Nomads

For the first 90% of human history, we were roaming hunters and gatherers. Then we invented farms, villages, permanent homes, empires, ruling classes and so on. Anyone who remained nomadic no longer counted. 

When Europeans reached North America, they classified the Indians as nomads and took possession of the land, claiming it wasn’t properly owned and used.  Never mind that the Indians in many cases had farms and villages. 

Toward the end of World War II, progressives like FDR and Truman decided to support the movement of European Jews into Palestine. As Americans saw it, Palestinians were Arabs, and Arabs were nomads who would roam off into the desert and not mind if the Jews built cities. That did not work out—the Palestinians were not nomads and had already built cities—but what interests me here is the stigma on those who move around like tinkers or gypsies. Or get moved around, like the homeless in Sonoma County. They really don’t count. The homeless haven’t counted for ten thousand years. Along our state border, they especially don’t count. They aren’t even three-fifths of a person.