April 30, 2013

Why doesn't Depp buy Wounded Knee?

The imminent sale of two Wounded Knee properties prompted me to post this on Facebook:

Hey, Johnny Depp...wanna prove your American Indian cred? Take a fraction of your Lone Ranger salary, buy Wounded Knee, and donate it to the tribe.

Charles Trimble: Saving sacred ground--Wounded Knee saga

It might cost you a hundred times more than the scholarships you've given to Navajo students...but that's kind of the point.

I said something similar when the Lakota were trying to buy Pe' Sla. But this is even more of an opportunity for Johnny to ride to the rescue.

What can we do?

A brief discussion of the proposed sale:Paying anything more than 10 grand for the 40 acres would encourage further robbery. I've been talking to some folks over the Eminent Domain issue trying to see if it can get any traction. Also the tribe should make it public that it will refuse business licenses to anyone who buys the land and also refuse their access to utilities. There is actually an amazing opportunity for Indian Country as a whole to utilize the courts on this case in a way that may have very positive future implications. It's just whether anyone in tribal council can access the legal minds to map it out.Several good points here. The tribe should use its legal and governmental powers to the fullest. Activists should use their power to instigate media attention and protests. And the rest of Indian country should see this as an opportunity to join in and establish a precedent. No more highway robbery of land from Indians!

Heck, if Depp made a video protesting the sale of Wounded Knee, the Keystone XL pipeline, or sequestration's effects on Indian country, I'd be impressed. But a greeting for the Gathering of Nations? No.

For more on Johnny Depp, see Hammer Says Indians Love Depp and Little Criticism of Depp's Tonto?!

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