Red Lakes belong to Red Lake Nation, leave it alone

Bemidji Pioneer

I’m writing in response to the letters I’ve seen about the Red Lake waters. I read the letter written by Andrew J. Brown and I was immediately infuriated. All of the letters written by people who think that they should have access to Red Lake waters seem to carry racism and ignorance with them. It doesn’t have to be written down to be understood. You can see this by reading between the lines.

I’m writing this as a non-native. I grew up thinking there wasn’t racism, because I’m white and I hadn’t experienced it. Now, I’m with a native American, my children are native American, and I see how differently they are treated by this society than I from the looks and rude acts of the community to stereotyping and unfair treatment by the court system. It saddens me to know my children will grow up and have to face this everyday from people like Mr. Brown.

This isn’t just over Red Lake waters but boils down to all racism. As far as Europeans settling here, it doesn’t matter if it was empty or not. Does it make it right for what they did? I wish more people could have seen the episode on the History Channel the day before Columbus Day about Christopher Columbus who took natives captive, kept them as slaves, beat, raped and killed their people including women and children. That we celebrate this man is absurd to me.

These are the kind of Europeans who came here and tried to force their beliefs and religion upon people who had their own religion and way of life. As far as I’m concerned, this is just one more thing you think you need to have. By you, I mean the ones who think they should have access to Red Lake waters. This is their land and their water. There are plenty of other lakes on this land. You just want what you can’t have. You have taken enough from these people. By not having this water, does it make you feel inferior? I think this has gone too far and should just stop.

Amber Thayer

Bemidji