The Trail of Tears began and ended nearly 200 years ago. History looks at it as the exemplification of a people felled by war, disease, ignored treaties, and the destruction of its culture by internal and external forces. The Indian Nations and the American Republic (as well as Canada) proved incapable of coexistence, and as a result, the Indian removal effort began in the 1830s. There are more than 550 federally recognized Indian nations and more than 300 reservations left to them. You would be hard-pressed to articulate that as consolation. But that is a time gone by. The Trail of Tears has been over for a long time. The Indian Tribes now coexist as sovereign nations within the republic. If popular culture, social activists, and the media are to be our guides, the only troubles currently facing the Native American population involve retelling the Native American story, changing the …