Posted on 08/10/2009 11:40:34 AM PDT by yoe
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs passed a resolution by voice vote last week apologizing "on behalf of American people" to all Indian tribes for the mistreatment and violence by American citizens.
Senate Joint Resolution 14, sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), states that its purpose is to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the Federal Government regarding Indian Tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States.
In Section 1A, No. 4 of the resolution states that the apology is on behalf of U.S. citizens for harm they have done to Native Peoples. In the resolution, native peoples are defined as people who 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.
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, the resolution reads.
Requests by CNSNews.com for clarification of the language in the bill were not answered by Brownbacks office by press time, but Brownback issued a statement on Friday about the passage of his resolution.
I am pleased that my colleagues have decided to move forward with a formal apology from the federal government to Native Americans," Brownback said. "This is a resolution of apology and reconciliation, and is a step toward healing divisive wounds.
With this resolution we have the potential to start a new era of positive relations between tribal governments and the federal government, Brownback said.
For too much of our history, federal-tribal relations have been marked by broken treaties, mistreatment and dishonorable dealings. With this resolution, we can acknowledge past failures, express sincere regrets and establish a brighter future for all Americans, he added.
Neither Brownbacks statement nor the resolution says whether the apology is on behalf of U.S. citizens who are alive today or U.S. citizens who lived in the past.
Co-sponsors of the resolution were Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.),Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).
These senators obviously haven’t read Alan Eckert’s histories. Nor are they terribly familiar with the rise and fall of various Indian tribes and/or confederations from before Europeans had any influence on them at all.
LOL
OMG. Can we apologize to any more people? Let me apologize right now for being born, taking up space, and wasting air. Does that about cover it now?
OMG. Can we apologize to any more people? Let me apologize right now for being born, taking up space, and wasting air. Does that about cover it now?
Same thing happened in Australia last year, when PM Kevin Rudd “apologized” to the Aborigines for the “Stolen Generations” charade.
I haven’t gotten my check!
And no, I am not willing to apologize for any massacres.
I guess innocent men women and children were enemies. I have no problem with my people killing and scalping savage murderers who terrorize innocent people and having a bounty for it.
I get about $1,200 a year from my tribes casino profits
and I declare it as income on my 1040.
They probably felt the same way. They saw themselves as the Innocent ones who the white man sold them blankets infested with sickness which they had no immune to. Or whom the white father in Washington who promised them this and that for their land and then herded them off like cattle to die on reservations. Both sides have blood on their hands.
The smallpox blankets are unsubstantiated Ward Churchill BS. Smallpox vaccination, a procedure developed by the English country doctor Edward Jenner in 1796, was first ordered in 1801 by President Jefferson; the program continued in force for three decades, though its implementation was slowed both by the resistance of the Indians, who suspected a trick, and by lack of interest on the part of some officials.
http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html
Not necessarily smallpox it could of been just the flue we about wiped out the Hawaiians with the flue. Any sickness that came from Europe would be devastation on a civilization that did not have an immunity to it.
Good post. I wonder if the Senate Committee on African-American affairs is going to apologize? Oh wait...we don’t have one!
How about the Bureau of White Affairs...maybe they should apologize too? Oh wait...
Oh please...give it a rest.
LOL - okie dokie.
“Lady, some of my ancestors met the boat” attr. Will Rogers Jr.
That is my case as well, “some”, of my ancestors met the boats.
Am I not entitled to at least a partial apology...
The Native American tribes who were murdered and displaced by the more powerful Native American Tribes, prior to the arrival of the evil white man, in the region now known as the USA would also like an apology and reparations from those more dominant tribes, who now recieve money from casino operations.
I would also like some reparation money because some of my Evil White ancestors were slaughtered by the friendly peaceful savages who lived in total peace with each other before the evil white man arrived from europe[/s]
You white guys won. You got the whole country! What other reparations do you want?
Would you like for our government to finally banish the Bureau of Eurotrash Affairs? Oh yeah...there’s not one.
How about our government apologize and start giving money back to these people that is owed to them out of the missing U.S. Indian Trust Fund (now in the hundreds of billions)...then abolish this nonsense of having an administrator “take care” of them.
many times leaders make bad decisions, as did many of the native tribal leaders.
as today our leaders are making fatal decisions .
History is not your fault or mine, nor does it warrant an apology from the senate
American Indians receive free housing, pay no federal or state taxes, receive a federal stipend, a state stipend, free education in state colleges, free health care, and receive royalties from the Indian casinos. You ought to be more thankful to White America for paying your way. We are giving you your reparations and have been for a long time.
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