The last chapter in any successful genocide is the one in which the oppressor can remove their hands and say, ‘My God, what are these people doing to themselves? They’re killing each other. They’re killing themselves while we watch them die.’ This is how we came to own these United States. This is the legacy of manifest destiny.

Source: "America's Native Prisoners of War." TEDxDU 2010. Sep. 2010. Conference Presentation. Additional Information: This quote is from photographer, adventurer and storyteller Aaron Huey's 2010 TED Talk about the history of the Lakota people, an indigenous people of United States. The quote means that the final stage of genocide -- the systematic massacre of an entire group of people -- is for the perpetrator of the genocide to act as if they people they are murdering are killing each other and that they (the oppressor) bear no responsibility in these happenings. Says Huey, this is what the United States has done in the genocide of Native Americans and this is how white settlers came to colonize the country. Watch the full TED Talk here: Aaron Huey - America's Native Prisoners of War