Native Americans conduct forgiveness ceremony for U.S veterans

ayodele johnson

December 6, 2016 11:06 PM

The forgiveness ceremony saw Leonard Crow Dog lay his hands on Wes Clark Jr., who knelt before him.

Leonard Crow Dog lays his palm on Wes Clark Jr.

U.S veterans have gotten an opportunity to atone for their sins against native Americans at a forgiveness ceremony organised at the Standing Rock casino in North Dakota.

This served as an avenue to recompense for the unjust military actions taken against the natives in the earliest days of America's history.

According to the Huffington Post, "Leonard Crow Dog formally forgave Wes Clark Jr., the son of retired U.S. Army general and former supreme commander at NATO, Wesley Clark Sr."

This was in celebration of Standing Rock protesters’ success in halting construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, report says.

Clarke's apology statement reads, "Many of us, me particularly, are from the units that have hurt you over the many years. We came. We fought you. We took your land. We signed treaties that we broke.

"We stole minerals from your sacred hills. We blasted the faces of our presidents onto your sacred mountain.

"When we took still more land and then we took your children and then we tried to make your language and we tried to eliminate your language that God gave you, and the Creator gave you.

"We didn’t respect you, we polluted your Earth, we’ve hurt you in so many ways but we’ve come to say that we are sorry. We are at your service and we beg for your forgiveness."

ALSO READ: Wizard who called himself Merlin jailed for assaulting Muslim neighbour

The ceremony is a historic gesture, letting go of all the past misdeeds against the natives who helped defend the land from the Dakota Access Pipeline.

ayodele johnson