Civil Protest: How a lousy idea became a great idea


This story speaks for itself.  I had both fists in the air as I read it.

mic.com: Girl told to dress “like an Indian” for school assignment made a statement on #NODAPL

Usually, parents encourage their children to follow through on a school assignment. But this was no ordinary assignment.

Earlier in November, Louisiana resident Tremeka Greenhouse saw that her 5-year-old daughter, Nyemah, had been told to attend school dress like an “Indian,” — meaning Native American — for school. Nyemah’s older sister first shared news of the assignment on her Twitter account on Nov. 9.

“I was kinda shocked,” Greenhouse said by phone. “I was like, ‘We’re not doing this project,’ but Nyemah, she didn’t want to get into any trouble.”

Greenhouse and her daughter agreed that Nyemah should attend school as a protester against the Dakota Access Pipeline,  a crude-oil pipeline stretching form North Dakota through southern Illinois. Since August, authorities have arrested over 500 protesters hoping to shut down the project, which runs through Native American land and has potential environmental repercussions, including potentially tainting locals’ water supply.

“I told her what’s going in with their water,” Greenhouse said.

When Nyemah wore the outfit to school, her older sister shared photo of Nyemah on Twitter. The tweet featuring Nyemah has been retweeted over 1,000 times.

Comments