Righting Wrongs

The news that Congress is moving toward official federal recognition of Virginia's Indian tribes is welcome, albeit woefully overdue. Rep. Jim Moran and Sen. Jim Webb deserve credit for carrying the measures and shepherding them toward passage.

The federal failure to recognize the tribes compounded historical injustices and was itself the result of another injustice, Virginia's attempt in the past century to expunge American Indians from the state's vital records.

Correcting those mistakes was held up further by official hypocrisy: the concern expressed by numerous state leaders that federal recognition might clear a path for casinos on tribal lands (the current bills forbid casinos). This was not an argument gracefully made by a commonwealth that rakes in big bucks from running a numbers racket it calls the Lottery.

The Obama administration has been oddly reticent about signifying support for recognizing Virginia's tribes. There's no reason to be. The facts are not in dispute. Neither should be the necessity of doing the right thing.