Responding to "The Freedom of Real Apologies"

“And I was personally really surprised that I hadn’t heard about it before. Part of the reason I hadn’t was because it was so quiet. And there really was not a lot of risk tak

en in how it was delivered.” 

In This first quote, Layli Long Soldier is referring to the U.S. government's official apology to Native peoples that was made in 2009. What is so shocking is that she is a part of a Native Nation and she hadn't even heard about it until some time after. I find it sad that the United States government kept it so quite, almost as if they were embarrassed at the fact they had to apologies. If it is truly an apology that they mean, they shouldn't try and cover it up.

"So even the phrasing of “the arrival of Europeans opened a new chapter for Native People” — that’s crazy. It wasn’t opening a new chapter. That’s almost poetry. I mean, that’s a very interesting way to look at what happened. And going further into the document, just the idea — for example, they never mention genocide. Things are phrased as “conflicts,” “lives were taken on both sides,” and things like that."

In this quote, Layli Long Soldier is bringing attention to how careful the phrasing is in this apology document. The government is leaving out very important details and information making the apology seem not as sincere. It feels like they are trying to sugar coat what actually happened so it is less embarrassing. They are referring to all of the death and genocide as simply just "conflicts" and saying "lives were taken on both sides". While there was conflict and lives were taken on both sides, they aren't being specific on what "conflict" they are talking about. The apology itself just doesn't seem genuine.

Specificity is important to this podcast because, in it, both Layli Long Soldier and Ms. Tippett discuss how this "apology" and other things have affected certain groups of people, more specifically Native peoples. Specificity means, "the quality of belonging or relating uniquely to a particular subject" (Google Dictionary). When Soldier is discussing certain views of Native people, she is always careful in saying that she can't speak for everyone in the group, but since she is part of the group she can give a general view on the matter. Someone outside (and even inside) a particular group can't always speak for the everyone, but they can speak from personal experiences while being a part of that group. It is important in your writing not to speak for the group/community you are writing about as a whole. You can state your opinion that may resonate among many other people in that community, but you can never assume that everyone thinks the same way you do. However, you also are still either a part of the community, or would like to be, and may voice your opinions and experiences.

This interview is very casual, but also very personal. Ms. Tippett had a very calm and understanding tone when talking to Layli, and Lalyi was also very calm as well as reflective in her tone. When constructing your own interview you need to be aware of how certain questions and statements will affect the person you're interviewing. You also need to be knowledgable enough about the subject so you're able to have a quality interview. If there are certain parts of the interview that could be hard or touchy for the person you're interviewing, just know that they might not want to talk a lot about a certain part and let them take it at their own pace. Also, make sure you are being an active listener when they are talking because that will make them feel good that you care about what they have to say.