Ivan F. Star Comes Out
‘Don’t call us; we’ll call you’
By Ivan F. Star Comes Out
Native Sun News Today Columnist
nativesunnews.today All my life, I have heard the old “Get a job,” and “Get over it” retort, especially from a specific Euro-American crowd that appear to hold a great amount of disdain for “Indians.” Each expression came with a vehemence and animosity that can only come from an extreme fanatical belief in racial superiority. It’s as if these people want me to disappear from their presence. I will never become accustomed to this behavior directed at Native people here in South Dakota. There was a time when it was done discreetly. However, this ungodly activity is now moving into the public realm of civility. I have experienced it almost every aspect of my life, from job-seeking to eating out to shopping to school sporting events. Intoxicated white adults gleefully pouring alcoholic beverages on some Native elementary school children and then getting a “slap on the hand” is a prime example of the injustice natives have to endure. Whether this incident was met with justice is still highly arguable. Had the children been white and the beer spilling intoxicants were Native, state “justice” would have been swift and harsh. About 25 years ago, my family and I were on our way to spend the night in Rapid City. I stopped at a convenience store in Hermosa to gas up my vehicle and get some snacks for the kids. Inside, I witnessed a hand-drawn poster of an “Indian” man hanging by the neck holding onto a loaf of bread. The caption read, “This is what happens to those who steal.” Even in the military, this racial intolerance and ignorance guided the actions of the men I served with. During the war in Vietnam (1969), I was expected to do things no one else was willing to do. Like an idiot, I did what I was ordered to do. I consider myself very lucky to have survived. I was discharged, honorably of course, from the military and came home in 1970. I got married almost immediately to a beautiful Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) lady and enrolled in the Bureau of Indian Affair’s Relocation Program (1971). We moved to Los Angeles, California where I enrolled in a trade school to learn Automotive Maintenance. I graduated at the top of my class nine months later and even spent additional time assisting instructors at the school.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: ‘Don’t call us; we’ll call you’ (Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at PO Box 147, Oglala, SD 57764; 605-867-2448 or via email at mato_nasula2@outlook.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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