Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/91908859.html
SAN DIEGO - Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., envisions a public ceremony to announce the passage of the Native American Apology Resolution.
The Kansas senator introduced an apology in 2004 in partnership with former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of the Northern Cheyenne Nation. The Senate finally passed a version of the resolution last October and President Barack Obama signed it into law as part of a defense appropriations bill in December.
"I've been pushing the administration to have a major public ceremony, but they aren't taking it on yet," Brownback told Indian Country Today at the National Indian Gaming Association's annual Indian Gaming Trade Show & Convention in early April.
Brownback was a guest speaker at the convention where he discussed the apology during a NIGA membership meeting. He is stepping down from his Senate seat this year to run for governor in Kansas.
He handed out copies of the resolution, which says in part that Congress, "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 also "urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order to bring healing to this land." It comes with a disclaimer that nothing in the resolution authorizes or supports any legal claims against the United States and that the resolution does not settle any claims against the United States.
"Now this may seem like just words, but we worked five or six years to get these passed and we were never able to get one passed. This has been a long time coming. I think this is historic and I think it's incredibly significant. Canada did this (issued an apology to the First Nations) and I thought it was a very significant thing, but it has to be the president," Brownback told the audience.
He said the resolution was not the end, but the first step toward a healing process.
"It's my hope that tribal leaders here will see this as a positive step forward on healing and making a full reconciliation between the U.S. and tribal leadership, tribal leadership and the states and the states recognizing the sovereignty that's there."
The presidential signing of the bill took place without any fanfare or announcement just before Christmas. Like the eternal philosophical puzzler, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" questions soon popped up regarding the validity of an apology that no one knows about.
Brownback hoped tribal leadership would put forward an effort in the form of resolutions from the National Congress of American Indians, the United South and Eastern Tribes and NIGA urging Obama to have "a very public ceremony, invite the tribal leadership to be there and then the country knows about it. We passed it, but nobody knows about it. It isn't like it didn't happen, because it did, but you need to bring the resolution to the country. The words have been stated and now it is law," Brownback said.
In late February, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, urged Obama to publicly acknowledge the Native American Apology Resolution.
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This apology deserves national recognition and public acknowledgment. To give true hearing to the apology, we respectfully request that you hold a White House ceremony with tribal leaders to formally issue the apology to Native peoples. We also look forward to additional steps in an action plan that will help to right the past wrongs," the FCNL said.
Brownback and a number of legislators have sent a letter to the president urging him to hold a ceremony, and a similar letter from the NCAI is circulating among tribal leaders.
Tribal leaders at the NIGA event are confident a ceremony will take place this year. While the public ceremony is hugely important, they said they recognized that the president may have other pressing, priorities. The leaders suggested a good time for an apology ceremony would be around the time of the second Native American Heritage Day in November and that they are hopeful it will take place then.