“Due to the safety of the Oyate, effective immediately, you are hereby Banished from the homelands of the Oglala Sioux Tribe!” Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said in a Friday statement addressed to Noem. “Oyate” is a word for people or nation.
Star Comes Out accused Noem of trying to use the border issue to help get former U.S. President Donald Trump re-elected and boost her chances of becoming his running mate.
Many of those arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border are Indigenous people from places like El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico who come “in search of jobs and a better life,” the tribal leader added.
Don’t feed the trolls, Squid. Someone with that much hate in their heart isn’t usually going to be worth the effort to reach.
I see where you’re coming from, but I also think it’s important to stand up for indigenous people whenever possible, even if it’s just someone who might be trolling. Because not enough people advocate for indigenous groups.
Incidentally, in my experience, people on reservations are very happy to tell you all about their culture and its history. They’re practically desperate for any non-indigenous person to give a shit about them for once. And they can be pretty memorable too. I went to the Navajo reservation when I was 10 or 11 years old, so this would have been in the 1980s, and I still remember very well meeting an old woman who did not speak English as a first language and who hand-wove Navajo rugs. She demonstrated how she wove with her loom through a translator. Seeing something like that and realizing that you’re hearing a language and seeing part of a culture that predated the country they are now surrounded by (and technically a part of) was mindblowing to a kid.
I’ve travelled to and worked on about 70 reservations across Western Canada.
Some of the greatest people I’ve ever met are on Rez, ingenuity like I’ve never seen and hospitality second to none.
There’s also some of the most crooked corrupt fucks I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting too LoL.
Just like everywhere else I’ve worked and travelled. People are people all across this world once you get past the surface.