White Shield hosted its Second Annual Pride Walk on Saturday, August 1st at the Arikara Pow-Wow Grounds. KMHA Radio Station Manager, Anne Morsette was on-site to report and interview attendees.
The event began at 11:30 a.m. with a speaker – the walk commenced at noon and lasted 30 minutes and ended at 16th Street NW & 59th Ave NW in White Shield.
A reception followed with refreshments and gifts. Social Distancing was encouraged as participants maintained a six foot distance from other walkers.
INTERVIEW OF PRIDE WALKER – MARGARET YELLOW BIRD:
Anne Morsette (A): What is your name?
Margaret Yellowbird (M): My name is Margaret Yellowbird
A: You came to represent?
M: I came to represent all. I go to various rallies and protests, and I represent all of our people no matter who they are, what they are, and how they identify themselves. It’s not just for us indigenous people, but for everyone – we should be looking out for each other, including people of color. We should be supporting each other in our causes, and we have adversity in this country – so, I family support all.
A: I see you have a ‘Defend Black Lives Matter,’ and you’re also wearing your red skirt to represent ‘Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives’ – I heard you speaking out there. Do you know anyone missing and murdered?
M: I have a cousin who was in the news, and she was missing for almost a year before anyone would do anything about it. It wasn’t easy because it went to that question of jurisdiction. That’s what we struggle with as indigenous people living on the reservation. Not even just living on the reservation – you could be living in Bismarck or Minot, but be from a reservation, and the state might not even touch it because they might say, “Hey, they might be hiding on the reservation – that’s not our jurisdiction.” So, it’s a real struggle. I also did the vigil in the park for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind when that whole thing happened.
It’s not even just about missing and murdered indigenous women -it’s our relatives – everyone, even down to our little kids.
A: I just saw recently there in Canada, our indigenous relatives from Canada, a man’s body was found they’re not able to identify him, they don’t know how long he’s been there. He could be from North Dakota – Canada’s not that far away. We have relatives all over men, women, and children go missing.
M: Well, we don’t realize men, especially, because they think, “Oh, they’re just being mischievous,” but the same thing with men – men are our boys, our young teenage boys – they go missing too.
A: Did you participate in the last one?
M: I did not. I wasn’t here. I was living in Bismarck at the time. We were in between moving our things back-and-forth this weekend – so I wasn’t able to participate. But I do like to go to different rallies, especially the Black Lives Matter recent stuff. This last one in Bismarck was phenomenal. It was really extraordinary because I grew up in Bismarck, so for me, being able to see people get out and speak their minds and protest and rally, freely without police officers – I have not seen this before. In Bismarck, we were able to go all over the streets; people stopped traffic – major traffic! Walking by the capital and it was really amazing to see – heartwarming to see, all of our brothers and sisters of every color get together and do the same thing.
Same thing with the Dakota Access Pipeline, that was very difficult to kind of see, some of the things that had happened there but I think we’re starting to move in a good, forward direction. People are really starting to stand together and speak up, and out about Murdered and Indigenous Relatives, Black Lives Matter, Love is Love, everything – we are seriously out there doing this. When we are out there and say, “Say their name!” It could mean for everything we are here for right now – this Pride Walk – It could mean for Missing and Murdered Indigenous, Black Lives Matter, or people that are addicted and LGBTQ communities.
For all those who have lost their lives for who they stood up for and what they stood up for, and who they were – And they lost their lives – so every time we say their name, that’s what we are standing up for, and we are still here, we are lucky to still be here – living here, we need to be doing that. We need to make that present in every community, even the small ones. It’s so important.
Another thing I want to talk about real quick is Black Lives Matter. It’s something we need to discuss, especially on reservations because we have a lot of Native American youth, and our relatives are mixed and black. We need to start addressing that issue and start educating our people about it. Us indigenous people, we come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. When we come here, we kind of build-up that stereotypical indigenous person or Native American, but if you go across the nation, we’re all very different.
A: We are also in South America and all across the continents.
M: Yes, it’s something that we need to start educating our people about and not be discriminatory racist toward any other race.
Many groups participating in the walk were: Alcoholics Anonymous, Support for Healthcare/Essential Employees, Black Lives Matter and MMIW/MMIR (Missing and Murdered Indigenious Women and Relatives amongst others.
Recording Disclaimer
This article has been transcribed by audio file. We are able to ascertain words according to the clarity of the audio and how it’s interpreted phonetically. Although we have edited this article for content and checked for errors, we apologize beforehand if a word is misunderstood and recorded in error. Let our editor know if a name was misspelled or a fact misinterpreted and we will correct the error in the next issue. Thank you,
Sherry Stevens, Editor. – [email protected] –
