Indian Deaths, Holocaust Linked by Resolution = Colorado Legislature

[L. Coyote]

Indian deaths, Holocaust linked
Resolution passed comparing Holocaust and Indian deaths
Associated Press
Friday, May 2, 2008


The Colorado Legislature passed a resolution comparing the deaths of millions of American Indians to the Holocaust and other acts of genocide around the world. The nonbinding measure passed 22-12 in the Senate and 59-4 in the House after some lawmakers protested that it unfairly condemned all Europeans for injustices against Indians.

‘Cruelty and inhumanity’
The resolution passed Wednesday says Europeans intentionally caused many American Indian deaths and that early American settlers often treated Indians with “cruelty and inhumanity.” It specifically mentions the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation in 1838 and the 1864 Sand Creek massacre in Colorado. It also refers to deaths due to disease that were intensified by forced migrations, food deprivation and enslavement by Europeans.
“Colleagues, this resolution is a recognition that up to 120 million indigenous people have died as a result of European migration to what is now the United States of America,” said sponsor Sen. Suzanne Williams, a Democrat who is a Comanche Indian.

Too broad of a brush?
Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, a Republican, said the resolution painted all Europeans with a broad brush.
Democratic Sen. Paula Sandoval said the resolution wasn’t meant to blame all Europeans.
Members of a group of American Indians who came to the Capitol to watch the vote said they wanted recognition of what happened to their ancestors.

.....
A resolution formally apologizing to American Indians for centuries of government mistreatment was passed by the U.S. Senate in February but has not cleared the House.

[antigone382]

1. It's about time.

I'd say that when the Cherokees who lived in wooden houses, wore European-style clothing, and practiced Christianity were unconstitutionally forced out of their homes, based solely on their ethnicity, for the sake of land and gold, they might have been painted with a broad brush, too (which is not to say that the oppression and annihilation of the completely assimilated Cherokees was somehow more heinous than the oppression and annihilation of Indian nations who chose to maintain their own way of life).

Edited for the worst grammatical train wreck I've ever written.