Gov says he's sorry for his 'natives' comment

NNN0LHI

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Sat Apr-02-05 10:32 AM
Original message

Gov says he's sorry for his 'natives' comment

DENVER -- Colorado Gov. Bill Owens apologized for saying ''the natives are getting restless'' during a conference on tribal gambling.

Owens made the remark at the Western Governors' Association Summit after a participant's microphone wouldn't work and he urged it be fixed quickly.

Some attendees told the Rocky Mountain News the audience fell silent, then groaned and chuckled.

''It was an inadvertent comment that the governor regrets,'' Owens' spokesman Dan Hopkins said Thursday.

more

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-native02.html

http://www.nga.org/governors/1,1169,C_GOVERNOR_INFO%5ED_121,00.html

Birth Date: October 22, 1950
Birth State: Texas
Family: Married; three children
Religion: Catholic
Spouse: Frances
Party: Republican

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hlthe2b

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Sat Apr-02-05 10:38 AM
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1. Owens is an idiot to the nth degree and i hate to say anything to defend,

but, this is the kind of kneejerk phrase, that could come blurting out. Stupid, thoughtless, yes. While the phrase is demeaning if intentional, my guess is that it was not. But, there are so many things to excoriate this jerk for, I'm content to let this pass.

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alarcojon

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Sat Apr-02-05 11:13 AM
Response to Reply #1

3. This is the kind of thing

Edited on Sat Apr-02-05 11:14 AM by alarcoeg

that it's fine to pass among ourselves, but if we try to make it a big deal, the right wing PC watchers will have a field day with it. As hlthe2b said, I'm sure there are more substantive things to worry about with Owens.

It WAS a conference on tribal gaming, so I do feel an apology was in order. Now it has been given, end of story.

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Toots

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Sat Apr-02-05 10:54 AM
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2. Native does not necessarily mean Indian

Native Coloradoians can be any race or culture as long as they are from Colorado their whole lives. I don't find anything wrong with his statement only America's ignorance in what words actually mean.

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Jilly Beans

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Sat Apr-02-05 11:33 AM
Response to Reply #2

4. If he said it in Colorado, it's understandable that it was...

"taken the wrong way."

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manic expression

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Sat Apr-02-05 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #2

5. No

He meant it that way (he meant American Indian). The conference was about Native American gambling. The 'natives' of America are Native American, and specification of a 'native' would imply this. Also, the phrase "the natives are getting restless" is an allusion to a minority, as the Native Americans have been repressed.

You're completely wrong on this.

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Spider Jerusalem

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Sat Apr-02-05 11:41 AM
Response to Reply #5

7. Actually, it's an allusion to old 1930's movies...

about (usually British) troops and explorers in exotic jungles and far-off deserts, and it doesn't refer to a minority in the original sense but to the fears of a relatively small group of colonisers about the people they were ruling...

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manic expression

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Sat Apr-02-05 12:01 PM
Response to Reply #7

9. Ah, yes

but the colonizers have now almost wiped out the native population. I think the mentality you brought up in those imperialist movies is exactly the same mentality most people today have on this subject, and it shows its ugly self in this instance.

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not systems

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Sat Apr-02-05 11:36 AM
Response to Reply #2

6. That is a stretch and...

Edited on Sat Apr-02-05 11:39 AM by not systems

ignorance is only overwhelmed by denial in this case.

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gratuitous

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Sat Apr-02-05 11:53 AM
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8. Inadvertent? Hmmm.

If he'd been sitting at a table in a restaurant and said that without knowing that there was a party of First Americans in the booth behind him, I'd say "inadvertent." He was a conference on tribal gaming, for Pete's sakes! If that sort of vernacular is part of your vocabulary, a thinking, feeling, sensitive person would shelve it for the duration of the conference.

Bill Owens, on the other hand . . .

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hlthe2b

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Sat Apr-02-05 02:48 PM
Response to Reply #8

11. Maybe.... I just have to admit a faux paus or two of my own...

My sister and I grew up telling each other "chop chop" when we were in a hurry. It never had an Asian context, to my knowledge--just something we said. But, I found myself reflexively saying it in a Chinese restaurant once, to the "amused" horror of others at the table. So, I know these sayings can be innocently blurted out sometimes but open to much misunderstanding, given context.

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AtTheEndOfTheDay

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Sat Apr-02-05 01:17 PM
Response to Original message

10. What a funny pun.

Inadvertent or not. Maybe I'm evil and should be struck by lightning but I too groaned and chuckled.

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