Today in class we were asked to research three apologies made by different countries to apologize to the indigenous people of that land for the cruelty and hardship they forced upon them. The first apology was from Canada as they apologized for Residential Schools that took away children and installed them into an institution “to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.” During the apology they used words of grievance to show that they are ashamed for what they have done to the aboriginal people. To add, they respond with “We Are Sorry” in the tribal languages of Canada to show that there is now a equal respect for each other’s existence in the same country. The second apology was from Australia to their indigenous people for all the laws that they passed against the natives to try and move them off their native land. During their apology, the Australian government sounded very genuine by describing the painful losses and sufferings that the aboriginal faced. Their main goal was to promote healing as a nation, and a promise to have mutual respect for each other. The third and final “apology” was from the United States government, and the reason I quoted apology is that it was not a sincere apology at all. The statement had little description about what the United States government caused on the native people. The United States still needs to apologize to their native people and maybe take a hint from Canada or Australia.
jcramos July 2, 2018
Caleb I completely agree how different the American “sorry” was compared to the Australian and the Canadian sorry was. It was like when you get in trouble and you are forced to say sorry but you really do not want to so you say it than you quickly either walk away for change the subject. That was the vibe when hearing about the American apology. They made it a super short kind of sorry and then they changed to the topic they were talking about. It is sad to see how the other countries really made you feel like they were sorry while the United States made you feel like they didn’t care.
zpete55 July 2, 2018
I agree with what you are saying in how the apologies that we discussed in class are very different two of the countries actually sound like they are sad about what they did and mean what they are saying. Like Canada they respond with “We Are Sorry” in the tribal languages of Canada and in French and English. This just shows that they think of them as equals like you said. I like how you said “ The third and final “apology” was from the United States government, and the reason I quoted apology is that it was not a sincere apology at all.” The United States never did actually apologized to the native americans they just threw something together to make it seem like they felt bad about what they did.
zjross July 2, 2018
I agree that the United States apology was not good enough and is really not an apology. Compared to Australia and Canada’s apology the United States was not apologetic, and did not sound sorry at all. I also agree that the United States still needs to apologize to the native people. I like how the other countries have mutual respect with the native people and Canada even said they are ashamed for what they did to the natives. I also agree that Canada was very respectful for saying “We are sorry” to all of the natives in their tribal languages.
Jake July 6, 2018
I honestly wish that the American apology was more publicized and more clear than it was. We see with Canada and Australia, two nations who treated their indigenous people like we did, that they both took accountability. America was basically, in my opinion, acting like they were just “jumping on the bandwagon” two years too late.
I also agree with Zach Ross about how Canada was amazing and very nice by apologizing in the native languages of it’s people. The United States should gout out and take some pointes from Canada and Australia.
It’s not too late to speak more about what the United States did and take accountability.