Like Julian Spalding’s letter in the June edition, I too am saddened to hear that some elected officials of my tribe have voted for discrimination.
It’s not that long ago that Native Americans were discriminated against by Christians and others. That’s gotten much better but now we’ve come full circle and are discriminating against another group because RJ Walker “doesn’t agree” with same-sex marriage?
Come on, it’s one thing to disagree but to use your power to actually discriminate is another. I don’t agree with Corporate News so would it be right for me to convince other ON elected officials to ban it? Of course not. I can turn it off because no one is forcing me to listen to it, just as no one is forcing RJ Walker to marry a man.
Maybe I shouldn’t have voted for RJ Walker and next time I’ll be more careful. I would like to hear more from Walker to see where his strong feelings on this subject come from. To ban something indicates more than simply not agreeing with it. ON is not a “Christian Nation” so I would hope our elected officials don’t govern from the bible, especially given the history of violence perpetrated on Native Americans by Christians.
His other point about taking his grandfather’s position on the subject cracks me up because I had a very sweet great-grandmother who used the N-word, so I’m not going to honor her by slinging that word around. Thankfully, Americans have moved forward on these issues and even with all the recent shootings we are still closer to a society of equality-for-all than anytime in the country’s history. I wish I could say the same for my tribe.
Jeff Perrin,
So. California
By
Osage News
Original Publish Date: 2016-08-25 00:00:00