The United States has waged a long war against Native Americans. That war continues with abandoned uranium mines and poisoned water in South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. In this episode of teleSUR’s “Days of Revolt,” Chris Hedges and Native American activists Charmaine White Face and Petuuche Gilbert discuss the exploitation of natural resources and how to combat the devastating violations on indigenous lives and land.

“I think the public at large is still naive about this nuclear reactive poison,” explains Gilbert, vice president of the Laguna Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment. “So education needs to be done. But then it’s also convincing the community to rise up against their politicians, against their leadership.”

White Face, a coordinator for the Defenders of the Black Hills, agrees.

“Educating — and where I live, educating allies. Wasicu [wah-SHEE-chu], we call white people, wasicu, allies, so that they can start getting involved,” she says. “Because where I come from, our state — the U.S. Civil Rights Commission said South Dakota’s the most racist state in the union. And so who’s going to listen to me? I’m just a little old brown Indian woman. Nobody’s going to listen to me, despite the fact I’m a scientist and I know what I’m talking about. So we enlist allies. … They bring in more, and then we, our organization, we back out and we start on another one.”

Watch the full interview posted by The Real News below.

–Posted by Eric Ortiz

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#activism#days of revolt#environment#land#montana#native american#north america#north dakota#nuclear#radioactive#south dakota#telesur#united states#uranium#water#wyoming