Above photo: A community member holds an Eagle staff high during the Four Directions March. Photo By Andrew Catt-Iron Shell (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), NDN Action Organizer.
Early in the morning, a few days ago, I received a phone call from Standing Rock. My brother said he had heard that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was picking up people on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He also said that he heard the Proud Boys (a militant group that was involved in the White House raid in 2020 and now pardoned by the US President Trump) were driving their pickups all over Rapid City. Then I knew why he called so early. He was worried about me.
I laughed and said “No, none of that is true. I’ll talk to my granddaughter who lives on the rez and she’ll tell me. She would have called me by now if that was true. As for the Proud Boys, there are ranchers and cowboys driving their pickups around because it is the Winter Stock Show! It happens every year at this time.”
We both laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. Not that we were afraid that this was true, but that our people are getting caught up in rumors and fearmongering. Fear mongering is when statements are spread to cause fear among the people. It is a way of controlling the people, because fear paralyzes most people. Dictators and tyrants use this tactic because it is so much easier to control people if they are afraid. That is what is happening now since the inaugueral address by this new US President. Fear is gripping a lot of people and paralyzing them from finding out the truth.
We must know the truth first. We must gather the facts so we can say, “The sky is not falling” from the Chicken Little story. Remember that childrens’ story? There is also the other childrens’ story about “The Boy who cried Wolf.” The boy who cried wolf when there wasn’t a wolf, was doing fear mongering. So when a wolf really came around, no one believed him.
My granddaughter did call and tell me that the people were saying ICE was on the rez until the Oglala Sioux Tribal President, Frank Star Comes Out, said it was not ICE. He had called the BIA and asked for more law enforcement officers because there are not enough police on the rez and the crime rate is going up. The facts helped stop the fear, and some people were feeling like Chicken Little.
In a way, it is good that this new president was elected…again…by the Americans. (I’m told that even some Natives voted for him. I don’t know why. That election is none of our business as we are from a separate nation.)
The reason I say it is good is because it is revealing the true character of half of the population of the United States. The US can no longer hide behind the false stories that this is such a really great place to live. That this is the richest country in the world without talking about the homeless, the unemployment, the people that do go hungry, the racism, bigotry, and poverty? If we want to know facts, there are other countries like Switzerland that are richer, and they care for their homeless and poor.
I always remember what Martin Luther King Jr. said in his book, “Why We Can’t Wait” about the foundations of the United States:
“Our nation (the U.S.) was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles of racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.”
That phrase, “…born in genocide…” is one of the most appalling things to say about the foundations of a country, a people, the United States. Are there consequences? Yes. And from my point of view, that is what we are seeing now. There cannot be the continued oppression of Indigenous nations, all of us from coast to coast, without eventually consequences.
What can we do to stop the oppression? By continuing to be who we are, or who we are supposed to be: respectful to ourselves first, then respectful to others. It’s kind of what that man named Jesus said, “Turn the other cheek.”
Long ago, one of our true, old medicine men once said to me, “Even if they slap you, turn around and walk away. All those Spirits standing behind you will take care of them.” I have often thought of that.
That can also happen for our Indigenous nations. You think the Creator has forgotten us? No, but perhaps the U.S. was being given an opportunity to do what was right, to try to undo the genocide it was built on. Now, all those Spirits, all of our ancestors, are going to take care of it but not in ways we think. What about all the weather situations? Snow in Florida?! Spirits can do that.
As for us, what are we supposed to do? Be fearful? No. We need to live good lives in a good way, our true Oceti Sakowin way, humbly, not seeking attention or fame, not seeking more than we need, doing the very best we can. Having patience and fortitude, hanging in there when it is so hard. There is also something we can always do, and it is the most powerful thing to do, and that is to ask the Creator to help us. I have seen and experienced many miracles. As an old lady, I know that all you have to do is ask. The answer might not come how you want it, but an answer will come. We don’t have to be afraid. We only have to ask for courage and fortitude to get through another hard time. Our ancestors knew all of this, and we are still here today. Now all we have to do is ask and they can help us from the other side. (But don’t forget to thank them.)