There are still people occupying Oregon, they’ve still got guns and they’re still ridiculous. The leader of a group of armed Oregon ranchers, LaVoy Finicum, posted a YouTube video of him and his fellow ranchers rummaging through boxes of Native American artifacts found in a government-owned building on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the Guardian reported. The storeroom in which the box was found also contained confidential documents that belonged to the nearby Paiute tribe.
In the video, Finicum says, “Let’s make sure that we take care of the heritage of the Native American people.” A militiaman accompanying Finicum also suggests returning the artifacts to their “rightful owners,” assumed to be the Paiute people, in the video.
The militiamen have occupied the refuge and the building since Jan. 2. They have demanded that the government give control of the refuge’s land over to them, so “[the ranchers] can reclaim their resources,” one of the group’s leaders, Ammon Bundy, told CNN. They are also seeking a more relaxed sentence for two ranchers who committed arson on federally owned land in Oregon.
The Paiute people are refusing to communicate with the militiamen inhabiting their land. Instead, they’re reaching out to the government. Paiute Tribal chairperson Charlotte Rodrique asked for the prosecution of the militiamen as well as for greater protection of cultural land and resources in a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Regional Service Director.
This month is the 137th anniversary of 500 Paiutes being led through heavy snow by armed guards to Washington state, Jacqueline Keeler, a Native American writer and activist told “Democracy Now!” Though its timing is impeccably poor, the Oregon militia is still not backing down.
It’s the ranchers’ right to protest, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right — or smartest — thing to do. In fact, it’s neither.
Finicum has a valid point regarding the artifacts, but his sentiments don’t come off as sincere. First and foremost, this is none of his business. He’s just latching onto an issue totally unrelated from his cause to garner even more attention and hatred toward the government. The Paiute tribe has a positive working relationship with the volunteers at the refuge building. If they have a problem with how their artifacts are being handled, then they are more than capable of taking care of it on their own.
Though the militia has very little business existing on the reservation, they have even less business rummaging through boxes of Paiute paraphernalia. Respecting the Paiute people starts with not touching their stuff. It’s still as simple as it was in preschool.
The last thing this tribe needs is more angry white people with guns.
The militiamen aren’t potential martyrs. They’re just selfish, entitled ranchers trying to garner attention for their cause. If their movement had any sliver of validity before this incident, it’s been negated by the ranchers’ own boneheaded insensitivity.
In an ironic twist, the Oregon militiamen are asking for their land even thought that same land originally belonged to Native Americans. If they want to talk about unfairly taking land, these militiamen should’ve opened up a basic history textbook before opening their mouths.
The militia is disrespecting the history of Native Americans by narrow-mindedly fighting for its own history. Ryan Bundy, another leader of the Oregon militia, told ABC News, “Native Americans had the claim to the land, but they lost that claim.” However, the Native Americans’ claim outweighs the ranchers’ by a couple thousand years. Surely we’ve reached the pinnacle of white entitlement.
Race has everything to do with this situation. If a group of armed Native Americans occupied a government building and demand their land back, it’s unlikely that the government would be so patient. It wouldn’t last three days, let alone three weeks.
The real owners of the land are the Paiute. If the militia truly wants justice, they should give their land back to the Paiute and dedicate their lives to help fight injustice against Native Americans. That’s at least more worthwhile than pouting with guns.
