We generally take genocide to be the forced killing of a religious or ethnic group soley because of their religious or ethnic makeup. This would include either direct killing or conditions that are meant to lead to extermination. The Trail of Tears was a horrible event, but there is no evidence that extermination was sought. We also consider scope. The atrocities that we usually tie-in to genocide have a tendency to be far reaching more than isolated instances. [[User:Learn together|Learn together]] 17:17, 3 December 2008 (EST)
:whether we like the UN or not, i think they have good guidelines on this particular issue [http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm here][[User:PeytonJ|PeytonJ]] 17:21, 3 December 2008 (EST)