Thursday, January 17, 2013

An Apology is the Easy Part?


On May 23, 2010, the Native American Times carried an AP wire with the headline “Apology to Tribes - US apologizes to American Indians for mistreatment”. What next? Mexico? Spain?

Unfortunately for the Native Americans, then-Senator Brownback, who had pushed for the resolution, said that that “the resolution was not meant to authorize or support any claim against the U.S. government or serve as a settlement of any claim.” Oh well, at least they have their reservations and casinos.

That reminds of an old Superman cartoon (you can actually see it here!) that was still being seen on TV networks many years after it was made in 1942. A Native American (Indian) scientist claims that Manhattan Island still belongs to his “people” and attempts to blow it up when the Daily Planet (Perry White, joined by Clark Kent and Lois Lane) refused to “publish the truth.” The Daily Planet headline near the end says it all: “Superman Saves Manhattan Island”.

71 years later, the scientist is still waiting. (Appropriately for the times, no one dies in the cartoon.) Perhaps the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly should pass a resolution demanding that New York return Manhattan Island to Native Americans, say, for 24 dollars?*

* I’d actually remembered the scientist saying this…which to my dismay did not happen when I just watched it over my bowl of udon.

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