Opinion: Native Americans are getting cheated again by a white president

To the editor: I am a Japanese American who was born at the Manzanar internment camp during World War II, so although I am not a Native American, I can empathize with them in their betrayal by the federal government over the Bears Ears National Monument proclamation. (“Shrinking Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument would be one more broken promise to Native Americans,” Opinion, June 19)

The Trump administration’s plan to shrink the Utah monument, one that native communities worked with the Obama administration to create in 2016, fits into a pattern of broken treaties by the federal government against many Native American nations throughout U.S. history.

The push westward and the establishment of communities by white settlers supported militarily by the U.S. government resulted in the killing and forced evacuation of Native American nations. During this period, treaties were signed by the U.S. but broken to meet the needs and demands of the encroaching settlers.

It took a black president to establish Bears Ears, and now a white president and a white Interior secretary want to scale it back.

Larry Naritomi, Monterey Park

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To the editor: I am optimistic that the people of Utah will continue to evolve in the understanding of their shared history of Bears Ears National Monument. There is a sacred history in Utah that is not smeared with hate and should be valued beyond extraction of resources.

I’m betting on conscious evolution.

Patti Blair, Coronado

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