"What The Heck Are All These Indians Acting All Indian About, Eh?

Lately, Native people have taken to the streets malls in demonstrations of Public Indian-ness (or "PI") that surpasses the sheer volume of activism of even Alcatraz and the Longest Walk. There's a heapum big amount of PI going on right now! Many people, non-Native and Native alike, are wondering what the heck is going with their local Native population and how this so-called #IdleNoMore movement managed to get the usually muffled Natives restless enough to be Indian in public. I mean, like Chris Rock said, he hasn't ever even met two Indians at the same time. He's seen "polar bears riding a tricycle" but he's "never seen an Indian family just chillin' out at Red Lobster."

Yet, now people can't seem to get away from us.

And that's cool, but isn't that what pow-wows and November is for? People (non-Native and Native alike) can only take so much PI, right? Is that what the #IdleNoMore movement is -- an extended Native American Heritage Month, where non-Natives have to act like they're fascinated by Native culture?

In a word, no. It is much more. Please consider this a fairly exhaustive explanation of the #IdleNoMore movement, what it is not and what it is. If for some reason you cannot read the next 1,000 or so brilliant words, they can be summed up thusly: the #IdleNoMore Movement is not a new movement. Instead, it is the latest incarnation of the sustained Indigenous resistance to the rape, pillage and exploitation of this continent and its women that has existed since 1492. It is not the Occupy movement, although there are some similarities. It is not only about Canada and it is not only about Native people. Finally, and probably most importantly, it (and we) are not going away any time soon. So get used to it (and us)."

Get the Story:
Gyasi Ross: Still Don't Know What #IdleNoMore Is About? Here's a Cheat-Sheet (The Huffington Post 1/16)

Related Stories:
Gyasi Ross: Idle No More Movement will keep growing in power (1/3)