The #NoDAPL protests have been billed as an uprising of America’s indigenous peoples, but it can be hard to tell that sometimes given all the white left-wing activists who have joined the cause. Last week when I interviewed the deputy who has been working at the #NoDAPL riots he said some of the protesters were hurling racial taunts at Native American, black, and Hispanic law enforcement officers.
But it wasn’t Native American protesters doing the taunting. “The majority of the people I see out there were white people,” the deputy told me (audio).
He’s not the only one who sees it. It seems some of the Native American protesters in the #NoDAPL movement are getting a little fed up with hippies coming to North Dakota and treating the protest like some sort of festival:
People demonstrating at North Dakota’s Access Pipeline protest have expressed frustration at white demonstrators who are reportedly turning up to “colonise” the camp.
Concerns have been raised by protestors on social media, who claim that people are arriving at the Standing Rock demonstration for the “cultural experience” and treating it like Burning Man festival.
Protestor Alicia Smith wrote on Facebook: “On my way back from the camps. Need to get something off my chest that I witnessed and found very disturbing in my brief time there that I believe many others have started to speak up about as well.
“White people are colonizing the camps. I mean that seriously. Plymouth rock seriously. They are coming in, taking food, clothing and occupying space without any desire to participate in camp maintenance and without respect of tribal protocols.“These people are treating it like it is Burning Man or The Rainbow Gathering and I even witnessed several wandering in and out of camps comparing it to those festivals.”