Which Tribe ?

I hear the resentment and anger in the voices of the people. I hear their complaints and feel their pain. The object of this attention and discontent is their home. The town were they were born and raised. The ground of their roots. They feel an affinity to this land. This is the land of their ancestors. Land that should be theirs, by birthright. But the land has been sold. The land is in the hands of outsiders. These outsiders have no connection to the past and only build for the future. They have no regard for the things of the past. To them, those things are just objects of curiosity to be admired or dismissed, as is convenient. I am well aware of this, as this land was once my home as well.
It is an age old story. One that has been repeated many times. Desirable land being obtained either by conquest or purchase. The land is the one constant. It is the thing that is in limited supply. Valuable to all. In this case the land was obtained by purchase. The " rich " white man having objects of great value to trade. Tools to ease their work and make it faster. Warm blankets and beads. And so the Natives sold the land. To them however, the only sale was they would allow the white man to live there unmolested. Sounded like a great deal, they got the goods and the white man could live there. What did that cost them ? Plenty of land to go around. The natives gained material wealth ! They remained fairly well pleased until the reality of what they had done became evident. Before long they were living on land that wasn't so desirable. Land, in fact, that the white man now allowed them to live upon. They became dependent upon the white man for their very existence. Soon their numbers dwindled to only a few. A few holding onto the past and trying to preserve it. The last of the tribe.
It is a story we all know. It is with great sadness that I watched some of this story unfold before me. The only difference being I was the Native and the white men are the wealthy ones. Now I hear of low income housing and land plots allocated by government regulation. Designated areas for the poor natives. Sounds suspiciously like a reservation to me. There was a day when I longed to return to this land, but no more. I will not live upon the reservation. It would take great material wealth to do otherwise, and I am not in that position. The tribe no longer owns the land. The outsiders have purchased it. Once again the land was sold for material wealth. Those doing the selling justifying it with various arguments. Some valid,some imaginary.
The upside of all this is that I now have empathy for those effected by this cycle. Right here in Greensboro land is being bought and sold to the outsiders. The outsiders are building housing developments to bring in more outsiders. They come to live with the scenic beauty and serenity of these surroundings. They will, for a while. That is until the outsiders start demanding more shopping,theaters and entertainment venues. The land will be transformed to resemble the land of the outsiders. Sound familiar ? Yeah, it happens. Nothing stays the same but some things never change. A paradox. The world keeps turning.