"However, the voices continued as he stood to leave the American Indian Center--including the demand for him to issue a blanket public apology for any police wrong-doing directed at Indians.
"'I'm absolutely sorry for incidents that have happened over time,' he said. 'But I want to leave you with a call to action and say it's time to move beyond history.' ... Bellecourt gave an impassioned speech that harkened to J. Edgar Hoover and Wounded Knee [II].' " (By-line Nolan Zavoral)
This is an example of culture clash that serves only to further roil the waters and make just solutions improbable.
Mr. Bellecourt has been active in his community, he infers in harkening back to Wounded Knee II as part of his credentials since 1973. Since newspapers invariably describe Mr. Bellecourt as an "activist." we have a tendency to forget that he is now an Elder of the Indian Community.
Couple that with a formal meeting with a feast as well organized by Mr. Tony Looking Elk as chair of the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors. A formal occasion, a formal agenda.
I'm not much of a student of history, but from what I've read by and about American Indians during the last two centuries it appears that when Elders speak to government leaders, they present their credentials as part of the delivery of the speech. I'm presuming from seeing it so often described that it an Indian custom to do so.
For a Mayor to say 'I want action and not history' to those who are giving him/her their personal experiences is really insulting, given that police brutality and tensions between city and Indians were the subject of the meeting. The history is lapping at the door sill like flood water, it's breached the sandbags and is pouring into the door yard.
The Chief of Police, sick or not, needed to be there. He could have made the excuse of sickness to leave early, but he had to show up as a matter of respect.
I'd say that this meeting was pretty well botched, but as the story is written in the Trib, it seems the mayor and the police botched it.
BTW: If the Indians assembled had spoken to to history, they might have cited the 1805 treaty executed by Zebulon Pike acting for President Jefferson. Once cited, they could foreclose on the entire city for non-payment of the mortgage plus interest.
WizardMarks, Central
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