Please, Rich.
I know you're much smarter than this.
You were a hippy. You know better.

What we were taught in the 50's was the whitewashed one-sided view of history. Colonization = good; Indians = uncivilized savages who had to be defeated to create Canada.

In the 60's, however, we learned much more truth. We learned the truth isn't black and white; it's various shades of gray, depending on who's telling the story.
  We learned colonization created North America as we know it (mostly good) but colonization also slaughtered millions of indigenous people, created vicious racism, endless wars among the various empires,  since the 15th century (Very bad).
    Learning more of the facts is a beautiful thing. I was a bit sad when I learned that Davy Crockett and Andrew Jackson weren't all perfectly good. But I got over it.
    You might have noticed people everywhere just want to be free, free first of all from colonization.
   The opposite of colonization is inclusive democracy.