Thread: Indians may get apology

Indians may get apology
Senate-backed resolution admits to massacres, mistreatment

FAITH BREMNER • Argus Leader Washington Bureau • March 8, 2008

WASHINGTON - More than 100 years after the 7th Cavalry killed 300 Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, Congress is considering legislation officially apologizing for it and other mistreatment the U.S. government carried out against Native Americans over the years.

South Dakota's congressional delegation supports the Resolution of Apology to Native Peoples of the United States, which the Senate unanimously agreed to add to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which is now pending in the House.

Congress has apologized for mistreating other minority groups. In 1993, it apologized to Native Hawaiians for helping overthrow the Hawaiian kingdom in the late 1800s. In 1988, Congress apologized to Japanese Americans for forcibly removing them to internment camps during World War II.

"It's important for those that feel that they and their family members in the past have been treated unfairly, for the federal government to formally recognize the injustices that have been committed," Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., said Thursday.

An apology for historical wrongs is a necessary step in the healing process, said Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

"However, an apology alone won't improve Indian health care, secure educational opportunities for the future of Indian children or bring economic development to Indian Country," Johnson said.

"The best way for the United States to apologize to Indian Country is to live up to the treaty and trust responsibilities," he said.

The apology resolution, which was introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., recounts how native people helped early European settlers and explorers survive their harsh, unfamiliar surroundings and how relations between the groups descended into armed conflicts, in which many innocent lives were lost.

It also highlights some of the well-known government actions that caused many Native Americans to suffer and die, including the policy of forcibly removing tribes from their homelands onto reservations, the Sand Creek and Wounded Knee massacres and the forcible removal of native children from their families to send them to boarding schools.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., sponsored similar apology legislation in 2005. That measure passed the Indian Affairs Committee but was never taken up by the full Senate.

"While it is important to acknowledge and learn from the mistakes of the past, Senator Thune is also focused on building strong relationships and together finding solutions for the future," Thune's spokesman, Kyle Downey, said.

The apology is a good first step, said Patrice Kunesh, director of the Institute of American Indian Studies at the University of South Dakota.

The government's misdeeds continue today in the form of discrimination against Native American voters, Kunesh said. The federal government has failed to enforce laws that require local governments to draw voting district boundaries in a way that's fair to Indian people, she said.

"Each state has had its own sad, sordid history," said Kunesh, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. "Certainly South Dakota is still struggling with that history."

Lakota activist Russell Means said the apology would reinforce his efforts to get the World Court to charge the U.S. with genocide of its native people. Means said he has been talking with foreign officials, whom he declined to name, to sponsor a lawsuit before the World Court on behalf of his group, Lakota Freedom Delegation.

The apology resolution carries a disclaimer that denies authority or support for any claim against the U.S.

"It's helpful because (the genocide) is fact now, in terms of the government admitting it," Means said. "It's a great thing."

The bill has been referred to three House committees, but no hearings have been scheduled yet.

Contact Faith Bremner at fbremner@gns.gannett.com.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /1001/news

It's about time!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's do this only if we get a reciprocal apology from the tribes responsible for the massacre of thousands of farmers, settlers and pioneers on every frontier. Perhaps warrior tribes should apoligize for massacring peacefull tribes too.

It may have been English and Dutch fishermen who triggered this whole mess--around the time of John Cabot. Seriously. And just what have they done to rectify the injustice?

When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620 at Plymouth Rock the local Indians had already been decimated by earlier diseases of the previous decade or so. Because the Wampanogs had lost so many members they HAD to ally themselves with the Pilgrims, to protect themselves against other, hostile tribes. This made them also ripe for exploitation and misunderstandings. This turned into a reverberating shock wave for the next two hundred years and included major events like the French and Indian wars, the rise of General George Washington and the American Revolution.

"Those on the Mayflower were not the first Europeans to come to the New World, and they weren't even the first Englishmen to come to the shores. For more than a century before, there had been expeditions primarily by the Spaniards and a few Englishmen like John Cabot in 1497. The first English child, Virginia Dare, was born in Virginia in 1587.

But when the Mayflower landed on Nov. 9, 1620, with 101 colonists, it made quite an impression. The pilgrims had joined forces with 50 people in England who did not share their religious beliefs but wanted a new life in America.

On Nov. 11, the Mayflower Compact was signed by the 41 men on board, which established a form of local government by which the colonists agreed to abide by majority rule and to cooperate for the general good of the colony. This set a precedent for democracy in the New World.

Because of contact with the English over the years, there were many English-speaking Native Americans. On March 16, 1621, Samoset walked into the New Plymouth community and began talking to the pilgrims, mining information for the local tribe to determine the pilgrims' intentions.

He returned to the Wampanoag people saying that the pilgrims wanted peace, and a bond was formed between the tribe and the settlers.

The next year, the Plymouth pilgrims signed one of the first treaties between colonists and Native Americans with the help of English-speaking Native American Squanto. Wampanoag chief Massasoit wanted an alliance to strengthen his tribe, which had been weakened by disease introduced by the Europeans. "


Just remember that the next time you have fish and chips!

It may even go back to the Vikings. They encountered some sort of Algonquin tribe and their behavior to them was awful.

Where do the apologies end? Actions at the time they were taken were taken in the context of the times and with personnel alive at the time of the action. Theoretically, someone or an entire group can claim to be a victim of every action they have encountered.

So, to get back to my question, where do the apologies end? In 20, 40, 80 years, will "we" get an apology from whatever government exists in America (if it is still termed America) for open borders, the destruction of the American worker and our society as it historically existed? Will we get an apology for that? Will we get an apology from government for their allowance of mass illegal immigration?

I think Congress should take care of business at hand and today's Americans. Native Americans don't have to isolate themselves any longer. (Really they never should have had to in the first place but my feeling their prejudices towards the pioneers brought this upon themselves.) There is absolutely no reason for them to loose their identity and it's about time they become as the blacks and other minorities have "A PART OF TODAY'S SOCIETY"!!!

American is American no matter your "race" as long as you've been born on US soil!!!! or to American parent(s)!

Half of the European population was wiped out by a plague which originated in Central Asia This was about the same time that Muslims were capturing some of them for slaves, too. Well, within about five hundred years or so...

I think every culture on earth has been persecuted or wronged in someway since the beginning of time.

Glad they are apologizing, but Zeezil's right. When do we get an apology for the misdeeds and wrongs of today??????????

Will the Indians apologize for bringing syphilis to Europe?

Will the Muslims apologize for bring the Black Plague to Europe?