Racism in Indian Country

I have lived on more reservations than any one I know in Indian country.

As a BIA "brat" my Dad worked his ass off trying to better his life and the life of his family by advancing his career when job opportunities opened up in Indian Country.  We moved often.  I attended 4 high schools in 3 states.   We lived on Indian reservations every single day of my high school career.  

The biggest single act of "racial violence" came in Pine Ridge, South Dakota when my parents sent me off the reservation to get a "better" education than in the local school, Oglala Community High School.    I played football and Rushville HS in Rushville, Nebraska went up the 25 miles to Pine Ridge to play a football game.

We won.

When the game was over the coaches told us to put our helmets on inside the bus and to bend over and put our faces in our laps and not to look up or look out any window. 

The rocks started coming from all directions.   The bus was being stoned.  It was the Indians stoning the "white" off-reservation high school football team that had soundly trounced the Pine Ridge Thorpes.  

It was the single biggest act of racial violence I had ever been a part of.  As an "Indian kid" on a "white" bus it was an eye opener.   Racism works both ways.