A little known fact about me: I am actually a tiny bit Native American. I am a relative of John Rolfe and Pocahontas. Even though I am 99% European, I still want to learn about the culture that is deep deep deep in my blood. I was originally going to take a Native American class to complete my culture requirements until I remembered that I needed to choose a certain class for my major that fulfilled my culture requirements. I also talked to Mom about going to Jamestown to explore the location where Pocahontas lived. The only real educational lesson was in middle school. In 7th grade, we were learning about American history and a lesson that I remember vividly was the genocide of the Native Americans. I was angered and shocked that we, white people, stole America from the people that were here first by killing them. Today, the few generations of Native Americans that we have are one of America's smallest minority groups and they are pretty much only seen in the West. It makes me angry that they are supposed to be the majority, but our ancestors took that away. I thoughts things would be different today in 2016, where America is supposed to be much accepting now.

The DAPL makes me angry! It is true that Obama and the government saved the sacred Native American lands from the pipeline. But, not really has changed. A big business feels that business and money is more important than what originally belongs to the Native Americans. The land that the pipeline was supposed to be on is a sacred land for the Native Americans. The facts that rich people/businesses were going to steal the land, that the Native Americans had to tearfully fight for it, and that the business people were ATTACKING them with dogs say a lot about the treatment of the real Americans: Since Native Americans are in the minority, they are nothing, but dirt. Native Americans aren’t truly free then. I may not be completely Native America, so they aren’t my people. But, my heart aches for them and I am rooting for them.