Good thing? Bad thing? Unnecessary thing?
It’s always a mistake for the government to try and issue a statement of emotion. Look at what happened with the Armenian Genocide and Turkey thing. It’s better not to pass such fluff legislation.
Symbolic gestures *are * part of leadership, and yes, they’re necessary even when they seem to have no actual content.
It’s way, way, way past time. But it’s still quite relevant, especially here in California, where the Governator has teamed up with the four richest tribes to (try to) make them even richer at the expense of smaller tribes whose casinos have less foot traffic. Also, AIUI, at least some indigenous nations find gambling an unacceptably immoral solution to their money problems, and since the US has long held all the good land, they’re left without an option to raise money. The conditions on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona are horrendous: food and money are scarce, building materials are so shitty that most homes burn down once every few years, each generation is forgetting more of the language, and the people are turning to Mormonism of all things for salvation. (No cite, I’ve just known a lot of Navajo from there.) AFAICT, the best and brightest are getting out and staying out, getting an education at the U of A and entering the white man’s world, leaving their roots behind.
Summary for the TLDR crowd: We should never forget how badly we fucked those guys over, even if there’s not much we can do to change it.
For a leader yes, for a government no. A government is a corporation, incapable of feeling guilty.
I do not accept that we’ve sunk that low yet.
But it can be guilty of wrongdoing, correct?
Yes, but nothing has changed. The apology is empty, the damage has been done, those cultures have been made subordinate, there is no going back, their hunting grounds are under suburban housing tracts. What good does the apology do? It simply reopens old wounds. I cannot take back what my ancestors did, and neither can any of those senators. None of them are going to give up the standard of living they currently enjoy, they aren’t going to change their dominant place in the social order out of some attempt to make amends. No, the Native Americans will stay conquered, they will stay subjugated, nomadic peoples forced to be agrarian on oftentimes infertile soil. They will continue to make money selling silver and turquoise bracelets, and fry bread, or they will bring tourists to their casinos where corporate executives who have tenuous at best connections to the tribe will turn it into every other corporation out there.
So what exactly does an apology do?
What does any apology do? Are you’re arguing that no one should apologize for stuff unless they make full amends?
I can think of one good reason why the US should apologize. As long as it stays silent, people can say, “You see what the US did to Native Americans? The government hasn’t even admitted any wrongdoing. So how can it talk about the wrongdoing of other countries? Bunch o’ hypocrites, the lot of 'em!”
I don’t know why some people think symbolic is tantamount to meaningless.
Exactly what an apology always does: makes it official that we’re sorry it happened. You yourself said that the situation isn’t going to change–so the least we owe the victims is an apology.
If the future president Obama, appologized to the American people for getting screwed over by the previous administration, wouldn’t that seem kind of ridiculous?
Must we subscribe to the biblical doctrine “sins of the fathers pass to the third and fourth generation”?
This generation has nothing to apologize for. However, present day native Americans reap the results of the sins of previous governments, and the government of today should strive to provider some satisfactory restitution.
We have the same government today that we created back in 1787. Administrations change but the government of today can certainly apology for its actions in 1887, 1953, or 2007.
Marc
An empty gesture, performed by people who have better things to do. I wonder how much those nice cheap words cost the taxpayers?
Very little? I mean, they are, you know, words, not buildings or machines or something. Sure, when Congress speaks, it requires a certain amount of effort, but it’s not like they were going to just close up shop and call it a day if it wasn’t for the apology.
That must make the Native Americans feel better then.
The smugness and self-satisfied hypocrisy of such empty posturing is beyond belief.
The government is not a corporation. :dubious:
I am indifferent about the apology. I hope Native Americans get more than an apology. There should be a focus on long term solutions to end the cycle of poverty. Reservations and underfunded hospitals are not the answer.
But there’s a dollar amount associated with it. How long was this discussed in committee? Who wrote the apology? Who edited it? Were there any lobbyists involved? How long did it circulate before being approved? How many Senator hours were lost with this? I’m going to bet it was more than just pocket change.
Exactly, more white guilt psychodrama played out for the American soap opera.
Well, I’m glad that’s all over with and we can move forward now.
Casinos are the answer!