By Mary Kathleen Mehuron
Perhaps I have lived in Vermont so long that I think the country believes what most of us here in the Mad River Valley believe. When the sharp political divide in our country became evident these last few election cycles, I was shocked. But I have learned a thing or two in the last couple of years because I’ve spent extended time outside of the Northeast conducting research for my writing projects.
I was traveling out West scouting locations for a docuseries last June in what was once land owned exclusively by the aboriginal peoples of North America. It was there in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota that I found members of existing Native American nations use varying terms to describe themselves — including the word Indian. In a day and age where many of us struggle to find and use words which we think are politically correct, that surprised me. So did the fact that many natives I met still live on reservations or regularly visit them. These parcels of land border “American” towns — though crossing over the border is like stepping from one world into a different one. I had forgotten that reservations are sovereign nations.
Author Elizabeth Prine Pauls wrote that even at the beginning of European colonization of North American lands, “From a Native American perspective, the initial intentions of Europeans were not always immediately clear. Some Indian communities were approached with respect and in turn greeted the odd-looking visitors as guests. For many indigenous nations, however, the first impressions of Europeans were characterized by violent acts including raiding, murder, rape, and kidnapping.”
Compare this to the reflections of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux and spiritual leader who lived from 1863 to 1950, "What is Life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. The True Peace. The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men."
Both Ms. Pauls’ and Black Elk’s thoughts were formulated in days gone by, but the conflict between the colonizers and native peoples of America continues. Only last year, Tokata Iron Eyes of The Lakota People’s Law Project wrote, “Each year, the world’s largest motorcycle rally attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Sturgis, South Dakota — which can lead to a whole host of issues.
“Sturgis is another of many predominantly white towns in South Dakota where racism and other forms of violent colonialism hold firm roots. Over time, the vilification of our presence as Native people became integral to the rhetoric created to affirm settler identity; in other words, the rally is just another (very loud) expression of dominance over our homelands, of white supremacy.”
The Sturgis I saw had many gift shops. In each one a large display, more like an altar really, was devoted to former President, Donald Trump, and his ideals. This included images of him brandishing guns.
On June 9, 2024, a day our crew was out searching more locations, Nazi groups rose up and had rallies at the state capital of South Dakota and in the town of Deadwood. A Search Light staff report said, “A known neo-Nazi leader, Christopher Pohlhaus, appeared to claim responsibility for the march when he shared Noem’s [Gov. Kristi Noem] post on his own X account and said, ‘we occupied your steps for the entire time we intended to be there.’ According to the Anti- Defamation League, Pohlhaus is a former Marine turned tattoo artist and leader of the neo-Nazi ‘Blood Tribe.’”
Americans are guaranteed the right to peaceful assembly. But how do we reconcile this with a Nazi group called Blood Tribe and their right to assemble when:
- It is a growing neo-Nazi group that claims to have chapters across the United States and Canada.
- Their members are followers whose white supremacist beliefs include elements of Esoteric Hitlerism (which exalts Hitler as a deity).
- It presents itself as a hardcore white supremacist group and rejects white supremacists who call for softer optics.
- Blood Tribe members emphasize hyper-masculinity; the group does not allow female members.
- They see themselves as both the last remaining bulwark against enemies of the white race and the only path to a white ethnostate.
- Since becoming a membership organization in 2021, Blood Tribe has been increasingly active, holding anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations and private gatherings.
The gatherings in South Dakota in June and the men who were drawn to them caused problems for our team. Two members of our film crew have brown skin. One is an Oglala Lakota man from Yale University and the other a woman whose mother is Filipino. When she was separated from our group for a few minutes, a group of drunken white men assumed she was Native American and proceeded to circle and berate her. We decided that neither of our friends on the crew should be alone at any point for fear of future altercations. We stuck to that decision for the length of our trip.
The Urban Indian Health Institute reports that Native American women make up a significant amount of missing persons and murder cases nationwide. This is despite the fact that Natives only make up 2% of our population. For these women murder is the third leading cause of death.
Let’s be honest. Most of us have hoped that this kind of bigotry in the United States was over. People my age have lived through the Civil Rights Movement, the American Indian Movement, Women’s Liberation, the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, the struggle for Gay Rights and more. And yet there have been moments lately, in this year of 2024, when some are fostering more malevolent organizations who hope to suppress these American minorities all over again.
And my biggest fear? Some of the most traumatic events of my childhood were the murder of public figures. I remember exactly where I was with every sense of my being when President Kennedy, followed by his brother presidential candidate Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King were assassinated. It seemed a terrible consequence that the violence imposed upon those struggling to have the same rights guaranteed to other Americans led to the death of political leaders.
This weekend we witnessed the attempted killing of presidential candidate Donald Trump. The shooter and an audience member died. July 13, 2024, will ever be etched in my brain as another moment in time demonstrating that “Violence begets violence.” Black Elk said that true peace is within the souls of men. I pray for our souls. I pray for peace.
Mary Kathleen Mehuron is an author who lives in Waitsfield.
