Native Americans are killed more per capita by police than any other ethnic group in the United States. This is a fact. However, as Blacks and Native Americans have mixed heavily for hundreds of years (to the point where many of both groups have ancestry from the other, including myself), it behooves me to say this:
Black Lives Matter. Native Lives Matter. And these are not separate issues. They overlap tremendously.
The same institutional racism against Blacks is killing Native Americans too. And many people who are both black and Native.
If we, as Native Americans, do not stand with our Black brothers and sisters, then we are not standing for ourselves either. Think of the oppression that the United States has put upon us for generations. The sterilizations. The police brutality. The disproportionate incarceration of our men. The killing of our boys, and the disappearances of our girls, all things the Black community has faced as well. If we do not stand against that, then we don’t stand for ourselves. This land is sacred, as is every human life. Especially the lives of those who have gone through so much suffering just for the color of their skin.
George Floyd did not deserve his fate. Nor Ahmad Aubrey. Nor Trayvon Martin. Nor Breonna Taylor. And, I am sad to say, there are far too many names, far too many people whose names have been swept by the wayside, because they were black and the police just up and killed them. An all too familiar occurrence that many Native American families can relate to.
We feel your pain. All too strongly. And we will stand with you. We are in this fight together. We will stand beside you in the streets. We will stand beside you protesting. We will stand beside you online. We will stand beside you against this threat until the end of the line. Because this is a long road ahead. But this is a fight we must stand with you on. We are just as angry as you. And we will not stand for this injustice against you.