For the years of LEGALIZED discrimination, racism, slavery, segregation, forced assimilation, cultural genocide, rape and for their HIGH rates of obesity, heart disease, suicide, and alcoholism. I think they do, THE NATIVE AMERICANS WOULDN'T BE IN THIS SITUATION IF THE GOVERNMENT DIDN'T LEGALIZE IT!
2007-10-08 11:19:01 · 35 answers · asked by aloha_bitches 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
sorry for the typo!
2007-10-08 11:30:17 · update #1
The American government owes a lot of apologies to a lot of people but odds are they will never fess up
2007-10-08 11:22:19 · answer #1 · answered by Reverie 1 · 2⤊ 4⤋
Well for obesity, heart disease, suicide and alcoholism no we don't owe them an apology. Definitely not for alcoholism or suicide since we don't force them to drink or kill themselves. obesity and heart disease um that's ridiculous what did the government legalize for those 2, McDonald's! for the others everybody knows we do, but it would just be them admitting the faults of their predecessors. since the government isn't always made up of the same people and the current government along with previous ones has done nothing to native Americans. Also you can't say the American government did all of those, since alot of that happened when we were part of the British colonies.
2007-10-08 11:40:50 · answer #2 · answered by ? 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Recently there have been scientific grounds that link genetics to obesity, heart disease, suicide, and even alcoholism. The other part of the equation has to do with dietary habits and an exercise regime. Basically these things that contribute to obesity, heart disease, suicide, and even alcoholism are things the individual controls, outside of genetics.
Secondly, how can you argue both segregation and forced assimilation? It's either one or the other. They were segregated.
In this Politically Correct society that we live in dictates that we should apologize for what our ancestors thousands of years ago. Point taken. My question is where should we start? Any educated man/woman knows that for every power that rises one falls. Should Rome apologize? China? Mongolia? Persians? Fighting over land and resources has been around since the beginning of time there's no reason to think it will change in the foresee-able future.
2007-10-08 11:28:23 · answer #3 · answered by jay k 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
True, almost every government/race has at one time oppressed another group, and the actions of a government at one point in history can have long-lasting effects that are not easily counteracted by later generations. But you can't continue to lay blame forever. Is it fair to blame a person for something that happened before they or even their grandparents were even born? Today's American government does not encourage or even allow the slavery, segregation, forced assimilation, genocide, rape, torture, or murder of Native Americans, so your question really isn't fair. It's debatable whether the current government has taken enough steps to counteract the decades of oppression suffered by the Native Americans under previous government administrations... but Native Americans, like any individual, have to accept a certain amount of personal responsibility for any obesity, heart disease, suicide, or alcoholism in themselves or their community.
2016-04-07 22:03:07 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'll tell you what ... if they want an apology then they have to give up all their casinos and fireworks stands. Tit for tet ... you can't have your cake and eat it too ...
There is no excuse for how the United States treated the native Americans, but, in all fairness, then you have to blame every single country in the Western Hemisphere, because they all did the same thing to their indigenous populations. Whenever I hear some pre-rehearsed diatribe on how 'my people were treated wrongly,' I just kind of roll my eyes, because all it is is victim mentality. It is a lot easier to blame someone for your problems then to proactively try to better your situation, and you know what ... life isn't fair. And to claim that it should be is, quite frankly, clinically psychotic behavior ... because if life were fair I'd have a billion dollars, a house on the beach, and five Mercedes.
My people spent 500 years in slavery, have been systematically discriminated against and ethically cleansed for 3,000 years. To this day there are people who think we aren't really humans, and I've experienced discrimination and bigotry on par with anything any other racial or ethnic group can dish out ... do you see us complaining? No, because it doesn't change anything ... if you really want to make a difference then stop acting like a spoiled little child who doesn't get their own way, and stop using what happened to your grandparents, great grandparent, great-great grandparents, etc ... as an excuse!
2007-10-08 11:35:20 · answer #5 · answered by blursd2 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It was my belief that they already had. I don't think they owe an apology to any one race, we are all in it together and add to the problems with out the help of the government. We are just as much to blame as anyone else...and no, it was not the American Government that was a fault, but our fore fathers and the people who came to this land in the first place who started it. In fact through out history mankind is always to blame for these situations look at the Romans or Egyptians, etc..all through out time people have been doing the same things over and over again. So no I don't think they owe an apology, but we do owe one to ourselves.
2007-10-08 11:34:38 · answer #6 · answered by sweetyenah 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree, the U.S. Government (and several States, etc.) owe an apology to the Native Americans. After all, they offered an apology to African Americans and to the Japanese Interees of WWII.
By the way, for those who didn't bother to read all the history, the reason the Natives "lost" was due to disease, as the whites and blacks coming to the Americas were not as clean as the Natives and brought so many diseases, which killed 90% of the 20,000,000 Natives outright.
So, yes, the Government owes an apology. Especially from the Spanish who made the women into sex slaves, even for the priests!
2007-10-08 11:26:24 · answer #7 · answered by Nothingusefullearnedinschool 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
If this is the case then the American people and Government need to apologize to a great number of people. I have to say that I am part Indian and as such I feel that the government cheated my people, but an apology is not going to make up for the cramped reservations the poor living standards and the lose of the great lands that they had no right in claiming.
So they have done this to the Chinese, the African Americans and many others. Yet they have made reparations to both of them, but not the Native Americans.
2007-10-08 11:26:07 · answer #8 · answered by Randy W 5 · 2⤊ 3⤋
The question being, would just an apology really do anything in the long run?
What would that do for the people living in poverty and squalor on the reservations, right now?
2007-10-08 11:24:48 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
maybe if the people in charge were personally responsible, but I don't take credit for things I don't do, and I don't take blame for things I don't do, and neither should the government, The government that did those things is long gone. The have enough real things to apologize for now.
2007-10-08 11:24:12 · answer #10 · answered by crushinator01 5 · 4⤊ 1⤋
The Native Americans don't have to be in that situation anymore, it's been several generations now, but many remain. At some point, people need to act for themselves.
I don't know how you can justify blaming the U.S. Government for ANYONE's Alchoholism- that's a personal flaw. Nobody held the bottle for them.
2007-10-08 11:23:24 · answer #11 · answered by Beardog 7 · 4⤊ 3⤋