Bury my heart at wounded Washington

It’s amazing that we haven’t learned much in over 600 years. The battle ground may be different, but the rules and broken rules haven’t changed an iota. Why, America, do you insist on continuing to persecute the indigenous Americans? Wasn’t stealing their land, murdering their people, and shipping them to reservations enough? Must you continue to persecute them by not recognizing the local Indian tribes, like the Pamunkey, legally?

Sheesh, it makes me angry that some people will create issues in order to keep the powers that from doing not only what is ethical but also what is moral. But then, it is Washington, and if there is one thing they have proven time and again they lack common sense. It harkens to those lines of Emma Lazarous:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Give us your politicians, the wayward,

The muddled asses yearning to take bribes.

Well maybe those last two lines were ad libbed. Eh, and author is an author after all.

Perhaps Joe Heim said it better in his article when he said:

The Pamunkey Indians were supposed to learn this week whether they would become the first Virginia tribe to receive federal recognition — a status they regard as long overdue for a tribe that claims Pocahontas as an ancestor.

But that didn’t happen. Not at all, instead Kevin Washburn, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for Indian affairs, says he will not make a final decision on the Pamunkey case until the end of July, a delay that has given critics hope that they will succeed in derailing the Pamunkey application.

Wait a minute, what are you talking about critics trying to derail something that really shouldn’t be asked for. It doesn’t make sense. True as it may seem, there are actually people trying to undermine the request, which apparently would open the doors to allowing – gasp – casinos.

According to Heim’s article, the anti-casino group Stand Up for California sent a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs claiming several Pamunkey tribe members are descendants of a pre-Civil War free African Americans, and are not Indians. Meanwhile, a group of congresswomen argued in a different letter that the tribe has long discriminated against African Americans and women.

So I guess doing the right thing also has to come under the purview of the politically correct. Are we truly worried about whether the Pamunkey may actually be able to make money? Or is this just another way to persecute and mistreat the only true Americans.