Person

Guenter Lewy

Political scientist; argues that the Genocide Convention's test of intent rules out most of the Native American deaths.

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The scholarly debate over the word "genocide" argues that the convention's test of intent rules out the epidemic deaths, though some California massacres might meet it Scholarship & press 1

Proof 1 source

Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?, History News Network, reprinting Commentary, 1 Sep 2004. Scholarship & press
The crucial role played by intentionality in the Genocide Convention means that under its terms the huge number of Indian deaths from epidemics cannot be considered genocide.
By contrast, some of the massacres in California, where both the perpetrators and their supporters openly acknowledged a desire to destroy the Indians as an ethnic entity, might indeed be regarded under the terms of the convention as exhibiting genocidal intent.
Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide? by Guenter Lewy

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