“Militants bulldoze through Native American archeological site, share video rifling through artifacts”
“Amanda Peacher from Oregon Public Broadcasting shared photos of what appeared to be a new road in the refuge and got confirmation that not only is the road new, it goes through a vitally important area…
Meanwhile, in the video below, LaVoy Finicum and other armed militants show themselves rifling through boxes of artifacts and offering to return them to the Burns Paiute Tribe. Some of the artifacts at the refuge date back 6,000 years. Tribal representatives have repeatedly said they want the militants to leave immediately”
Things that are happening in our country right now. Colonialism is this never-ending trauma.
And honestly, I am totally unsurprised that a group of self-righteous white men think it’s helpful for them to be handling Native historical artifacts. Go to any museum, and you will see items that were stolen from indigenous groups by white scientists who felt that they were acting in the name of science and progress, even helping to protect that group’s history. White people who think that these items have value in their ability to “educate” other white people, who forget that the world isn’t about them. I imagine that it would be really easy to see those things as a white person, and then feel that you are entitled to do the same.
