To the editor:

What many seem to ignore or fail to understand is that building the South Lawrence Trafficway on the 32nd Street, Wetlands alignment is not just a traffic, monetary or environmental issue. It contains a larger moral issue.

By pushing forward with this project, we are asking Haskell Indian Nations University, and American Indians in general, to take one more hit for the team. We say to them, “Your concerns are minor and not important enough to modify what we feel is best for us.” We say, “Yes, we broke every treaty we ever made with you. We made you promises and then stole your land. When you resisted, we wiped you out. Try to forget the Trail of Tears, Sand Creek and Wounded Knee. We have. Even though building the trafficway in the Wetlands would be disrespectful to your culture, even though it might seem like a modern day land grab, even though it harkens back to the bad old days, your concerns should not keep us from moving ahead with the project. Anyway, trust us. Everything will work out in the end.”

Are we really so insensitive to the truth that we do not see that this is one more instance of the dominant American culture pushing aside the rights and concerns of the native peoples of this country? Are moral issues not important when planning for our future? Is this really the right thing to do?

Kerry Altenbernd,

Lawrence