White guilt about past wrongs is misplaced, easy way out

Dear Editor:

This morning, my Native American husband and I attended a church in the Twin Cities. A woman stood up and looked at my husband and started to cry. Speaking directly to him, she said she feels guilty about the way whites treated Indians 100 years ago, stealing land and being mean. She said she didn't even know if she had any relatives around at that time, but she asked my husband to forgive her and all other whites.

It was all I could do to keep my eyes from rolling.

Please forgive my impatience with this type of thing, but this isn't the first time this has happened to us at an off-reservation church.

I don't know what possesses people to make those kinds of statements, but it's such a bunch of politically correct garbage.

In the first place, what people did 100 years ago is their own sin. No one owns that sin today. My husband can't forgive her for what someone else did. What kind of foolishness is that? And why is he supposed to be a proxy for all other Indians?

And again, why is she realy asking?

So I stood up and responded, (I wasn't nasty at all.) I told her that we don't see how my husband can forgive her for something that not only she didn't do, but that wasn't done to him. I told the congregation, "You are not responsible for sins that happened years ago that you did not commit. However, you are responsible for what you do today. Then I told them about our recent visit to Cass Lake, and the pain there, and the children that wanted to go home with us, and the neighbors that were trying to get rid of a church that ministered to the homeless. And I asked them as a church to reach out to the families on the street. Take their music team to Franklin Avenue, where they can touch these people they are feeling guilty about.

On the way home, my husband and I talked together about how easy it is to stand up and say something politically correct. Ask for forgiveness for something totally out of your hands, that, deep down, you know you don't really have to take responsibility for. Saying you're sorry to a real live Indian that shows up in your church. Boy, so easy, and can make you feel so warm and toasty inside.

But how about when you see a drunk stumble and fall on the street? How about all those kids that need foster homes? How about spending some time in one on one ministry? How about taking responsibility to help shepherd a troubled family?

Wow, those are dirty, difficult jobs. People are dirty. Maybe even diseased. And they don't always do things the way you'd like them to. They talk back. They "disobey" your direction. In fact, after months of spending time, energy and money helping them, they may fall right back to the street. There. What a waste of time.

I'm sorry for being so cynical about her attempt to "apologize." It's just that we see this kind of thing so much, and in truth, it's attitudes like this that are continuing the "victim" mentality on the Indian people.

As long as there are white people willing to be suckers and take on that kind of guilt many tribal members will remain "victims" and never take responsibility for their actions, and corrupt tribal governments can continue to use that guilt to get whaterver it is they want in the area of money and power. This money and power is not used to the benefit of the average trouble tribal member, but only for the benefit of an elite few within tribal government.

How does one explain all that when confronted in church with a nauseating show of misplaced pity?

From the wife of a Leech Lake Band of Chippewa tribal member

Reprinted with permision of the Native American Press/Ojibwe News