Today in class we finished the video on boarding schools and were given a power point about boarding schools not covered in the video. Our class learned about the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 and the United States government declared it a “State of War” to justify or cover up the mass murders of Native Americans during the ghost dance. Then to top it all off the United States granted citizenship to all Native Americans in 1928. It was not until 2008 the Canadian and Australian government apologized for the horrifying and inhuman crimes against the Indigenous people. Both the governments gave a sincere apology and listed all the crimes they have committed. The governments also talked about ways they planned to heal the relationship between indigenous people and the government. Following in 2010 the United States gave their apology and it seemed to fail on it sincerity and felt it was just away to avoid reflecting on the past.
Now for my personal opinion and feeling about learning about the apologies made by the three governments. I believe the Canadian and Australian governments were completely sincere in making their apology to the Indigenous people. The reason I believe they are sincere is because in their apology the governments apologized and listed all the inhuman crimes they committed. The governments tone in the words used in the apology did not demean the Indigenous people in any way. The Canadian government also went as far as to apologize in the Indigenous peoples language as well as French. The Canadian government did this as a way to show the Canadian government considers them as equals. As for the United States it was not that sincere at all and their tone or wording was put like it was not a very big deal or a thing of the past. It was disgusting to see how our government could be so inconsiderate in the apology. They also did not make the apology easy for the public to view. Plus what the United States government made their apology two years after the other two governments made their apology. It makes me feel like the apology was only done to save face to the public, rather than truly asking for forgiveness and wanting to heal the deep wounds in the relationship between the Native Americans and the United States government.