Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson has apologized to the state's Native Americans for his comments in the New Yorker profile last month that managed to offend them while he denigrated his usual targets -- Detroit and Detroiters.
As Bill Laitner writes in the Free Press:
Since the New Yorker magazine published its profile of a barbed-tongued L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County’s top official has spent the last six weeks back-pedaling and apologizing — to Detroiters, to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, to all regional leaders offended by his Detroit-bashing rhetoric.
In a letter, Patterson wrote:
“I apologize for my ignorance of history, and I want you to know that it was never my intent to disrespect Native Americans. I hope that my record shows that I have been a longtime supporter of the Native American community and that I have nothing but the greatest respect for your culture and history,” the letter said.
What got Patterson in trouble was a comment he made to the profile's author, award-winning reporter Paige Williams, who spent considerable time in her article citing Patterson's accomplishments in running Oakland County and making it economically viable.
She wrote:
When I asked him how Detroit might fix its financial problems, he said, "I made a prediction a long time ago, and it's come to pass. I said, 'What we're going to do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and corn.'"
Patterson had recited version of that comment several times going back decades, and even though he used it again in September when talking to Williams, in interviews after the article appeared, he tried to make it seem like it was Williams who was recycling old quotes.
Matt Wesaw, tribal chairman for the Pokagon band of the Potawatomi Indians and executive director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, told the Free Press:
“Talking about throwing blankets to Indians — the history there is that they were a lot of times infected with smallpox by the early settlers” to spread the disease, which often was fatal to Indians because they had little immunity to diseases of European origin.
In his letter, Patterson said, "I was unaware of the entire sordid episode of Native Americans facing extinction through the imposition of disease filled blankets."
Wesaw told Laitner the apology was well received, and he noted Patterson had done things to help Native Americans over the years.
Patterson is 75, and has been in public life for more than 40 years. The article, which sits behind a pay wall on the New Yorker's website, underscored how long Detroit-bashing has been a main part of his persona.
As the firestorm of criticism of Patterson was building after the article appeared, his spokesman issued a statement that read, in part:
“It is clear Paige Williams had an agenda when she interviewed county executive Patterson. She cast him in a false light in order to fit her preconceived and outdated notions about the region."
Previously on Deadline Detroit:
The New Yorker Profiles Patterson, And The Detroit-Bashing Never Stops
One Last Word About L. Brooks Patterson And Indian Reservations
