As indigenous and native people of post-colonial societies worldwide continue to lag socio-economically throughout the world, a historical look at some of the root causes necessary for leaders to comprehend issues that they are facing. The search for explanations requires a focus on the sickness of inner warring and conflict that expands outward from within small family units to clans and tribes. This sickness as much a symptom of the greater problem of colonial history as it is a problem unto itself. So, it is important to review and understand the causes in order to tackle the problem, and to learn from different experiences. The first peoples of the Americas have a long history of oppression that helps to explain much of what happened in the areas that were colonized later. This paper will compare some of the shared historical challenges and post-colonial trauma of North America and East Africa and investigate positive paths to build peaceful and prosperous societies.