Winona LaDuke speaks at Penn State

America owes world apology

Winona LaDuke passionately speaks to Penn State students in the Kern Building Wednesday night. LaDuke, a Native American activist spoke about various topics and shared her stories with the audience.

By Ashley Gold
Collegian Staff Writer

Last night, award-winning Native American activist Winona LaDuke pointed out that America would never name anything after Adolf Hitler.

However, the country didn't hesitate to name a university after Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who LaDuke said was one of the biggest purveyors of smallpox-ridden blankets to Native Americans in the eighteenth century.

LaDuke's speech last night in Kern Building, titled "Creating a Multicultural Democracy," carried the theme of America owing the world an apology. She started her speech by telling a few stories, one that involved Native Americans in Duluth, Minn. wishing to appeal to their city council to stop building a golf course on some of their sacred land.

LaDuke was told by the city council she only had three minutes to speak. People from her tribe and local churches flooded into the city council building to show their support, and they won the case.

Later, however, a man from the council appeared before LaDuke with an anthropologist's report that tried to disprove the indigenous people's case.

"This is what it's like to be a Native American living in America in this millennium," she said. "Some guy with a Xerox tries to disprove you."

LaDuke continuously questioned the possibility of a multicultural democracy. She pointed out America was founded on the basis of religious freedom, but Native Americans weren't granted this until 200 years after the country's inception.

LaDuke touched on the problems posed by genetical engineering, resulting in America's complete lack of biodiversity. She pointed out that the ability to genetically engineer something does not mean it should be, and at some point, academic freedom and advancements should be balanced out by academic responsibility.

LaDuke said Native Americans have received almost no credit for all their knowledge. America needs to learn to say it's sorry, she said.

"America is at about age 9 or 10, emotionally," she said. "Hesitant to apologize."

Stephanie Troutman, an instructor of an African American Studies course, brought her class to the lecture.

"This was a good opportunity to hear someone talk about multiculturalism and democracy," Troutman said. "And she is a powerful speaker."

One of Troutman's students, Rachel Lawrence (junior-public relations) agreed.

"She had great stories of how we need to become less of an empire, and by telling those stories, she seemed very knowledgeable," she said.

Collegian-October 1,2009