“People are treating the DAPL protest like Burning Man”
“She added that many protestors appeared to be living off the native Americans, and were taking full advantage of the donations that people had been sending in for the cause. This was a trend noticed by another Twitter user, who witnessed one protestor turn down tap water to spend donations on “fluoride free” water.
“They are literally subsisting entirely off of the generosity of the native people… who are fighting to protect their water just because they can,” Smith wrote. “Some literally will not even prepare food but will take food that is prepared, again, having not done anything else all day.”
The situation has reportedly got so bad that an open letter detailing the camp’s ground rules has started trending on Twitter. Responding to the new influx of support, it reminds demonstrators that the camp is “not a vacation.” It also says that protestors should avoid drugs and alcohol, engage with the elders, and refrain from playing “guitar or drums” around the fires.”
This is both disturbing and unsurprising. This is what happens when a group of people are only present in movies/TV shows if they are going to provide white people with a spiritual experience, and when popular ideas of their culture are appropriated so thoroughly that white people are unable to engage with it as it is.
It’s also that white savior thing, where white Americans are told that they can improve a situation by showing up, that somehow their being-white-and-middle-class makes them qualified to build a house or provide medical care or build successful activism, that other communities are suffering not because of systemic oppression but because they lack go-getting individuals.
