On its surface, the “National Bison Legacy Act” doesn't look controversial. It has already passed through both houses of Congress, now it simply awaits a very likely signature from President Obama.

But leftist media are exploiting this adoption of the bison as the national mammal of the United States to stoke the fires of, you guessed it, white ancestor guilt.

The Washington Post didn’t stop at pointing a finger at the U.S. government for their role in the near-extinction of the North American bison. No, they specifically cited the whiteness of the western settlers.

“The introduction of horses and guns accelerated the pace of bison hunting among Native Americans, who relied upon the animals for many uses,” read the WaPo article. “But then came westward expansion by white settlers — Manifest Destiny — and the pushing of Native Americans off their lands.”

“Killing bison became a tool in this fight by the U.S. government, and the pace of extermination became furious,” WaPo added.

The language within the Bison Legacy Act suggests the story of the bison is one of the first successful forays into animal conservation. But a quote published by the Post declares that the bill is instead about helping Native Americans in “making peace with the past.”

“We look at it as a conservation story, but to Native Americans, it’s also about making peace with the past,” John Calvelli, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s executive vice president of public affairs, told the Post. “Many of those bison were actually killed to help drive Native Americans to reservations. … Now, 100 years later, we as a nation are recognizing this symbol.”

The leftist U.K.-based newspaper The Guardian also felt the need to shame modern day Americans for actions they can’t be held accountable for.

“The bison is to become the first national mammal of the US, elevating it to the giddy heights of symbolism currently occupied by the bald eagle,” the Guardian wrote. “Little more than 100 years since it was virtually exterminated in America in a manic bid to demolish Native American resistance, the bison now has establishment status.”

“There was no way for us to sustain ourselves when the buffalo were exterminated so we handed over vast tracts of land. The buffalo and the tribal people were put on the same path by the government. It was a tough time for tribes,” Jim Stone, executive director of the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council, told the Guardian.

An NPR affiliate also published their interview with Native American radio host John Kane, the beginning of which cited that the bill would “shed light” on parts of history the American government would be “less than proud of.”

Kane revealed to NPR that he hoped the adoption of the bison as a national symbol would come with the “recognition of the role American policy played in almost destroying the creatures and those who relied on them to live.”

Out of all the issues facing Americans these days, politicizing the adoption of an animal into American symbology is an extremely low rung on an impossibly tall ladder. But, as is evident, liberals never tire of finding opportunities to make Americans feel guilty about their ancestors.