First Nations | A native voice criticizes Bundy’s claim to ancestral grazing rights
Faith Spotted Eagle and Tom Genung at the Cowboy and Indian “Reject and Protect” demonstration. Photo credit: Kristin Moe Moderator’s Note: Last week, I started writing an essay criticizing the discourse surrounding the Clive Bundy protest in Nevada over grazing rights on what is technically BLM (Bureau of Land Management). We say “technically” because the lands claimed as ancestral by Cliven Bundy really belong to the Shoshone Nation under the Ruby Valley Treaty. Our last post on the struggles led by the Dann sisters of the Shoshone Nation to restore these tribal lands was posted in March of last year in an essay by UW student, Lologo Salatielu Lologo, who focused on the limits of environmentalism without native autonomy . As I was completing the essay that was about to reiterate Lologo’s analysis, this excellent essay by Jacqueline Keeler appeared in The Nation magazine on April 30 and adapted from the original appearing in Indian Country Today media Network (IC...