STANDOFF

An eye-opening narrative of two standoffs with the U.S. government that played out very differently.

Keeler, a Dine/Ihanktonwan Dakota writer based in Portland, Oregon, chronicles “two major American standoffs that bookended 2016: white men with guns fighting for unfettered exploitation of natural resources and Native Americans fighting for treaty rights…the Bundy takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s demand for consultation over the Dakota Access Pipeline.” Recounting the standoffs, the author offers a potent study in contrast between how these two events were handled by the people involved, the media, and the government. At Standing Rock, the tribe paid $1,000 per day “for chemical toilets and dumpsters to minimize the impact of their supporters” while at Malheur, “an enthusiastic Bundy follower had comman­deered a backhoe they had found on-site and dug trenches for latrines, inadvertently digging up Paiute graves and artifacts. Human feces were found in the pit they left behind.” The author provides deep discussions of the context in which each event originated. She examines the Bundy family’s claims of “original ownership” of the land, their ideas about the powers of local authorities, and their beliefs about the broad concept of natural law, which “may seem undefined and pliable, that is, whatever Bundy may need it to be.” By contrast, Keeler looks at significant moments of Native history in America, encompassing treaties, sovereign nations, and unceded lands. Throughout this engaging tale, the author is especially good with perspective, moving smoothly among shifting viewpoints. Though these events took place four years ago, Keeler’s book is also timely. “I hope this book will provide some basis,” she writes, “to understand the 58 percent of white voters who voted for Trump in 2016 versus the broad coa­lition of Americans who did not.”

By turns compelling and frustrating, this is required reading for those who would call this land home.