So you’ve never felt sad or emotional about a character in a book, or a film? You’ve never regretted that a TV series ended? Never been attached to any inanimate object (favorite shirt gifted by a dead family member f.e.), or whatever? These are all the same function. Yes, a lot of people take it too far and invest themselves too strongly. But this is fundamental to all functioning humans.
Humans create connections by their very nature, and if they don’t - they’re mentally ill and probably not fit for human society at large.
While your point remains somewhat valid, it’s not actually valid to say “native” in the same sense as “native Americans”.
There were a whole bunch of tribes in the area. Some were more influenced by Europe (swedes, Norwegians) and some less (Finns, Estonian, Sami). Surprise to no one, these tribes living in the southern regions were more successful (easier weather), so they expanded northward and thus rolled over the semi-nomadic Sami in a very nasty, but extremely historically common human way.