Okay, this is the 2nd part of being back at Očeti Sakowiŋ camp on Wednesday, the 28th September. First part is here. The photos are full size, click for readability. It took a considerable amount of restraint to stop myself from titling this post: White People, Please, Sit Down and Shut Up. As I have mentioned before, many times, you’d never know I was any part Indian going by looks. I’m quite white, and and right now, I’d be happier if I dyed myself purple or something, anything to be dissociated from the behaviour on the part of some white people at the camp. Standard Disclaimer: there are a lot of white folks at the camps who are terrific people, helping out, and being a good and important part of the community. Unfortunately, this does not mitigate the behaviour of other white people.
The rules, detailed above, have been in place, but they are now written out and emphasised throughout the camps, and still, white people are managing to be utterly oblivious, and continue to break them, because, well, those rules, they can’t mean me, right? Yes, they mean you, oh great white crunchy saviours.
It’s no secret that a good amount of young white people flocked to the Red Warrior camp early on, months ago. That’s fine, but white people, you really, seriously need to sit down, shut the fuck up, listen, learn, pay attention, and figure out how respect works. Respect is not something which is owed only to white people.
There were even more young blonde women in camp, sporting dreadlocks. Perhaps that’s some sort of attempted connection to Celtic roots, I don’t know, but many of these young women were waltzing about the communal area in full privilege blindness, seeming to think this was a crunchy white person nature camp. It isn’t. It’s not considered terribly respectful to walk around the communal area with one breast exposed because your two year old child might want a drink, either. A tiny bit of sense can go a very long way. A lot of young white people are duly fired up about issues, and that’s fine, but where is your respect for doing things the Indigenous way? These same young white people are continually advocating for going out to the DA work sites and protesting in a decidedly non-Indigenous manner. They talk constantly about going up to “the front lines”.
That happened while we were there on Wednesday morning. Much agitation about going out to the “front lines”. A whole lot of young people went out, and they didn’t come back. They were all arrested, with one exception. One of the very crunchy, “nature camp” young women, white, took the open mic and was trying to explain the arrests, and what happened, then backtracked to why she was there, speaking. She had taken her toddler with her, and said she was about to be arrested when she brought her child out, and asked what would happen to her. The cops decided to let her go, rather than place her child in the system, since she’s not from here. As she was saying all this, a furious young Native woman, standing by the rule boards in the first photo, slammed her hand down on the appropriate place on the board, and yelled at her for taking her small child, and not paying attention to the rules. The young crunchy woman muttered something, dropped the mic and took off. To say that white people need a lesson in figuring out respect is an understatement, to say the least. This is not your nature camp, and any retaliation won’t land on you, it will land on the people who live here. We don’t need white leaders, we don’t need white saviours, and we don’t need the damn near impenetrable shield of obliviousness so many white people walk around with.
After the arrests, Phyllis Young had something to say. She started out by saying she was going to go easy this time, apparently, the day before, she had been absolutely infuriated by all the front line talk and more. In particular, she seriously dislikes front lines. I agree with her, front lines is a term of war. Ms. Young talked about understanding warmongering, she was a warmonger in her youth, she was at Wounded Knee in the ’70s. That’s not what is happening here and now though, or at least, it’s not what is supposed to be happening here and now. Ms. Young talked about white people playing saviour, and that in doing so, they had only one frame of reference, that of war. The collective memory of white America is nothing but war. There’s nothing else. This is not in any way helpful to all the people at the camps, it is not in any way helpful to all those who actually live here, and who will have to live with the consequences of stupid actions. Ms. Young wanted to know who was going to come up with the bail money, who was going to get everyone out of jail. Who was going to pay the court costs, the fines that will be imposed. I’m willing to bet it won’t be the wannabe white saviours. There’s also the issue of young Native people ending up with a criminal record. White people might consider that some sort of badge of honour, but need to remember they are white. A record won’t impact them nearly to the same extent it will affect a person of colour, especially a person of colour living on a reservation. FFS, is it all that much to ask white people to bloody think?
There have also been pro-pipeline infiltrators in the camps, white people, natch. Again, there’s some young white person agitating, talking about needing to go out to the “front lines” and setting up a time and place. A second person sits up on a hill with a telescope, and informs the cops of the destination. The cops get there first, everyone gets arrested, and no one makes it back to camp. As I mentioned in the first part, the presence of cops has been seriously amped up, and they have a monster mobile command center just past the turn off to Sacred Stone Camp. They have militarized vehicles, SWAT, and are running around with assault rifles. Indigenous people know we cannot afford to make this a war, cops and others are just waiting for an excuse. White people may see all that as a challenge, but that’s entirely the wrong point of view to have at the camp.
In conclusion, white people, please, I fucking beg of you, stop. Just fucking stop. Sit down. Listen. Learn. Pay attention to the rules. Understand that you are an ally, but also understand that you have no particular stake in what happens at Standing Rock. After this, you get to go home and pat yourself on the back for being a “good” white person. Before you deliver that pat, it would be useful to figure out what constitutes a good white person, a good ally. Understand that it is not your camp. Understand that this is not a war, and it’s certainly not up to you to make it one. Understand that you are not a saviour of any kind, nor are saviours being sought. Understand that you are still thinking in a completely colonial way. Understand that colonialism got us into this situation, it won’t help get us out. Learn respect. And please, stop being so damn embarrassing.
For all you wonderful people who are making things or have things to send, this is where:
For those of you who have things to send, this is where:
SHIP TO:
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
attn: Johnelle Leingang
North Standing Rock Ave
Fort Yates, North Dakota, 58538
Much, much, much love, thanks, and appreciation. It might be a small thing to you, but it’s in no way small at all, your generosity and love shines through.
If those non-Native people want to go protest at the work sites, they should do so.
They could stage protests in their own right as concerned citizens.
But they should not use the Standing Rock camp as a base of operation.
And the ones doing Solidarity Tourism should go home and write letters to their
congresspeople. It would probably be as useful.
Chigau:
Agreed. I also think they need to stop trying to get Native youth from going out and getting arrested. It ain’t helping.
Damn.
Sigh.
A lot of folks do not realize that what the Protectors at Standing Rock are doing is, in fact, participating at the forefront of climate change activism. And that affects the whole planet. Oil has to be stopped now. There are no other options. I am lily white Caine, and I stand with the Protectors.
I propose that the term “white folk” is a pejorative.
Morgan:
I know that, and a whole lot of white people are protectors, and standing with us. They are great. They aren’t a problem, either.
I tried to share your post on my FB page and the mechanism here at FtB did not function. Perhaps your tech guru could take a look at that.
This is so incredibly frustrating, and so incredibly unsurprising. I’ve encountered way too many “white saviors” like you’ve described here, Caine, and truly can’t seem to let go of the narrative they’ve created that centers them and their actions. They are allies. They are here to assist the people who are actually affected. It’s not about them, but damn if they will make it about them and their “spiritual journey” and how “noble” they are.
I think I’ve strained my eyes rolling them.
Thank you so much for your reporting on this.
Morgan:
Hmm. Works if I click it (at least it wants a FB log in, which I don’t have), and other people have shared. I’ll try to figure out if there’s something wrong (meaning I’ll ask!).
TMM:
Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. And I know white people don’t want to hear this, I know there are going to be hurt feelings, but fuck a duck, sometimes you just have to say. There are so many non-native people at the camps who are doing a great job, and they get hurt by these actions, too. And it seriously erodes trust.
Not being rich, I could not donate too much, but I gave what I can. With me being lily white and half a globe away there is not much I can do apart from that. The feeling of helplesness is not pleasant. I could write a (very short) blogpost on my almost dead blog and thus getting the message out to maybe 20 more people. This issue has not been covered by European media afaik, not by czech ones anyways.
Most of my readers are university students with significantly more limited finances than me, so I do not believe the blogpost would bring in any significant donations, if any.
Anyways I want to ask: 1) Do you think it is worth it that I write something so Czech people have at least a chance at some info in their language? 2) If I write something, could you review the contents (in english of course) prior to publication, so I do not inadvertently write something inapropriate or dowright wrong?
Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. And I know white people don’t want to hear this, I know there are going to be hurt feelings, but fuck a duck, sometimes you just have to say.
Someone who is there not to do what is in your actual best interest, but to do something showy that will make then feel good that they are “helping” is not your ally, they are a disease that must be purged. It is not altruism that drives their actions, it is narcicism (did I spell that right?).
Coddling their delicate little fee-fees will not change them. The mask that they wear is a lie, a decption designed to try and subvert your goals towards their own self-gratification, just like a virus subverts a cell’s machinery for its own use. It doesn’t matter whether your group succeeds or fails, just so long as they use it to feel “helpful”.
If they cannot be reformed, they need to be removed. That may not be easy to actually do though, as you probably would not want to change them from a toxic “supportor” into an actual enemy.
I’ve certainly can’t tell you how to actually do that. I’m just an average young white boy who’s most stressful interaction with police so far is being pulled over 3 blocks from my house for a burnt out taillight. I was just got echos of the “white moderates” from MLK’ s Birmingham Jail piece when reading this.
Also, didnt even know you had a blog here! I’ve been loving your comments at Pharyngula, so I’ll be binge reading soon.
Also, #3 on the principles board, what are the “isms” referred to?
Hallo Mark, and welcome!
Primarily, sexism and racism. Also, anything else anyone tries to attach an ‘ism’ to.
As for handling things at the camps, the leaders there are great people, and they’ll do the job. It’s the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota way to talk about things, to talk everything out. It’s an inclusive method, and it works. I expect security will be tightened up, but it’s a community there, and it’s in a community way that things are handled. People are expected to behave, and to be respectful. If a person violates that repeatedly, they are left on their own, until they figure out they’ve isolated themselves, and in some cases, a person is specifically banned from the camps.
Charly:
Yes, I think it’s worth writing something. You’ve been able to identify with the oppression happening here, Charly, and empathize with it. I expect anyone who would read your post would be the same.
I’d be happy to help in any way.
I think it’s a great idea for Charly to write something in the Czech language.
The more people who hear about this, the better.
Like lifesavers made of brittle white chalk: tasteless, characterless, and give you drymouth.
I know some of the arrests of recent weeks have made local news, but only in a passing way. I’m going to check the bank account tomorrow and see if I can try and make a donation. I wish I knew how to knit. That seems far more worthwhile at the moment.
rq, if you could send a bundle of fabric, perhaps something with a particularly cultural significance or pattern, with a brief note about it, for use in making tobacco ties, that would be really appreciated, and it would be special too, a sharing of cultures.
Caine
That is actually a brilliant idea.
I found this
http://don-xuixote.hatenablog.com
it is a blog in Japanese language called “Ainu Policy Watch”.
It appears to have been boosting the signal on the Dakota pipeline for a long while.
It’s mostly links to other media with some commentary.
The Ainu know quite a lot about being fucked over by Colonials.
Chigau:
Yes, they certainly do. I’ve found that people who have been fucked over by colonialism, regardless of skin colour, because that includes a whole lot of white people, are very empathetic to the current situation. It’s those who are very privileged and have never undergone that, nor have their families, they are the ones who tend to get ahold of the wrong end of the stick, one way or another.
Well, now I’d really like to smack ‘wzrd1’ to hell and back, if there were a hell. So time to mellow out, I think. Imma go quilt.
And now starfleetdude has shown up, with PROOF we’re making a fuss over nothing. Yeah, I got to get outta here before I start seriously hatin’ on white people in general.
Caine
I’m not sure that starfleetdude is “white”.
I think they might be a Vulcan, what with the Logic™ and all.
I lost a comment…
Caine
I’m not sure starfleetdude is white.
They might be a Vulcan, what with the Logic®…
test
Hmm, I seem to recall him being white brought up in the previous thread where he was a major asshole, but I’m not going to look now. At any rate, I don’t fucking care if he’s white or not. He’s an asshole.
true that
I think he’s Asshole, a lot like wzrd1.
I’m sorry we suck collectively.
Really, which part of “if you’re in somebody’s home you behave according to their rules” is so hard to understand? If you cannot agree with the rules you leave, even if you believe in your heart of hearts that this is stupid. If somebody asks for your help with doing something you either do that or you decline, you don’t just do what you think needs being done.
Breast feeding fetishism has to stop. I breastfed. I breastfed wherever we were and I didn’t give a fuck about anybody who might object to me quickly whipping out my tit and placing a baby in front. But it’s not a personal achievement or badge of honour. And it actually hurts people, in their large majority women because it increases the pressure to conform to some sort of super-mommy.
Makes me wish we had some culture to share….
But I could offer pulse warmers made of fleece now the cold weather is coming…
Are handknits needed or useful? I’m up in Canada, and unable to offer much in the way of physical or financial support, but I am happy to make up and send warm woolies (and probably get others here to as well) if it is a wanted or useful exercise.
Dywalgi:
Absolutely!
Awesome :) Do you have any suggestions for things that would be the most helpful? I was thinking hats and neckwarmers/scarves, since they don’t depend on hand size, but I am happy and able to make mittens as well if you think there is a need.
I just found the guidelines on the fb page, thank you!
Personally, I’d go with watch caps, and neckwarmers/scarves. You can’t ever forget about the wind when you’re on the prairie, and it gets right frigid in winter. A warm scarf is a treasure!
I agree with nearly all of the commenters. The one small bit of leeway I might grant some of the non-native protesters is if they live in the path of the pipeline, through South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. Iowa, for example, has the worst drinking water outside of Flint, because of CAFOs and Monsanto run-off, blatantly violating EPA guidelines. Their Governor Branstad, the founder of ALEC, and their own district EPA, refuses to enforce it, because they are in the pocket of Big Ag. Des Moines recently had to install the most expensive and complex water filtration system in human history. Governor Branstad abused the principle of eminent domain to steal land from small farmers, so that his Texas buddies at DAPL/Bakken could profit more than actually paying for their own business operations.
If you protest in the middle of your stolen cornfield, the Iowa press ignores you. If you protest beside the river that the DAPL might explode in, the Iowa press ignore you. You’re just some Bernie hippie.
But ah, if you join with the Standing Rock Sioux, then your voice is actually heard a bit. The national media pays attention. There’s a (racist) nobility conferred upon the protest if it’s done alongside indigenous peoples. But the threat is no less real to the other ethnicities of Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. If standing with the Sioux is the only way to be heard, then that’s their best strategy for social activism.
So I join with you in criticizing The Great White Saviors. But let’s also keep in mind that it’s a social justice issue in Des Moines, where a poor family of five on 100 degree summer days must buy 20 bottles of Evian per day. They have a right to stand with Standing Rock, and not be dismissed as “too white”.
I am sending you what I cobbled together today evening per e-mail. The title of the mail is “Charly -- My take on Standing Rock”. Please read it and if you think it is worth publishing, I will publish the czech version on my blog. If you find anything of it to be offensive, too distracting from the main issue or downright stupid, let me know. I will not publish a word of it without your approval, because I do not with to make more harm than good.
In case you missed it, but I’m pretty sure that, right there in the OP, Caine isn’t talking about the good white people allies. Just the ones misusing the platform created by Standing Rock by not adhering to the rules of the community.
anbheal @ 34:
I’m well aware of that, and so is everyone at Standing Rock. They’ve been aware for a very long time. The camp actually started in April, and people all along the pipeline, from all the states it will affect, and all the people who rely on the Missouri river, started joining together. I don’t need to be lectured or reminded about that. In many of the involved, detailed Camp story posts I did, I mentioned many people we met from elsewhere, and the particular fights they were facing, whether or not that was joined up with this particular fight or not, and skin colour did not play into that, either (Such as Salvatore and Diane, from Colorado, who are fighting all the damage done by fracking. I could go on, but I already did that). I suggest you read a bit more before deciding I need to be scolded.
Exactly where did I say anything like that? I have repeatedly mentioned all the non-native people who are a good and important part of the community. I’ve mentioned that in every single fucking camp post. I mentioned it in *this* post. What you’re doing is you’re listening only to what strikes you as hurtful, and you aren’t paying attention to the damage being done. I’m not addressing all the good non-natives. I’m addressing all the privilege-blind, bad ones. The ones who are causing pain, hurt, financial damage, and encouraging the militarized police to encroach further and further. These people are doing the exact opposite of what the Indians are trying to do. None of that has to do with being “too white” -- I don’t even know where in fuck you got that from. I don’t know what it means, either. Is this post a bitter pill for some white people? I have no doubt it is, but that happens in life, and you need to take it in, and understand what is going on.
If the privilege-blinded white people at the camps keep on this way, pretty soon, most non-natives won’t be welcome -- is that what you want? You want a post that is nicer, softer, sweeter, kinder, because white people? That is not going to fucking happen.
Also, I think you need to listen to yourself, to the privilege which is oozing out: “They have a right to stand with Standing Rock.” A right? Really? Y’see, I don’t think white people do have a right to Indigenous people, indigenous land, or indigenous struggles. Especially with the long and strong record white people have of co-opting other cultures. There can certainly be allies, and there can certainly be solidarity, and joining together in solidarity, but white people don’t have a fucking right to all peoples, all places, and all struggles.
Charly, got it! Reading now.
Charly, that is a great post!
rq:
In the comments, even, at #8:
I guess I don’t count as a commenter.
Ha ha, “don’t lecture me”. Tina Fey would envy that irony. But kudos, for your sense of solidarity. Out of curiosity, do you consider Mexicans allies? Or does the fact that the Spanish chose to rape them while the British didn’t choose to with the people they pillaged give Mexicans no “rights” to “struggle”? Who has that special right?
anbheal:
You’re the one who stated that white people had a right to stand with Standing Rock. If it makes you feel better, I don’t have a right to white people or any other people. I also think you’re missing that I’m writing as a white person myself. Part white, anyway, and definitely white on the outside. I know how difficult it can be to parse your own privilege; I have white privilege comin’ outta my ears. I know it’s not fun or easy to put aside hurt and pay attention to what others are saying.
I’m sure this wasn’t your intent, but you’re providing a fine example of the type of person I was talking about.
Right now, it’s obvious you’re feeling so hurt and injured, there’s little point in attempting to explain yet again.
Thank you for the less combative response. Seriously. An olive branch extended.
I’m not feeling hurt and injured. I just am nervous about the sense of moral superiority due to the coincidence of birth. Custer and Lord Amherst might have sniffed at a “squaw” exposing her breast. Do we want to participate in that judgment?
And as Jack Kerouac said, the most astonishing phenomenon in nature, across all cultures, is how many more horses’ asses there are than horses.
And hey, I’m in a fight in both Iowa and Mexico, that my people are probably going to lose. I just think it’s problematic to alienate allies. And to judge their morals as superior to yours is what they do, every day.
I wish you all the very best, with all my heart.
I phrased that incorrectly. To judge their morals as superior to yours is what the adversaries do. Not the allies.
sez anbheal @43: “I just think it’s problematic to alienate allies.”
Any person who can be alienated by someone mentioning that there’s a definite segment of the while population which is Seriously Not Helping Even Tho They Think They Are… probably isn’t much of an ally in the first place.
anbheal:
This is not about a coincidence of birth. This is about white privilege, and white people locked into colonial thinking, and white people trying to take the lead. This is about white people being stupid, oblivious, and disrespectful. This is about white people who think they have a right to do whatever the fuck they want, including not obeying the rules, the rules set up by the people of Standing Rock.
Squaw does not mean what you think it does, it simply means young woman. I don’t give a flaming fuck about that moron Custer and what he may or may not sniffed at. The fact is, that at the Očeti Sakowiŋ camp, a young woman walking around the communal area with a breast exposed is disrespectful, end. of. story. Why is it that you chose to take offense over that? Why do think your clumsy attempt at whitesplaining is helping? The fact that you thought bringing Custer into this is an indicator of your determination to stay firmly locked into a position of colonial white privilege. For fuck’s sake.
You came into this thread, bristling with offense and defensiveness, demanding preferential and gentle treatment, proceeded to whitesplain the situation to me, as if I’m just some dumb fucking Indian who doesn’t know jack shit about what’s happening in regard to the Black Snake, and on top of it all, you inform me that white people have a right to do whatever they want in regard to Standing Rock, when you don’t have the slightest bloody clue about what has been going, nor are you remotely interested in reading and following the months of coverage I’ve been doing, including my time at the camp.
Then, when I’ve had enough, you come back with more white privilege and outright asshole behaviour, bringing up fucking Custer of all people, then get all sniffy because I pointed out a specific example of disrespect. You have not done one godsdamn thing in this thread except to whitesplain and do your best to put me in my place for having the nerve to speak plainly about just how fucked up SOME white people can be, and that that sort of shit needs to stop.
YOU are not an ally. You aren’t even fucking close to being an ally. For one thing, you don’t listen. You have your head so firmly lodged in your own shit, you couldn’t hear anyone at all. Everything I wrote in that post, pouring out my heart, my frustration, the frustration and anger of Phyllis Young and so many other leaders at the camp, pointing out the harm and hurt being done by some white people, and this is what you bring to my blog, to my thread? No, you aren’t an ally. All you care about are white people, and making sure their privilege is not impinged on in any way, and that their poor little ears don’t burn. No, this will not stand. You go away, and don’t you come back here, ever.
Cubist @ 45:
Thank you.
Yeah.
If you’re doing the whole thing just for the cookies …
phooey
I thought I could go to sleep tonight not angry.
White allies are pretty cool.
White saviors… not so much.
Perhaps anbheal might want to spend some quality meditation time on the difference between the two.
Yeah, fuck you, anbheal.
@44:
Apparently you’re an adversary, then. You’re saying that Standing Rock, the indigenous people there, do not have the right to make their own rules about this particular segment of the struggle, about the community they’re trying to build and maintain. That’s not ally behaviour, that’s asshole behaviour. That’s “I know better than you” behaviour, which as you say yourself, is the attitude of an adversary, not an ally. And if not an adversary, then certainly not of a person trying to listen, learn and help.
Also, Custer? Amherst? Kerouac? I didn’t know they were all at Standing Rock and members of the community, too.
+++
re:
I had a thought. Now, I don’t know if she does this at home, or in other public places too, but it certainly smells of a certain appropriation of ‘we’re on native land, let’s go native!’ ideas, which seem thoroughly racist. Noble savage and all that, I mean honestly, it’s just one little boobie like nature intended and these people live close to nature, right, right? Dunno, that’s kind of the impression I’ve gotten.
FFS, anbheal, get your head out of your ass and fucking read what’S written.
Nobody’s said white people cannot support Standing Rock. Nobody’s said white people cannot protest. Though you gotta ask if those directly affected couldn’t stage more protests in other places. Or are white people just not capable of that so they need to take over indigenous protest?
If you are in somebody’s place you respect their rules. If somebody asks me to take off my shoes at the door I do so.
And yes, I know that particular kind of white protesters. I grew up on political protests. And often there was this group of young white people who completely ignored what everybody else wished for and decided that having a street fight with the police were the thing to do. Who were easily goaded into fights.
Best thing I ever saw was a couple of young white women with dreadlocks sitting on top of a couple of trucks cheering and sneering and provoking and throwing things while we were running from the police in riot gear.
Talk about alienating allies? Talk about how I think very carefully before I go to a political protest, especially with the kids.
So fuck you and your special white feelings.
rq
I think you hit bull’s eye.
Also, let’s talk about teaching kids respect and consent when you teach them that women’S bodies are always there for their convenience.
me:
Sorry, just caught that.
Has there ever been successful activism that wasn’t organized? With no rules? Labour movements have had a very tight organization, keeping ifs and buts internal and unity during any actions. AFAIK, civil rights movements and suffragettes were also organized.
It’s worth noting that “being an ally” is something that, by definition, must necessarily involve more than one single person. There’s the Ally, and then there’s the person who the Ally is being an ally with. So you really can’t unilaterally declare yourself an ally; the person (people) you’re a putative ally of have to buy into the notion! Because if those people don’t agree that you’re an ally with them, are you really an ally of theirs?
J. Random White-doofus: “I’m an ally to indigenous people!”
Indigenous person: :Get the fuck away from me, you clueless numpty.”
I do believe that bi- and multilateral agreements are usually involved, with a set of rules to be followed for the allyship to actually be productive for either or both parties. Obviously, in a social context, these could be unwritten, but there’s tacit agreement there anyway -- as you say, imposing your allyship (esp. your way!) isn’t exactly ally-like at all.
cubist
Ahhhh, but for that you must accept that the other person is, indeed, a person, capable of rational thought and able to decide their own interests best*. Allies usually think they know better than the person they “support” and make their own needs front and centre of the discussion.
*Which is, as an aside, IMO the ultimate appeal of Animal Rights and “Pro life”: The dog and the fetus cannot say “get lost!”
Dear fellow white people,
If it’s not about you, it’s not about you.
I find it difficult to see how Caine could be more clear about that, she says not all white people are screwing up every time she posts about these issues.
Thank you all, each and every one of you. You’ve helped to prop me up on a very “feeling shaky about people” day.
rq:
That’s exactly right, and better expressed than my attempt of pointing out the “it’s my nature camp” thing.
Thanks for the reply, Caine, I posted it today with the correction. I hope it is of use to someone. I have to find the book I mentioned to check if the spelling in the book is false or if I remembered it incorrectly, because it bugs me now.
__________
Ad bare breasted prancing around in communal area: I am thinking aloud here to make my thoughts straight.
It might also fall under the umbrella of “clumping all Indians in one box”. Amazon Indians are not Plains Indians, the cultures evolved in response to different environmental challenges and therefore are completely different. And of course even Plains Indians are not homogenous mass etc. Women in Amazon forest may be walking bare breasted and it is compleely OK there, but it is idiotic to behave in North America as if you were in Amazon forest. It is always prudent, as a visitor, to make sure that you behave in a way the natives do not object to.
But that does not always mean to blend and do everything they do.
Which is my second point. Even if the Indian women in the camp were sometimes dressing with their breasts exposted as a part of for example some national costume or ceremony, it would still be innapropriate for a white woman to do the same unless being explicitly invited/asked to so as part of the ceremony or similar. It would be just as stupid as if I, blue-eyed blonde white man from Central Europe have shown up on my own accord wearing a feathered headdress (again, unless explicitly asked to wear one by natives).
Afaik I know from my reading and watching documentaries the native people around the world do not expect us or wish us to become “one of them” they only wish and expect us to leave them to their own devices and when we visit, if we must, then to observe and not to meddle. Jared Diamond or David Attenborough were not wearing (and not expected to wear) grass skirts and/or penis sheats when on Papua New Guinea.
Charly:
It’s one of those words that gets spelled differently a lot, even in native writing. Mahto, Mato, Matto. :D
And thank you for that excellent write up.
No offense taken. I’d also like to say that I admire the effort being put forth. I also seem to recall seeing that the Pipeline company moved the pipeline away from a mostly white population center and into the Tribal lands instead, because the white folk complained about having a dirty old pipeline in their back yard.
DLC:
Yes. That’s been brought up so many times, we’re starting to feel like parrots. The original line was north of Bismarck, and some white people protested, and Dalrymple (governor) was uneasy at the risk of water contamination, so the solution was the usual one -- put it on Indian land.
Winona LaDuke and others keep pointing out that for every single state this pipeline goes through, it will run through Indian land, and non-Indian land, too. There’s a handful of white ranchers here in Ndakota that have been very noisy about the damage fracking is doing, and they are against the pipeline, but no one listens to them, either.