Dear Editor
Once again we are having to pay for being Native to this land. No other race has ever had to pay so much for living on it; not even the immigrants. We, the original occupants of this land keep having to pay over and over again.
When the colonists came, we paid by losing much of the land and its resources. We paid and still pay through lateral violence from the oppressor, including residential school abuse not to mention the everyday racism we face today. Today we pay taxes because contrary to what some people think, we do pay taxes. We do not live off of them. If some people don't know this, they should get informed. We have had to pay by getting less funding in our communities than we should. Everything has always worked against the original inhabitants since the coming of the colonist. We will pay, again, if we lose our treaty rights.
The colonists or the oppressor thinks we are going to give up what little land we have left. They can think again. We, the keepers of this land are rising up to defend it before the greedy colonists try to take over its resources and destroy the environment. We, the women of this land, will defend our children, grandchildren and future generations.
Rona C. Fineday
Sweetgrass Reservation
