from the 1870s and continuing through the 1880s,

the American Government went from bad to worse.

It implemented an even more aggressive policy of "forced assimilation."

It was a delusional attempt to fundamentally destroy the social structure and unique culture of the Indian Tribes.

The core objective of this forced assimilation strategy was to break the Indians’ traditional group structures, ethnic identities, and tribal affiliations. The goal was to remold them into individuals—American citizens with a civic consciousness who identified with mainstream American values.

They forcibly took Indian children from their tribes

and sent them to boarding schools.

There, the children were forced to abandon their native languages, cultures, and traditional clothing, and to accept a so-called American-style education.

It was an attempt to sever their connection to their own people at the root.

Historians around the world are united in their assessment of this period.

Forced assimilation is one of the most despicable acts in American history, an event that showcased the ugliness of human nature to its fullest extent.

Feng Mountain was overwhelmed with a whirlwind of emotions and, for a moment, didn’t know what to say.

There’s an old saying:

"Don’t preach goodness to others if you haven’t suffered their pain. If you had endured my suffering, you might not be as good as I am."

The crimes committed by white people against the Indians—every single one a blood debt—were so numerous they could never all be recorded.

The suffering the Indigenous People endured,

from inhuman massacres to inhumane forced sterilizations, and then to barbaric cultural genocide, was truly bone-deep.

Faced with this history of suffering,

the goal of Chief Welta and the other Chieftain Leaders in establishing the FAGT seemed reasonable and beyond reproach.

After all, where there is oppression, there will be resistance.

It is the inevitable choice made by the oppressed to survive, to maintain their dignity, and to continue their culture and their people.

They were simply, in a desperate situation,

trying to grasp at the single ray of hope that offered self-preservation and self-salvation.

Seeing Feng Mountain fall silent, Jeff’s lips curled into a subtle smile.

Then, his expression shifted to a shrewd one.

"Of course, business is business. The FAGT has to be established; it’s too significant for the Indigenous People. But, we also have to look out for ourselves. When it comes to funding, we can’t be shorted a single cent."

"Crown Territory doesn’t have any helicopters, right?" Jeff suddenly changed the subject, winking.

"No."

Feng Mountain shook his head, a look of confusion on his face. He didn’t understand why Jeff had suddenly brought up helicopters.

Jeff rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment.

A calculating glint shone in his eyes.

"Alright, you can apply for one helicopter. The thirteen Indigenous Companies have plenty of money anyway. They won’t even thank you for saving them some."

"On second thought, the Tundra is a huge area. One helicopter definitely won’t be enough. Two should do it. What do you think about a Black Hawk?"

Jeff looked up.

He gesticulated as he spoke, trying to make Feng Mountain understand his meaning.

Two Black Hawk helicopters.

’You’ve got some nerve, even suggesting that.’

Feng Mountain wasn’t some rookie who had just arrived and knew nothing.

He casually scrolled through the news on his phone from time to time.

And given Crown Territory’s location, the demand for aircraft was very high, so he also paid attention to news about planes.

He knew a thing or two about the Black Hawk helicopter, also known as the UH-60 utility helicopter.

Ever since its debut, its outstanding performance had made it one of the most produced helicopters in the world.

That was proof enough of its excellent and superior design.

Moreover, the Black Hawk was extremely adaptable and could easily handle the harsh environment of the Far North Tundra.

However, the dream was beautiful, but reality was harsh.

Buying this kind of helicopter wasn’t just a matter of having money.

The manufacturer of the UH-60 had an astonishing number of orders, with a backlog that already stretched more than 20 years into the future.

For a state-level civilian organization like the FAGT,

wanting to buy a Black Hawk helicopter was just a pipe dream.