The 2010 article An Historical Overview of the Navajo Relocation tells the story of the brutal treatment of the Diné (Navajo) by the U.S. government in the 19th century. It points out:

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"In 1863, Kit Carson launched a brutal and relentless search-and-destroy campaign against the Navajo people. Under his command, the US Cavalry swept across the Navajo countryside chopping down fruit trees, destroying crops and butchering sheep. Thousands of Navajos were killed, and approximately 8,500 Navajo men, women and children were captured and forced to walk more than 400 miles in the dead of winter to Fort Summer, a barren, 40-square-mile reservation in eastern New Mexico. This became known in Native American history as 'The Long Walk.'"

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The U.S. government and Indian Residential Schools destroyed many Indian nations, cultures, and languages. However, during World War II, America relied on the Navajo Code Talkers to win the war! They were young Navajo men who transmitted secret communications on the battlefields. At a time when America's best cryptographers were falling short, these sheepherders and farmers fashioned the most ingenious and successful code in military history. Serving with distinction in the Pacific theater from 1942-1945, their unbreakable code played a pivotal role in winning the war.