What news coverage reveals about Indian Country
Yesterday, news outlets reported that the group which travelled to Oregon earlier this year, armed with rifles and pistols to take control of a federally protected wildlife area, was found, “not guilty of conspiring to keep federal employees from doing their jobs,” according to the Portland-based Willamette Week newspaper.
On hearing the news Thursday (27 October), American Indian reporters, activists, tribal members and relatives took to Twitter, Facebook and other internet outlets and let off steam.
Anger on social media rose when the treatment of the protesters in Oregon—who were given an acquittal—was compared to North Dakota protesters who had been handcuffed and carted off to jail, also on Thursday: about 141 souls in all, according to Reuters.
Writers juxtaposed the two events side-by-side, asking why the protestors in Oregon were treated differently from the protestors in North Dakota, who argue that a proposed oil pipeline will desecrate Indian lands and impact water, wildlife and humans.
How is it that a handful of protesters equipped with firearms were able to take over the wildlife center in Oregon, and prevent public access to the refuge located on federally protected land, and then receive a “pass” by a jury?
Look deep enough and you will find Indigenous footprints. Continue reading
For weeks our local public radio station had urged us to consider what the American Dream means.
Tonight marks the final formal debate between the two presidential candidates and I’m asking my students to consider the question: How do we create doubt?
Cynthia (Ištá Tȟó Tȟó) Coleman Emery's Blog 