TRAIL OF TEARS MEMORIAL DAY- AFF

Fellow Representatives, our decision today as to whether we will affirm

or negate this resolution essentially rests upon the following question? Will

the passage of this resolution have a positive impact on Native Americans, a

negative impact, or no impact at all? If we can determine that the resolution

positively impacts Native Americans, then we ought to affirm the resolution. It

is for this reason that I stand today before you in affirmation- because for two

main reasons, this resolution will in fact have a net positive impact on Native

Americans. First, as we will see with Germany and the Holocaust, the

establishment of a memorial day will allow us to own up to our historical

transgressions and thus reduce the oppression of Native Americans.

Additionally, the establishment of a memorial day will directly help Native

Americans by raising funds for them.

My first contention is that a memorial day would allow us to recognize

the oppression inflicted upon Native Americans in the past and thus reduce

the oppression that Native Americans face today. Lets look at the attitudes of

modern Germans towards the Holocaust. According to Dr. Gregory Steinbeck,

a professor at Stanford University, modern Germans have recognized the

transgressions against Jews during the Holocaust and have taken many
measures to own up to these wrongdoings. For example, Germany has a

National Holocaust Remembrance Day and several Holocaust history

museums have been established. As a result of Germany’s open confession of

prior wrongdoings against Jews, the nation’s Jewish population has flourished

because there has been less Anti-Semitism and a greater emphasis on

religious equality. Steinbeck asserts that if we in the United State were to also

recognize our previous oppression of Native Americans by having, say, a

memorial day, racism and hostility toward Native Americans would decrease

in a similar manner. And so representatives, the establishment of a memorial

day will make us own up to our historical wrongdoings and will thereby

decrease sentiment against Native Americans.

My second contention is that establishing a memorial day would

actually help Native Americans directly by improving their economic status.

For example, according to the National Charities Association, the Cherokee

Remembrance Day is observed every September in honor of the Cherokee

tribe. Last year, the activities and fundraisers organized on Cherokee

Remembrance Day raised more than half a million dollars for Cherokees in the

state of Texas alone. This money was put to alleviating the poverty-stricken

Cherokees who struggled of poor health. So if by affirming this resolution we

were to establish a memorial day for the trail of tears, on a national level, we
would be able to obtain prodigious amounts of funds for native Americans,

which would directly help improve their economic status.

So representatives, today we have seen that for two main reasons, we

must affirm the resolution. Affirmation will not only reduce racism by forcing

us to own up to our wrongdoings but will also improve Native American’s

economic status by raising funds. For the aforementioned reasons, it is

imperative that we affirm today’s legislation.