RESOLUTION OF APOLOGY TO NATIVE PEOPLES OF UNITED STATES
A sorry attempt at apology
by
Susan Greene Denver Post Columnist Article Last Updated:
02/26/2008 11:46:38 PM MST
Shannon Francis never sought an apology from a country that yanked her
mom and grandma off their reservations, forced them into white foster
families and barred them from speaking their native Hopi and Navajo
languages.
So
the Denver resident was unaware Tuesday that her government had decided
to say, "Sorry."
"I had no clue it was coming," the 38-year-old mother of six
said with a shrug. "So much for making history."
Like Francis, you probably missed it when the U.S. Senate
quietly apologized for centuries of "violence,
maltreatment and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples."
The
unprecedented resolution acknowledges that the government forced
indigenous people off their land, stole their assets and was responsible
for "official depredations, ill-conceived policies and the breaking of
covenants" with tribes.
When Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized two weeks
ago for policies that degraded that country's Aborigines, he blared his
pronouncement live on giant screens throughout Australia.
U.S. senators instead buried their "Oops, our bad" in an
amendment to a bill for American Indian health care.
Well, that certainly makes up for the Sand Creek Massacre and Wounded
Knee.
So
much for healing generations.
"White America can't afford to apologize too seriously because it would
threaten their ownership of Indian land," said Iliff School of Theology
Indian cultures professor Tink Tinker.
Tuesday's resolution came at the urging of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.,
who reports a "deep resentment" among Native Americans in his state.
His colleagues aren't so big on apologies. Congress hadn't
formally said "sorry" since apologizing to Native Hawaiians in 1993 for
overthrowing their kingdom a century earlier. In 1988, lawmakers
apologized and compensated Japanese-Americans interned in World War II
detention camps. Brownback's resolution does not authorize or settle any
claim against the United States.
"We
have a government that took our land and our children and physically and
emotionally abused them and forced them to assimilate into something
that they're not," said Francis, an accounting consultant by trade and a
longtime activist for American Indian causes. "We - I -live with the
pain of that every day. And for this they issue a bunch of words, empty
like their treaties, that mean nothing and nobody hears."
Who
is the apology really for, Francis wonders?
Is
it for her mother, grandmother and aunties who spent lifetimes trying to
forget the federal boarding schools that sought to strip away their
culture?
For her brother, plagued like their father and grandfather by poverty
and alcoholism?
For her son, who failed a 7th-grade history test when he refused to
check the box saying Christopher Columbus discovered America?\
Or for Francis herself, who overcame years of shame about her dark skin
and accent to learn the ways of her ancestors that her own family had
failed to pass on: to honor her kids, hug them and root them deeply in
their heritage?
"If
our people had been left alone, maybe things would have been different,"
she said.
As Francis sees it, Tuesday's resolution does little to fix a
sad sequence of abuses that still is far from over.
"We
don't need any more hollow words," she says. "What I want is for the
country to be honest, really honest, about what it has done and what it
continues doing to our people."
________________________________________
For anyone who like to read the text, here it is:
S.1200 Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2008 (Engrossed
as
Agreed to or Passed by Senate)
SEC. 301. RESOLUTION OF APOLOGY TO NATIVE
PEOPLES OF UNITED STATES.
(a) Findings- Congress finds that--
(1) the ancestors of today's Native Peoples inhabited the land
of the present-day United States since time immemorial and for thousands
of years before the arrival of people of European descent;
(2) for millennia, Native Peoples have honored, protected, and
stewarded this land we cherish;
(3) Native Peoples are spiritual people with a deep and abiding
belief in the Creator, and for millennia Native Peoples have maintained
a powerful spiritual connection to this land, as evidenced by their
customs and legends;
(4) the arrival of Europeans in North America opened a new
chapter in the history of Native Peoples;
(5) while establishment of permanent European settlements in
North America did stir conflict with nearby Indian tribes, peaceful and
mutually beneficial interactions also took place;
(6) the foundational English settlements in Jamestown, Virginia,
and Plymouth, Massachusetts, owed their survival in large measure to the
compassion and aid of Native Peoples in the vicinities of the
settlements;
(7) in the infancy of the United States, the founders of the
Republic expressed their desire for a just relationship with the Indian
tribes, as evidenced by the Northwest Ordinance enacted by Congress in
1787, which begins with the phrase, `The utmost good faith shall always
be observed toward the Indians';
(8) Indian tribes provided great assistance to the fledgling
Republic as it strengthened and grew, including invaluable help to
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their epic journey from St. Louis,
Missouri, to the Pacific Coast;
(9) Native Peoples and non-Native settlers engaged in numerous
armed conflicts in which unfortunately, both took innocent lives,
including those of women and children;
(10) the Federal Government violated many of the treaties
ratified by Congress and other diplomatic agreements with Indian tribes;
(11) the United States forced Indian tribes and their citizens
to move away from their traditional homelands and onto federally
established and controlled reservations, in accordance with such Acts as
the Act of May 28, 1830 (4 Stat. 411, chapter 148) (commonly known as
the `Indian Removal Act');
(12) many Native Peoples suffered and perished--
(A) during the execution of the official Federal Government
policy of forced removal, including the infamous Trail of Tears and Long
Walk;
(B) during bloody armed confrontations and massacres, such as
the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890;
and
(C) on numerous Indian reservations;
(13) the Federal Government condemned the traditions, beliefs,
and customs of Native Peoples and endeavored to assimilate them by such
policies as the redistribution of land under the Act of February 8, 1887
(25 U.S.C. 331; 24 Stat. 388, chapter 119) (commonly known as the
`General Allotment Act'), and the forcible removal of Native children
from their families to faraway boarding schools where their Native
practices and languages were degraded and forbidden;
(14) officials of the Federal Government and private United
States citizens harmed Native Peoples by the unlawful acquisition of
recognized tribal land and the theft of tribal resources and assets from
recognized tribal land;
(15) the policies of the Federal Government toward Indian tribes
and the breaking of covenants with Indian tribes have contributed to the
severe social ills and economic troubles in many Native communities
today;
(16) despite the wrongs committed against Native Peoples by the
United States, Native Peoples have remained committed to the protection
of this great land, as evidenced by the fact that, on a per capita
basis, more Native Peoples have served in the United States Armed Forces
and placed themselves in harm's way in defense of the United States in
every major
military conflict than any other ethnic group;
(17) Indian tribes have actively influenced the public life of
the United States by continued cooperation with Congress and the
Department of the Interior, through the involvement of Native
individuals in official Federal Government positions, and by leadership
of their own
sovereign Indian tribes;
(18) Indian tribes are resilient and determined to preserve,
develop, and transmit to future generations their unique cultural
identities;
(19) the National Museum of the American Indian was established
within the Smithsonian Institution as a living memorial to Native
Peoples and their traditions; and
(20) Native Peoples are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, and among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.
(b) Acknowledgment and Apology- The United States, acting
through Congress--
(1) recognizes the special legal and political relationship
Indian tribes have with the United States and the solemn covenant with
the land we share;
(2) commends and honors Native Peoples for the thousands of
years that they have stewarded and protected this land;
(3) recognizes that there have been years of official
depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by
the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes;
(4) apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to
all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and
neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States;
(5) expresses its regret for the ramifications of former wrongs
and its commitment to build on the positive relationships of the past
and present to move toward a brighter future where all the people of
this land live reconciled as brothers and sisters, and harmoniously
steward
and protect this land together;
(6) urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United
States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in
order to bring healing to this land; and
(7) commends the State governments that have begun
reconciliation efforts with recognized Indian tribes located in their
boundaries and encourages all State governments similarly to work toward
reconciling relationships with Indian tribes within their boundaries.
(c)
Disclaimer- Nothing in this section--
(1) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States;
or
(2) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United
States.
Attest: Secretary. 110th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 1200 AN ACT To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to revise and extend that Act.
Submitted by Shayne Del Cohen Journal #1046 3/12/08