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Durango Herald
Indian genocide resolution stirs debate
Bill cites Sand Creek massacre, removal of Cherokees from Georgia
May 1, 2008
By Joe Hanel | Herald Denver Bureau
DENVER – Lawmakers paused Wednesday for the third time in a week to
remember a genocide. But this time, the memorial turned into an
uncomfortable debate about American history.
Senate Joint Resolution 31 recites the history of horrors that fell upon
American Indians after European settlement. The native population of 18
million north of the Rio Grande in the late 1400s had plunged to about
200,000 by 1900 – nearly a 99 percent drop.
But unlike previous condemnations of genocide, Wednesday’s vote wasn’t
unanimous.
"There’s a wholesale condemnation of European settlement in this
resolution that I find troubling," said Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud,
who voted no.
Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, made similar arguments in the
Senate.
The House voted 59-4 for the resolution, and the Senate passed it 22-12.
It was the Legislature’s third resolution on genocide in the last week.
Lawmakers voted unanimously for a Holocaust memorial, and there was just
one dissenting vote against a memorial of the Ottoman Empire’s genocide
of Armenians in 1915.
Lawmakers also voted unanimously for a resolution condemning China’s
human-rights record early last month.
"As we wagged our finger at Turkey about a week ago for not coming
face-to-face with its own history, we see now how hard it is to come
face-to-face with our own history," said Rep. Mike May of Parker, the
House’s top Republican, who voted yes.
All of Southwest Colorado’s lawmakers – Sen. Jim Isgar and Reps. Ellen
Roberts and Ray Rose – voted for the resolution.
Colorado’s executive secretary of the Commission on Indian Affairs,
Ernest House Jr., joined several members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and
other Indians to watch Wednesday’s debate. House grew up in McElmo
Canyon and is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Two Denver-area Democrats – Sen. Suzanne Williams and Rep. Debbie
Stafford – sponsored the resolution. It talks about the disease, war,
forced migration, starvation and enslavement that American Indians
suffered.
The resolution cites the removal of the Cherokees from Georgia and the
massacre of nearly 200 Indians by the Colorado militia at Sand Creek in
1864.
"As Coloradans, I think we need to acknowledge this is part of the
history of our state," said Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genesee.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
