Content area
Full Text
When President Obama signed into law the 2010 Defense Appropriations Act Dec. 19, it included a footnote, entitled Section 8113, otherwise known as an "apology to Native Peoples of the United States."
The passage of the apology resolution went largely unnoticed on the national scene; indeed, even the White House is said to be unsure of what to do with Section 8113 beyond signing it into law.
That's because leaders in Indian country are divided over the meaningfulness of a statement from the nation telling Native people it is sorry "for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States" as the condensed resolution states.
Some tribal leaders have told the nation's leaders: Put your money where your mouth is with more money for tribal programs and reparations to Native people for past wrongs. Other tribal leaders say an apology is long overdue, and would help heal some deep wounds in our nation's psyche.
The national apology is the culmination of a five-year attempt by Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas to get legislation passed that attempts, in part, to right the wrongs of the past through a formal apology. Brownback said he introduced the legislation, not because of any broad-based support in his state for the apology, but because he was...