"it's still indians and cowboys out here"

or so says Yolanda, the wife of one of our speakers tonight. In a lot of ways, in terms of land and relationships, that's still true.


Sunset fields on the hill behind Re-Member

On to the real story. What happens to activists who occupy Wounded Knee for 5 months to protest a lack of justice in the murders of several Indians and a predatory tribal government?

Apparently they don't stop being kickass. Duane Locke, a 1973 occupier, is one of the friendliest and most talkative people I've met out here AND happens to have three gardens out near Porcupine, all of which are beautiful and thriving. Through some local organizations, he's helped tons of people set up their own gardens. Last year he gave away 900 lbs of potatoes, among other veggies, to feed people healthy, local, and tasty produce. I love it. We brought two crews of volunteers out to destroy weeds, waterboard bugs (Duane's term), and fertilize. It actually was pretty brutal, the weeds were taking over because of all the rain that we've been getting. I learned what a watermelon plant looks like, and that weeds like to imitate the plants that they are surrounding. And grow thorns.


This is actually LaDonna and Harrison's community garden for her non-profit, which is also really cool; I forgot my camera today.

The whole day, while pulling weeds, I thought about structure. About how even if we place beds, skirt trailers, put up siding, insulate houses, and build outhouses, the majority of South Dakota is still prejudiced. Indians will continue to be unemployed and forgotten. I want two prongs! I want to attack immediate issues and pave the way for future improvement. I also want Re-Member to stop buying processed white bread, institutional powder Powerade packets, and going through dozens of plastic gloves a day. I think, if we are really going to effect change, we have to change the way we think about everything. We have to build Eco-Domes on a wayward time schedule with some random international volunteers. We have to power our offices with solar power (check! :)). We have to grow companion plants in a garden to avoid pesticides and reuse plastic bags and make our own rags. And we have to figure out how to build houses efficiently and sustainably--which might mean dismantling the Bureau of Indian Affairs and their awful land policy, and rebuilding from the ground up. Some fun facts: the tribal government has only had the resources and ability to deal with land issues (like leasing, ownership, etc.) for the last three or four years. 20 people own 40% of the land out here on Pine Ridge, which is the size of the state of Connecticut, and lease it to others. I'd bet that the majority of these large landholders, if not all, are white.

There's something else to think about: what is the place of large groups of white people coming out here to "work with" the Lakota nation? How do we build relationships in the span of a week? How do we get people to think about (white) privilege and how that shapes realities out here on the rez? Our daily wisdoms and history lessons can only do so much. I've noticed that the older folks find learning about certain cultural practices like the Sundance... distasteful (though Duane makes a good point about many religions, including Christianity, centering on violence and flesh sacrifices). Sometimes I feel like people come here to view the situation and to lend their services in the way that Re-Member has organized it, but don't take the extra step to examine themselves and how they in their daily lives contribute to the overall situation through perpetuating stereotypes or failing to understand racial and class stratification. I also think we have to let ourselves redefine the relationships between races. Which happens, I think, with the staff here; we all live together and learn from each other and love together, but I don't know if volunteers know how to--or that they can--cross these lines and get to know people, not just representatives of cultural practices or histories.

Anyways, other rez happenings: 13 people from our Chicago group have some sort of stomach virus; I am steering clear of that building. Also, I found out that a group called Aide Abroad was charging volunteers 400% what we normally charge volunteers to send them out here--talk about voluntourism and profiting off good intentions and guilt. Sometimes people make me sick.

It's getting harder to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 a.m. There are a lot of Iowan high school boys here. Some people think I'm Lakota. Also, today I had a great conversation with Tom, our executive director, about projects I can do out here and I'm psyched...!

...and I just watched a lightning blitz storm. Jeff, another program manager, says that it's probably 40-50 miles away. First of all, wtf, I can see 50 miles away. Second of all, we can see lightning flashing at least twice a second. And we're under tornado watch. We'll see what happens.