I was glad to read that the Nazi era slaves were receiving payment for past misdeeds reaped upon them. I believe Germany has done the right thing. Yes it will cost them a fortune. But it shows the world that they were willing to admit fault and take some responsibility. It can only help their country’s cause in the future.

To bad the United States is not following the same lead. It was sixty years to the day that the first payments to holocaust slave labor went out. I found the timing interesting. In world war two the world stood up and said NO. You will not kill people because of their race. What a fantastic statement to make to the world that it would not be tolerated. No one has the right to kill another because of race or religion.

About sixty years before world war two the Indian wars were coming to a close. A race of people were almost made extinct as the Germans tried to do to the Jews, Gypsies, infirm, homosexuals, and priests. The same country that stood up and said NO was it’s self guilty of the same crime against it’s own indigenous race. Native Americans.

We as a county learned our lesson that we cannot kill off a race because of color. We tried to stop it with world war two. We were instrumental in getting Germany to pay for the land and labor they took from their own citizens.

But yet we have treaties ratified with the congress of the United States that have been ignored. Even our own Supreme Court has held our congress in contempt of court over the treaty that congress ratified illegally taking the Bad Lands from the Sioux. We tell others to pay up but we do not.

It is no wonder the United Nations voted not to put us on the human rights commission this time. We have dirt in our own back yard that needs cleaned up before we tell someone else to clean up theirs. I thank the Great Spirit that we as a nation have stepped up to the plate to help others who were oppressed. I just wish we had the fortitude to do the same for the Native Americans.

Jake George
Lenape, Turtle clan