Indian Affairs Head Makes Apology
September
8, 2000
Remarks of Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary,
Indian Affairs Department of the Interior at the Ceremony Acknowledging
the 175th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
In March of 1824, President James Monroe established the Office of Indian
Affairs in the Department of War. Its mission was to conduct the nation's
business with regard to Indian affairs. We have come together today to
mark the first 175 years of the institution now known as the Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
It is appropriate that we do so in the first year of a new century and
a new millennium, a time when our leaders are reflecting on what lies
ahead and preparing for those challenges. Before looking ahead, though,
this institution must first look back and reflect on what it has wrought
and, by doing so, come to know that this is no occasion for celebration;
rather it is time for reflection and contemplation, a time for sorrowful
truths to be spoken, a time for contrition.
We must first reconcile ourselves to the fact that the works of this agency
have at various times profoundly harmed the communities it was meant to
serve. From the very beginning, the Office of Indian Affairs was an instrument
by which the United States enforced its ambition against the Indian nations
and Indian people who stood in its path. And so, the first mission of
this institution was to execute the removal of the southeastern tribal
nations. By threat, deceit, and force, these great tribal nations were
made to march 1,000 miles to the west, leaving thousands of their old,
their young and their infirm in hasty graves along the Trail of Tears.
As the nation looked to the West for more land, this agency participated
in the ethnic cleansing that befell the western tribes. War necessarily
begets tragedy; the war for the West was no exception. Yet in these more
enlightened times, it must be acknowledged that the deliberate spread
of disease, the decimation of the mighty bison herds, the use of the poison
alcohol to destroy mind and body, and the cowardly killing of women and
children made for tragedy on a scale so ghastly that it cannot be dismissed
as merely the inevitable consequence of the clash of competing ways of
life.
This agency and the good people in it failed in the mission to prevent
the devastation. And so great nations of patriot warriors fell. We will
never push aside the memory of unnecessary and violent death at places
such as Sand Creek, the banks of the Washita River, and Wounded Knee.
Nor did the consequences of war have to include the futile and destructive
efforts to annihilate Indian cultures.
After the devastation of tribal economies and the deliberate creation
of tribal dependence on the services provided by this agency, this agency
set out to destroy all things Indian. This agency forbade the speaking
of Indian languages, prohibited the conduct of traditional religious activities,
outlawed traditional government, and made Indian people ashamed of who
they were. Worst of all, the Bureau of Indian Affairs committed these
acts against the children entrusted to its boarding schools, brutalizing
them emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually.
Even in this era of self -determination, when the Bureau of Indian Affairs
is at long last serving as an advocate for Indian people in an atmosphere
of mutual respect, the legacy of these misdeeds haunts us. The trauma
of shame, fear and anger has passed from one generation to the next, and
manifests itself in the rampant alcoholism, drug abuse, and domestic violence
that plague Indian country. Many of our people live lives of unrelenting
tragedy as Indian families suffer the ruin of lives by
alcoholism, suicides made of shame and despair, and violent death at the
hands of one another. So many of the maladies suffered today in Indian
country result from the failures of this agency. Poverty, ignorance, and
disease have been the product of this agency's work.
And so today I stand before you as the leader of an institution that in
the past has committed acts so terrible that they infect, diminish, and
destroy the lives of Indian people decades later, generations later. These
things occurred despite the efforts of many good people with good hearts
who sought to prevent them. These wrongs must be acknowledged if the healing
is to begin.
I do not speak today for the United States. That is the province of the
nation's elected leaders, and I would not presume to speak on their behalf.
I am empowered, however, to speak on behalf of this agency, the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, and I am quite certain that the words that follow reflect
the hearts of its10,000 employees.
Let us begin by expressing our profound sorrow for what this agency has
done in the past. Just like you, when we think of these misdeeds and their
tragic consequences, our hearts break and our grief is as pure and complete
as yours. We desperately wish that we could change this history, but of
course we cannot.
On behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, I extend this formal apology
to Indian people for the historical conduct of this agency. And while
the BIA employees of today did not commit these wrongs, we acknowledge
that the institution we serve did. We accept this inheritance, this legacy
of racism and inhumanity. And by accepting this legacy, we accept also
the moral responsibility of putting things right.
We therefore begin this important work anew, and make a new commitment
to the people and communities that we serve, a commitment born of the
dedication we share with you to the cause of renewed hope and prosperity
for Indian country.
Never again will this agency stand silent when hate and violence are committed
against Indians. Never again will we allow policy to proceed from the
assumption that Indians possess less human genius than the other races.
Never again will we be complicit in the theft of Indian property. Never
again will we appoint false leaders who serve purposes other than those
of the tribes. Never again will we allow unflattering and stereotypical
images of Indian people to deface the halls of
government or lead the American people to shallow and ignorant beliefs
about Indians. Never again will we attack your religions, your languages,
your rituals, or any of your tribal ways. Never again will we seize your
children, nor teach them to be ashamed of who they are. Never again.
We cannot yet ask your forgiveness, not while the burdens of this agency's
history weigh so heavily on tribal communities. What we do ask is that,
together, we allow the healing to begin: As you return to your homes,
and as you talk with your people, please tell them that time of dying
is at its end. Tell your children that the time of shame and fear is over.
Tell your young men and women to replace their angerwith hope and love
for their people.
Together, we must wipe the tears of seven generations. Together, we must
allow our broken hearts to mend. Together, we will face a challenging
world with confidence and trust. Together, let us resolve that when our
future leaders gather to discuss the history of this institution, it will
be time to celebrate the rebirth of joy, freedom, and progress for the
Indian Nations.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs was born in 1824 in a time of war on Indian
people. May it live in the year 2000 and beyond as an instrument of their
prosperity.
U.S.
Interior Secretary Norton Ruled in Contempt
September 17, 2002 01:13 PM ET
By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An angry federal judge on Tuesday found Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt for failing to comply with his orders to fix oversight problems with and produce records of American Indian trust funds.
In a scathing 267-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth added Norton and Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb to the list of government officials he has found in contempt in relation to a civil lawsuit filed in 1996 by five American Indians claiming the federal government mismanaged billions of dollars in the trust funds.
In 1999, Lamberth held then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt for failing to comply with orders regarding the trust funds.
"In February of 1999, at the end of the first contempt trial in this matter, I stated that 'I have never seen more egregious misconduct by the federal government,"' Lamberth wrote. "Now at the conclusion of the second contempt trial in this action, I stand corrected. The Department of Interior has truly outdone itself this time. <snip>
