Opinion: An eye-opening opportunity to learn about tribes

Tuesday, April 17, 2012  

"If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims. That's an old joke I remember from grade school. Having just completed a comedy tour of the northernmost states in America, I was introduced to Hidatsa, Assiniboine and Mandan Native Americans in the midst of what I assumed was Lakota country.

After one show in Missoula, a young comic of Blackfeet heritage shared one of his jokes with me. "The white man cut off what we originally said to them which was, 'How...long will you be staying?'"

One of my favorite bumper stickers features a black and white photo of four Comanche or Apache warriors with guns and the statement in red, "Homeland Security - Fighting Terrorism Since 1492."

Dickinson, N.D. is sixty miles from Montana. It's in the midst of an extreme housing shortage because of the oil boom and jobs brought on by it. Locals have no room to expand, nor are they even able to avail themselves to coupons for discounts on gas. Literally the newspapers print, "Coupon does not apply to local customers.""

Get the Story:
Mimi Gonzalez: An Eye-Opening Opportunity (Color Magazine 4/17)