Flint hasn’t had clean water since 2014, a tragedy, sure. But as early as 2016 efforts were being made to end the crisis, it had caught international attention. The reserve my own family lives on has not had clean water since TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT, 2008, and it’s almost a decade later. Nothing has been done. Not a single thing has been done, regardless of protests, petitions, etc. Also, there’s 80+ other reserves without clean water, some without for as long or longer than my rez.

Why aren’t these reserves getting clean water despite our country (Canada) having more than enough water and resources to do so? Because the government doesn’t care. Because the majority races don’t care. Because nobody cares for Native issues other than Natives, and we are fucking dying because of it.

The governmental silence is extending our genocide (which only ended in the 90s with the closing of the last residential school, by the actual fucking way), and the silence of everyone else isn’t fucking helping either.

Native issues are infinitely deeper than white people wearing headdresses or buying dream catchers. Cultural appropriation is 0.01% of native issues, there are So Many more things wrong with our treatment that I encourage y'all to please read up some on actual native issues if you’re really serious about equality for poc. We cannot have true equality when an entire race is still enduring the effects of a genocide that ended very recently and isn’t talked about by anybody, to a point where denial of native genocide is literally seen as normal.

My people literally have homes that are falling into the sea because of climate change. We don’t have the cash to move those homes. We don’t have the cash to replace them either. Alaskan Natives are literally the canary in the coal mine right now. And a lot of the climate change activists I know don’t care. We don’t have cash to replace our traditional foods, some of which melting permafrost is taking away from us. Overfishing is taking our food sources away as well. A gallon of milk costs 20 dollars in most villages. People are starving because of that, but we’re shamed for buying shelf stable things like soda when we go to the city once or twice a year. We don’t have indoor plumbing in a lot of villages. It’s too cost prohibitive. Honey buckets (it ain’t honey in those buckets) lead to difficulty keeping conditions sanitary. Running water? Don’t make me (bitterly) laugh. Heating our homes is cost prohibitive. The first time I ever learned about alternative fuels was in ‘08. I was working at a Native corp, and we were trying to figure out a fix. At the time, it was obvious that it was going to be a really damn bad winter. At the time, village fuel costs were thousands of dollars, and we were trying desperately to find alternatives before the last barges went out in September. (Once it freezes, no fuel can get to the villages. If you’re going, “Gee, that’s going to end with price gouging,” you’re definitely not wrong.)

Everyone says, “We’re a first world nation. We’re Americans!” No. No, ‘we’re’ not. Many Native nations are living in conditions far more analogous to what we think of at third world conditions. AND NO ONE IS HELPING US, not without a lot of blackmailing and connections. We’re lucky even, because we have Native corporations that try and help. (On the other hand ANCSA fucked shit to pieces too, but that’s another post.) (Please note: there are areas in developing nations that are more advanced than the villages where I grew up. And calling developing nations such is also a problem, I get that. I am, however, purposefully using that term to pull on your prejudices to invoke images of what Native nations live with.) And it does feel like no one cares. I mean, people who deal with natives do (my poor roommates get a lot of rants), but. Overall, we get ignored regardless of what we say or do or what is happening. We still exist. We’re not dead despite your best efforts. It’s far past time for you to pay attention to us and help already.