Bob Bennet, Republican Senator from Utah, is being called on by American Indian leaders to apologize for a racist remark he made on the Senate floor. Bennet was discussing drought in the Western U.S..<\/p>\n
The subject of the<\/a> remark was Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana and the only American Indian in the Senate.<\/p>\n “Aside from doing a rain dance and making it rain, we’ll assign that to Senator Campbell, I’m not sure what you can do,” Bennett told a Bush administration official.<\/p>\n Campbell was at the hearing and brushed off the comment. But Geri Small, president of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, said it was no laughing matter. “I think it’s very offensive to tribes and Indian people,” she said on Friday. “I think [Bennett] should apologize. He should apologize to Ben and Indian tribes. I don’t consider it to be a joke.”<\/p>\n Suzan Harjo, founder of the Morningstar Institute, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, was equally incensed. Also of Cheyenne descent, Harjo considers herself a close friend of Campbell. She said Bennett’s behavior was worse than last year’s gaffe by Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who was ousted from his post as Senate majority leader for suggesting America would have been better off with racial segregation.<\/p>\n “It’s very specific about specific Native ceremonies and saying that they don’t count for anything, that they can be laughed about and that it’s a trivial thing,” she said of Bennett’s comments. “It’s minimizing and diminishing the importance of something that’s mightily important.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/center><\/p>\n When I first read this story, it seemed like a harmless remark to me (which doesn’t reflect well on me). But I think Suzan Harjo has a good point. It would be unimaginable for a Senator to make a remark making light of Jewish religious ceremonies, or Catholic religious ceremonies. Bennett’s remark reflects a long history of bigoted jokes at Indians’ expense (think of how Indians are presented in “Peter Pan”), and he should apologize.<\/p>\n .<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bob Bennet, Republican Senator from Utah, is being called on by American Indian leaders to apologize for a racist remark he made on the Senate floor. Bennet was discussing drought in the Western U.S.. The subject of the remark was … Continue reading