Our Strange Relationship with Native Americans

by John Van Dyke

This is Jerry and his son Laine, they are Lakota Sioux. Today’s Native American, no costume, no native regalia, just trying to help his people however he can. I talked with Jerry in Rapid City, South Dakota. Most of South Dakota belonged to Natives by treaty, then we broke the treaty and sent General Custer to clean out the Natives. They were a lot smarter than Custer as it turned out. Chief Sitting Bull was a brilliant military tactician. In the end, we were more ruthless and persistent in our pursuit of taking what we wanted from them.

Talking with Jerry, I wanted his take on Standing Rock, which we had heard so much about through several news cycles. First, a little about Jerry. He was very fortunate as a young child, about his son’s age, when he was adopted by a white family, shown respect and given an opportunity for a good education. He went on to become skilled at computer technology, was recruited by the government as a representative of his people, and helped bring technology to many Native Americans. He later became a police officer with the Rapid City, South Dakota, police department, bridging a cultural gap. He knew it was a token, but he used it to do good. His view of Standing Rock? It was good to the get attention for the Native American, but it was distorted and a lot of facts missing, It was politicized on all sides. He thought the real story is, that Native Americans should be benefiting and fairly compensated from the pipeline. It should not be about stopping it, but sharing in the financial benefit. Using that benefit to uplift the Natives.

I have talked with other Native Americans around the country, their stories overlap with poverty, drugs, alcohol, education, lack of constructive work, and tribal politics. Perhaps the biggest problem is the loss of their cultural heritage and pride among their people and the control the U.S. government exerts through meager subsidy programs. The carrot and the stick of the reservation system.

For some reason we keep wanting to play Cowboys and Indians, and call ourselves the good guys.

Chief Sitting Bull died on the Standing Rock Reservation.

This is part of my project, An American Mosaic, an American Dialogue.