I would like some advice. It's is a little weird (because it's not a common situation at all), but bear with me.
Background: My father worked for the Indian Health Services when I was a little kid, I am not Native American/First Nations in any way. But we lived on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation until I was 7.
That experience influenced a lot of my worldview and how I view marginalized peoples and is still something I consider to be an important time in my life.
Recently, my wife and I decided to move from Portland, OR to Minneapolis, MN.
Part of that move will involve me driving our car with the dogs alone with random way points for me during the trip.
I found out from mapping the drive, that one of the routes takes me within spitting distance of Fort Yates, ND (where I lived).
I was considering stopping there to look around, see the house I grew up in, grab a couple snacks and then drive up to Bismarck and then over to Minneapolis .
That portion of the trip holds a lot of nostalgia for me and would be the first time in about two decades that I'll be there.
My question is, is this poverty tourism? Am I flaunting my privilege to show up there? Should I just avoid that trip?
@salmon_cannon That's a tough decision... I don't think it's poverty tourism if you grew up there. If you're worried about the income gap between Fort Yates and where you are now, maybe you could put together a crowdfunding effort to raise funding for Sitting Bull College or another community-centered organization (and set that to arrive separately so you don't come across as a very visible benefactor)?
@dumpling Thanks for answering. You rock!
@dumpling Yeah! I really want to take the chance to go, since I haven't been there in over 20 years and probably won't be able to do it again.
I want to see the town with clear eyes if that makes sense.
@salmon_cannon That makes complete sense to me. It'd also be interesting to see or read your reflections on how things have changed, especially with the massive decrease in population over the past few decades (I'm kinda curious to see it myself, but that would be much closer to poverty tourism), there's something of a loss of the way of life there.
@salmon_cannon The latter part really piqued my interest because my grandfather hails from a town that no longer exists, and from what I can tell, hasn't existed since WWII or so. He doesn't talk about it, and without really digging into regional or local history, there's not much information available about what the town was like and how it was to grow up there.
@dumpling That's really interesting! It must be really hard for a place like that to only exist in memory/books. I feel like I'd be in a similar boat if the town I grew up in just disappeared.
@salmon_cannon It is, I think there's a bit of a state park for part of it, but the original town's been overtaken by suburban sprawl or farmland or something. If I were in your situation, I'd probably take the dogs for a walk and take some pictures of the buildings and land so there would be a lasting visual reference point.
@dumpling That's a great idea! Especially if that damn pipeline goes in and ruins the land.
@salmon_cannon Wow, if that's the case then definitely!
@dumpling I think it's still under an extended environmental review for now. Here's hoping the project dies!
@salmon_cannon Nice! Although it's hard to be optimistic with the current administration...
@dumpling
Yes it is. But if we can make it through this, I think enough people will get politically active to finally start pushing us into the future.
One can only hope...
@dumpling what was your paper about that led you to researching Standing Rock?
@salmon_cannon It was something on Sitting Bull - I remember bits and pieces, but I did it in elementary school, so it's been a little while 😛
@dumpling oh haha, did you learn really early about his remains getting stolen and moved around by the government? That's actually something I only learned later in life.
@salmon_cannon Yeah, that was super weird!
@salmon_cannon
I couldn't help researching... you had me at Fort Yates, and I got super curious, having never been to ND before. I remember doing a report on Sitting Bull when I was in school and thought the college sounded like a really interesting organization. Totally up for helping with a crowdfunding effort here if you decide to go that route!