Re: (fwd from Lou Paulsen) Re: Kennewick Comment

[Adam Levenstein <cleon42@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Les Schaffer <schaffer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Yeah, well, YOU might think it warrants further
> study.  But do the
> Native Americans think it warrants further study?
> And who gets to
> decide if it warrants further study, you or them?
> "Sovereignty"
> covers a lot of ground, when you think about it.
> It's easy to defend
> someone's sovereignty as long as they're doing
> things that you and I
> understand and agree with.  It's when they have
> their own ideas that
> it gets difficult and important.

Yeah, I see your point, except for one teensy little
problem:

The groups that exist in the are today did not exist
in the area at the time KM died. In fact, and this is
my entire point, there is significant doubt that KM
was a member of *any* group that existed in the area
at the time. So in essence, the question can
potentially become: "Do we give the Native Americans
[there IS more than one group claiming KM] sovereignty
over a grave that isn't theirs?" If so, why should we
give them sovereignty, versus the US government, when
the individual quite possibly didn't fall under the
jurisdiction of either?

"Sovereignty" is not a cut and dried case, especially
in this instance. In any criminal investigation,
usually one of the first things carried out is
determining *who* the victim is. If a man discovers a
cadaver in his back yard, should we be defending his
claim to the body because it's his land? No, of course
not. And when his neighbor decides to claim the body
is really on HIS land, so it's HIS body, the situation
gets even weirder.

We can take it to the other extreme, though - extend
"sovereignty," as Hunter does, to mean that we should
unquestioningly take their "oral histories" as gospel
(Pun intended) even when the physical evidence doesn't
necessarily back it up.


Adam


=====
Adam Levenstein                          cleon42@xxxxxxxxx
ICQ: 17125158

And now, for something completely different.

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