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A New Conversation: Addressing a 500-Year-Old Wound

By Mark Charles
U.S. Capitol Building, Greg Kushmerek / Shutterstock.com
U.S. Capitol Building, Greg Kushmerek / Shutterstock.com
Aug 3, 2012
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On December 19, I am hosting a public reading of the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. I am doing so because page 45 of this 67-page document contains a generic, non-binding apology to native peoples on behalf of the citizens of the United States.

This apology was not publicized by the White House nor by Congress. As a result, a majority of the 350 million citizens of the United States do not know they have been apologized for. And most of the 5 million Indigenous Peoples of this land do not know they have been apologized to.

... This apology is a part of our country's history. Our leaders wrote it, the 111th Congress passed it, and President Barack Obama signed it into law. Then, unfortunately, they buried it. I am not protesting this, nor am I celebrating it. I am merely attempting to publicize it in the most open, respectful, and sincere way I know how.

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U.S. Capitol Building, Greg Kushmerek / Shutterstock.com
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