To follow up on my previous post, here is a pretty recent article (May 2010) about an apology made by Washington Representative Jim McDermott and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback:
McDermott and Brownback apologized to the First Nations of the U.S. for “ill-conceived policies and the breaking of covenants” and for “many instances of violence, maltreatment and neglect”. Apparently, McDermott used this apology to also point out that the federal government has continuously failed to address the issue of recognizing the Duwamish as an official tribe. He also explained how the Duwamish are not the only indigenous group to be neglected by United States policymakers, even after making treaties with the government decades ago.
This article raises a couple of interesting questions. First of all, considering the lack of interest the government seems to have in working towards recognizing and reconciling with American First People, why even make the apology? As far as McDermott and Brownback are concerned, this is a small step toward affirmative action for Native Americans, and a large step for these political leaders in regards to increasing their constituency to include indigenous groups. There does not seem to be any real movement toward aiding these under-recognized people. In my opinion, this apology means nothing unless McDermott truly continues to push legislation to recognize the Duwamish and other deserving groups. He explains that he “authored legislation to fix this shameful problem”, but this clearly has not yet made a difference for the Duwamish.
The other issue this article raises is, how far exactly should the government go to fix past issues? Aside from current problems like that of recognizing the Duwamish, there have been countless injustices on Native Americans that the federal government is responsible for, many of which are irreversible. For such issues, is a simple apology all that First People can hope for? The government has spent a great deal of time and money creating policies for African Americans in order to boost their social and economic well-being through jobs, secondary education, and other programs; yet, similar programs for indigenous Americans are almost non-existent in comparison. I think it is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that these people who have been so mistreated in the past are given every opportunity to become the proud, successful First Nations that they once were. An official apology is one step, but these apologies need to include a step by step process through which Native Americans will be reconciled.
-Rachel Wolk
-Rachel Wolk
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