I wasn’t thinking they were particularly concern-trolly, just maybe not aware of the recent developments with the new camp and those arrested there. It hasn’t been covered by too many media outlets (especially when it was first going down), I’ve really only heard things directly from my friends from Standing Rock, or…

No worries! I didn’t think you were a troll. The “my tribe” tipped me off that you were likely a fellow Native, and I figured you weren’t aware of the new camps. That’s all I wanted to clarify! I have friends from Standing Rock, so I knew what was happening as the arrests went down.

I think that in every Native family, there is at least one dude who’s an asshole Republican against all odds... At least anecdotally, I’ve found that most Natives who buy into the conservative bullshit are men. And they’ve bought into the western-centric, patriarchal bullshit forced on us for centuries...

The tribe was closing these particular camps on their own, because of being on the flood plain and the amount of debris and trash that had built up... But they’ve also been trying to establish new camps, and about 70 people were arrested at the new camp just a few days ago as they were trying to get it established. So…

100%. As folks were celebrating in the fall over the perceived NoDAPL win, we knew this shit was just delayed.

I’ve just had a chance to read, and I’m currently listening to his live interview... I’m going to have to take a few hours to process his response a bit more... But my initial reaction is that he’s an even bigger asshole than I thought.

Hahaha, exactly like that! I loved that show, but that whole storyline was so irritating that I would change the channel whenever it was brought up!

Aw, thanks! I can’t take credit for it though, definitely the product of what I’ve learned from my tribe and community, as well as my friends from across Indian Country!

Right! And I think it’s own of the biggest priorities in this day and age for indigenous folks across the world, that we get to define ourselves now; our communities get to develop these definitions, instead of outsides defining us in colonial ways.

But if that’s the case, and this is a scoop situation, then he should have been open about that from that start. I think my own reaction to him, as an author and public speaker who has made a name (and money) for himself by writing about Native issues and communities, would be different if he was coming from that type…

Right.

Feel free to disagree. We all get lumped together, but with over 1200 tribes in North America, we certainly don’t all agree.

I understand the frustration. My family is mixed-race, my father is white, and my siblings and I are all various shades from pale as fuck like my dad all the up to dark brown like my mother. And everything in between (there are 7 of us lol). And we’re all treated differently by people outside our family and community…

I mean, go on and rap!

You’re definitely spot on!

Absolutely! Injun Joe was not a dude hiding his ancestry to pass for white in a time when it would have been easier. Dude was full-out repping the Native stereotypes hard, all the while admitting publicly to not being Native.

So you have anecdotes about your own history, and how you were able to document your connection to your community. That’s wonderful! That’s what supposed to happen. You have a documented connection? Great, reconnect away!

Well, now you’re painting all tribes with the same brush, when there are over 1200 across North America. We all define our membership differently, and blood quantum is a part of that.

Haha, right! Everyone is suddenly a long-lost princess when Indians are involved!

This is definitely the root of a lot of the frustration from Native people towards Boyden and others who do this!