It Should Be Them

Boozhoo, indinawemaaganidog! Aaniin! That is to say hello, all of my relatives! Welcome to another edition of An Irritable Métis. I want to begin first by acknowledging everything that is happening in Minneapolis right now. I have many friends and people I care deeply about in that beautiful city and I wish I was there. The situation is terrible and there isn’t really anything I can say about it that isn’t being said better by other people closer to the ground. So I want to draw your attention first to a couple things my comrade Nick Estes has posted from his podcast bunker at the University of Minnesota, where he is an Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies.

• First up is THIS DISCUSSION with Vinny Dionne, from Indigenous Protector Movement, about how the Native community in Minneapolis is organizing amid the ICE invasion. Excellent stuff that you won’t hear anywhere else.

• And now THIS, where Nick joins Millennials Are Killing Capitalism for a discussion connecting the ICE invasion of Minneapolis to U.S. imperialism. Again, excellent, and something no other media is going to discuss.

Now for the rest, I appreciate your attention and, hopefully, your interest and support. There is so much going on for us to do together.

I want to begin in inspiration. Just take a moment to look at the photo leading this section. I get a lump in my throat every time I see it. I find all of the photos and videos of people in the streets of Minneapolis absolutely thrilling as well. The huge crowds. The enthusiasm. The courage. So much of what is happening is horrible but also, mighty. Movements of everyday people are MIGHTY. It’s the only way things change. Anything truly good that has happened on Turtle Island while under colonial subjugation has been the result of people, everyday people, making them happen.

The murder of Renée Good and the execution of Alex Pretti – deeply inspiring, courageous people – are the horrific, ultimate and unsurprising expressions of state-sponsored violence unchecked that is not going to correct itself without massive on-the-streets resistance to it, and Minneapolis, also the birthplace of what we might call contemporary Indigenous resistance back in the 60s and 70s, is rising to the occasion. I am thrilled by that magnificent, overwhelmingly inter-tribal city’s unbowed courage, with