Trail of Tears redux

[Mike__M]

Last edited Mon Nov 7, 2016, 09:09 PM - Edit history (1)

#decolonize

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#NoDAPL
#IdleNoMore

As far as I know, the following statement has not been revised, retracted or replaced:

“We received a letter today from representatives of the tribes protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. From the beginning of this campaign, Secretary Clinton has been clear that she thinks all voices should be heard and all views considered in federal infrastructure projects. Now, all of the parties involved—including the federal government, the pipeline company and contractors, the state of North Dakota, and the tribes—need to find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest. As that happens, it’s important that on the ground in North Dakota, everyone respects demonstrators’ rights to protest peacefully, and workers’ rights to do their jobs safely.”

This is the Clinton campaign's statement in reply to indigenous youths' letter asking the candidate to break her silence regarding the ongoing resistance to corporate arrogance at Standing Rock.

Some commentators have complained that this statement "literally says nothing." This is not true: the statement is not merely weak, it is inherently flawed. Serving "the broadest public interest" is code for trampling the rights of the smaller group. When President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the rights of the Indians remaining in the southeastern U.S. were swept aside by the broader public interest of national expansion. Jackson's version of "a path forward that serves the broadest public interest" came to be known as the Trail of Tears. The statement quoted above is yet another instance of the same deplorable mindset exemplified by the notorious Indian killer Andrew Jackson.

I stand with my ancestors, for the sake of our descendants, opposed to American exceptionalism, and in defiance of this evil. Our soon-to-be President-Elect should retract this statement and replace it with one befitting a leader who believes that the United States has a sacred trust with Native Americans.