Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
A Native American politician in Kansas is tired of her colleagues’ lame excuses for their lack of cultural awareness. In a truly historical moment, Rep. Ponka-We Victors earlier this month became the first Native woman to preside over the Kansas House of Representatives—and now she says that she will not accept a white lawmaker’s apology for doing his best to ruin it.
“I’m tired of accepting these apologies when somebody should know how to act in the Kansas Representative House chambers,” Victors said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “You should know right from wrong and how to conduct yourself.”
On March 23, Victors, a Democrat, made history as the first Native woman to chair the state house. However, the triumphant moment was almost immediately tainted when Rep. John Wheeler, a Republican, told her that he wanted to check to make sure she wasn’t using a tomahawk in place of a gavel.
However, Victors didn’t consider that a real apology.
“He didn’t come to me personally. He justified it, made excuses for what he said, and he was trying to be funny,” she told The Daily Beast. “Which is like, don’t use my culture as the butt of your joke.”
She added: “I’m tired of accepting apologies. I want to start seeing some repercussions for people that talk this way.”
It wasn’t the first time someone had talked that way. Victors also brought Randy Wason, the Kansas education commissioner, making a derogatory remark about Natives at a conference earlier this year, joking that they were more dangerous than tornadoes.
“You’ve got to worry about the Indians raiding the town at any time,” he said, according to The Star.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/h...AAVE1Jz?cvid=26febb3997044435b3ce590cb8274af4
“I’m tired of accepting these apologies when somebody should know how to act in the Kansas Representative House chambers,” Victors said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “You should know right from wrong and how to conduct yourself.”
On March 23, Victors, a Democrat, made history as the first Native woman to chair the state house. However, the triumphant moment was almost immediately tainted when Rep. John Wheeler, a Republican, told her that he wanted to check to make sure she wasn’t using a tomahawk in place of a gavel.
However, Victors didn’t consider that a real apology.
“He didn’t come to me personally. He justified it, made excuses for what he said, and he was trying to be funny,” she told The Daily Beast. “Which is like, don’t use my culture as the butt of your joke.”
She added: “I’m tired of accepting apologies. I want to start seeing some repercussions for people that talk this way.”
It wasn’t the first time someone had talked that way. Victors also brought Randy Wason, the Kansas education commissioner, making a derogatory remark about Natives at a conference earlier this year, joking that they were more dangerous than tornadoes.
“You’ve got to worry about the Indians raiding the town at any time,” he said, according to The Star.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/h...AAVE1Jz?cvid=26febb3997044435b3ce590cb8274af4
