Kahnawakero:non at Heart of Violent Protests in Minneapolis
Written by Paul Graif on 1 June 2020
Six nights of protests, often violent, across the United States following the death of George Floyd, an African American man, who died at the hands of police in Minneapolis. At the sacred fire in Kahnawake, land protectors erected a sign of support on the weekend that reads: “Black Lives Matter”.
Travis Bush, who grew up in Kahnawake, is an ironworker who lives in downtown Minneapolis.
“It’s been pretty scary,” Bush said. “We live right here in the Little Earth community, it’s an American Indian urban community in south Minneapolis. We’re walking distance from District 3, where they burnt down the police building and those shopping areas, the Target that got looted first.”
Bush, who lives with his seven and nine year old daughters, has been on the streets at night helping to protect his small community in the city.
“At nighttime it changes, there’s a lot of shootings and people still trying to come in to our community and loot,” he said. “We’re just trying to protect. We are sticking together and protecting the community so nobody comes in and loots or sets any fires around here.”
While the leadership in the community has been speaking with city and state officials, it doesn’t exempt the protectors from harm from both sides.
“The police, we’re shouting at them: “We’re protectors not protesters.” They fired, they always shoot tear gas first and if you don’t move they start firing their rubber bullets, so they started doing that too.
