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Sometimes, it actually is a good idea to sit back and shut up

We actually thought about going out to the Standing Rock camp to show our support a few weeks ago, but ultimately decided against it — I didn’t want us to be that pair of white tourists showing up to nod appreciatively at the spectacle, and getting in the way of the protest. I also last had training in peaceful protesting a couple of decades ago, which was recently enough to know that it is a very serious business with its own rules and discipline, and long enough ago that I wouldn’t take it for granted that I knew what I was doing. So we stayed home, and I made a donation instead.

Caine describes how some people are Not Helping at the protest. Now I’m even more relieved that I didn’t go and be another meddler in the way. Guess I’d better make another donation.

(By the way, Caine also mentions how she doesn’t have the stereotypical Indian look, and is easily mistaken for European. I know about this as well, and it’s important not to go the other way: UMM has a significant percentage of Indian students, and you learn fast that “Gee, you don’t look Indian” is not a compliment, and that you shouldn’t assume that someone with a German last name, for instance, isn’t Indian. It turns out that Indians look…human.)

Best cameo ever » « Who knew books could be divided into just two categories?

Comments

  1. says

    PZ:

    I know about this as well, and it’s important not to go the other way: UMM has a significant percentage of Indian students, and you learn fast that “Gee, you don’t look Indian” is not a compliment, and that you shouldn’t assume that someone with a German last name, for instance, isn’t Indian. It turns out that Indians look…human.)

    If there’s one thing the camps make clear, it’s that Indians come in all sizes, shapes, shades, and names.

    As far as helping, if you do show up at the camps, pitch in, volunteer, pick up trash, there’s always work in the kitchens, etc., go out and help collect firewood, or bring it in. There are a lot of conferences, meetings, and so on, in which particular expertise is welcomed. Focus is on winter now, and preparing, getting compost toilets set up, earth lodges built, and more.

    Donations, blankets, warm caps, mittens or gloves for all the kids, fabric for tobacco ties are all welcome. There are a lot of clothing donations at the Očeti Sakowiŋ camp right now, but I’m sure more will be needed. Washable plastic plates and cups, and washable utensils are welcome. There’s serious focus on recycling, so if you’re going to donate, keep that in mind, that re-usable, washable items are better.

    We’re taking in firewood every week, and I’ve pulled a large quilt I was making out of storage, to get it finished to donate. The legal fund is a good place to donate, if you’re not sure what to do, or donate directly to Standing Rock Rez: http://standingrock.org/

  2. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    Cheers, Caine. All my virtual support is yours and all other participants who actually are cooperative and not showboating..

  5. magistramarla says

    I’m at least a quarter Native American. My maternal grandfather was full-blooded Cherokee. I get the “Gee, you don’t look like an Indian” a lot. I have dark blue eyes from my father’s side and pale, sensitive skin from my Mother’s Scottish mother.
    My Dad told me that my mother and aunt registered as Native Americans. Someday, I would love to verify that.
    Meanwhile, I support you and all of your compatriots Caine!

  6. wzrd1 says

    I’ve long held a pet peeve, one of one with 10% Native American blood and a wife of at least 25% Native American blood, calling a Native American, even an indigenous American, an Indian.
    Indians are from India.
    Are you also going to call Mexicans Indians?
    Are you also going to call everyone from Central and South America Indians?
    Rob all three continents of peoples their identity?

  7. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Evidently the size of the protest encampment, and the lack of federal clamp-down (remember the Bungling Bundy Militia in Oregon), is making some of the local ranchers nervous and paranoid. I haven’t seen any weapons in the pipeline protest camp, unlike the wildlife refuge takeover.

    But residents in the area have expressed feeling unsafe and frustrated with how the protest has swelled to scores of self-described “water protectors” who have joined the tribe’s fight, and Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer — North Dakota’s lone voice in the House — says the camp is illegal. He blames the agency for looking the other way.
    “If that camp was full of people advocating for fossil fuels, they would have been removed by now,” Cramer said. “There is some discretionary enforcement going on.”
    The camp is the overflow from smaller private and permitted protest sites nearby and began growing in August. The gathering has been called the largest gathering of Native American tribes in a century, all there to protest Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners’ $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which tribal officials believe threatens sacred sites and a river that’s a source of water for millions….
    Cramer believes the “bigger problem” of the camp is “the illegal activity that may be orchestrated from there” — meaning a base to launch interference with pipeline construction miles away. About 95 people have been arrested in several pipeline protests — some as far as 70 miles away from the camp — since early August, but none at the camp itself. Protesters deny state officials’ charge, with Hall saying the camp promotes “peaceful” protest.
    “People don’t leave from the camp with malicious intent to do harm,” Hall said. “There are always going to be a few bad eggs in any group you can’t the message to.”
    Ranchers and farmers in the area are wary of the growing number of protesters and are fearful of damage to their fields and pastures, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said.
    “We’ve had several reports of people down there getting stopped on the road and being intimidated to hay that has been stolen to grazing animals without permission,” he said.
    Matthew Rebenitsch, who has a ranch just a few miles from the encampment, said he and his neighbors worry about talking publicly about the situation.
    “To be honest, no one around here wants to say anything because we’re afraid they will come and threaten us,” he said. “I’ll say this, every rancher around here is packing and people are locking their doors — and no one has ever locked a door in their entire life.”
    Republican state Rep. James Schmidt, who also farms and ranches nearby, said he and his neighbors are more cautious.
    “I’m starting to see a lot more guns in the back of pickup trucks. All it is going to take is one incident and emotions are going to overtake the situation,” he said.
    Complicating the issue is a grazing lease on that land. The renter, David Meyer, is responsible for the condition of the land. He could enforce his lease and have people removed, Williamson said, but hasn’t requested any intervention. Meyer recently sold part of his historic Cannonball Ranch to Energy Transfer Partners for an undisclosed price; he hasn’t returned telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

    Question du jour, for those who feel threatened. Would you feel threatened by the Bungling Bundy Militia demanding with guns that the land in question be turned over to the state? If not, check your privilege and paranoia.

  8. wzrd1 says

    “There is some discretionary enforcement going on.”

    I entirely agree.
    When a group of armed maniacs take over public property and threaten the national government, discretion says that the armed threat should “go on”.

    Or does that speaker want Kent State MK II to begin?
    Then, the entire nation hold its breath while seeing if the entire military, due to senior leadership remembering Kent State, then remove a problem that isn’t unarmed protestors?
    Thereby resulting in the armed resistance of much of the Boomer population and a significant portion of the senior military leadership?

    The system was designed with inbuilt problems. First, the military are not robots, but are sworn to uphold the Constitution and laws of this nation.
    That is an essential conflict in the case of abuses, which has realized fully within the Boomer generation’s lifetimes, where service members know what that Constitution says and means.
    And there’s a generation that remembers Wounded Knee and Kent State and honestly doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of our parents.

  9. says

    wzrd1:

    I’ve long held a pet peeve, one of one with 10% Native American blood and a wife of at least 25% Native American blood, calling a Native American, even an indigenous American, an Indian.

    I’ve found that tends to be an “issue” white people get all bristly about. I don’t care about your blood, dude, because I hear a white man. Here in Indian Country, people prefer Indian. Most Indians in uStates aren’t all that crazy about American anything. We live on Turtle Island.

    You are free of course, to take all manner umbrage. Perhaps you can rail against Indian at Indian Country Today, or Indianz.com. Or a dozen other Indian journalism sites.

    Oh, and please, stuff your ‘great white father’ teaching moment. Us Indians know all about why we got stuck with Indian. The reality is, we did get stuck with it, and we fucking own it now. You can call yourself whatever the fuck you want. Asshole suits you quite well.

  10. says

    Nerd @ 7:

    Cramer is another one in oil’s back pocket, and he’s a known Indian hater. Kirchmeier has been lying about the camps and Indians from the beginning. He’s the idiot who declared to the media that there were pipe bombs in the camp, because he over heard people talking about their čanupa (traditional pipes).

  11. wzrd1 says

    @Caine, you are perfectly welcome to explain that embrasure to all of my friends from India.
    Which is my actual objection, as well as co-option of a valid ethnicity.

    As for “Great White Father”, even money, my skin is darker than yours.
    My face, an “anybody’s face”, passing locally for the local olive to darker skinned populace outside of Berber, African or Oriental (beyond some confusion with Indians).
    Regardless, I have to go to work tonight and you’re really not worth further effort.

  12. says

    Are you really going to argue wzrd1-knows-best here, with someone who’s actually been at Standing Rock, in a post that is simply saying that we ought to have a little humility in these situations?

    Yeah, you go to work and stay out of this thread now.

  14. says

    wzrd1:

    As for “Great White Father”, even money, my skin is darker than yours.

    You actually think that has something to do with the shade of skin. Wow. Your denseness is truly amazing. I’d put money on you not having read my post, and if you did, well, you’re a great example of one clueless, asshole white person. Actually, given your rather idiotic remark on skin shades, I’d put money on you not even bothering to read PZ’s post. You are also a great example of the kind of white person who is not needed, in any way, in any indigenous fight. When it comes to Indians, you embody the saying: with friends like these, who needs enemies.

  15. says

    Slithey Tove @ 3:

    Donation added, to augment the virtual support.

    Thank you, very much. It means a lot, and it’s appreciated more than you’ll ever know, and the amount is not important, it all adds up.

    Thanks to you and Mary, too, PZ. Legal fees, travel money and so many other costs have been draining money so quickly. And with more people having been arrested, that’s all the more money that has to be taken out of the fund, and biased judges here have no hesitation in really piling up bail amounts and fines.

  16. chigau (違う) says

    wzrd1
    Because sometimes, when I drinks a bit, I think I’m still a Monitor …
    some words of warning:
    PZ #12 told you to stay out of this thread.
    So you should stay out of this thread.
    This includes posting a clever comment about not commenting any more.

  17. starfleetdude says

    Sometimes it’s also a good idea to be skeptical of claims made without objective evidence in support of them:

    North Dakota archaeologist: No burial sites destroyed by Dakota Access

    CANNON BALL – North Dakota’s chief archaeologist has found that no burial sites or significant sites were destroyed by Dakota Access Pipeline construction, according to an early draft of an internal memo authored by the State Historical Society.

    In a memo sent Thursday from state archaeologist Paul Picha, he writes that seven archaeologists from the State Historical Society surveyed the construction area west of State Highway 1806 that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says contains sacred sites.

    The team found no human bone or other evidence of human burials or cultural materials in the 1.36-mile corridor, Picha writes in a memo published Monday by Say Anything blogger Rob Port.

    If there’s any photos or other documented evidence of said burial sites, it should be produced to back the claims made about them. Given how simple it is to use a digital camera or smartphone to record such evidence, it’s not unreasonable to expect it to be shown.

  18. says

    Magistramarla @ 5:

    Meanwhile, I support you and all of your compatriots Caine!

    All my love and appreciation! The Tsalagi nation tend to have good records, depending on the particular tribal affiliation, and location. I hope you get to discover that side of your family one day soon.

    Speaking of, the Tsalagi out of Oklahoma arrived in two massive semi-trucks on Wednesday, hauling in firewood. 4th and 5th photos here. That was an overwhelming gift, and there was much cheering.

    I recently watched a great video of a Cherokee Elder, Betty Brewer, reminiscing on growing up.

  19. says

    starfleetdude: do you think anyone fucking cares? It’s nice that you’re busy looking for minor issues to nitpick over, but the big concern is that oil companies want to build an oil pipeline through the tribal nation’s water supply.

    OIL through DRINKING WATER.

    You can just fuck off from this thread now, too. READ THE GODDAMN TITLE.

  20. chigau (違う) says

    starfleetdude #17
    Your quote and link are what you consider objective evidence?
    srsly?
    Do you have any idea how archeological studies are actually conducted?
    and how the actual results are actually reported?

  21. chigau (違う) says

    starfleetdude
    Because sometimes, when I drinks a bit, I think I’m still a Monitor …
    some words of warning:
    PZ #19 told you to stay out of this thread.
    So you should stay out of this thread.
    This includes posting a clever comment about not commenting any more.
    or responding to my questions in #20

  23. says

    Jebus, starfleetdude didn’t even bother to read that entire article.

    The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was not allowed to participate in the survey, said Jan Hasselman, an attorney for the tribe.

    Tim Mentz, former tribal historic preservation officer, wrote in documents filed Sept. 2 in federal court that he surveyed that area and identified at least 27 burials, 16 stone rings, 19 effigies and other features in or adjacent to the pipeline corridor.

  24. numerobis says

    At this point I don’t see why anyone with a brain would believe anything coming out of the ND state officials. They clearly hate Indians and will say anything to make them go away.

  27. asclepias says

    Starfleetdude, it DOES NOT MATTER that no burial grounds are being disturbed!!!!!!! That was never the point to begin with! It was all about drinking water. It started out being about drinking water, and it continues to be about drinking water. Quite honestly, this should be a much bigger story than it is. The is the drinking water at the Standing Rock Reservation, is the immediate problem, but if that pipeline leaks (and, given history, it certainly will) everyone who relies on the Mississippi River for anything will be affected.

  29. Saad says

    The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was not allowed to participate in the survey, said Jan Hasselman, an attorney for the tribe.

    Sounds objective and trustworthy.

  31. says

    I fail to see how Dakota Access is different to the Taliban or Isis in its happy destruction of cultural and religious sites. Oh, wait, one group is The Enemy and the things considered Worthwhile by white people and the other group are the good ones and the things therefore objectively Not Worthwhile.

  33. says

    starfleetdude:
    Sometimes it’s also a good idea to be skeptical of claims made without objective evidence in support of them:

    That whizzing noise was the entire point of Caine’s post flying over your head at high speed.

  34. says

    A word: if you’re someone reading this, and decide to click over to read my post, and find yourself terribly ruffled over the idea of poor white people having to read to some blunt words about white privilege, stay the fuck out of my thread. I will not be nice. I will not be patient. I will not hold your hand and pour sugar down your throat, reassuring you that no, no, white people are great, really, and of course they have a right to Standing Rock. That will not happen.

    So, if you take offense, or are feeling the need to rush to the defense of those poor white folks, fuck off, and do it in your own space.

  35. says

    Also, if you happen to be the sort of flaming asshole who thinks it’s nifty to bring up Custer to me, there aren’t enough fucks in the universe for you.