LRT Someone I respect wrote a thread about the racism inherent in the "rule following" cultures vs "rule breaking" cultures and it got me thinking because a lot of people see Natives stereotyped as rules breaking and it's simply not true.

I didn't @ them because it's off topic

Sure we have rule breakers, but I've helped a lot of tribes and their adherence to rules is usually strict.

The difference is we have learned to stick to the letter of rules and interpreting them differently means we get the image of gaming the system.

Don't believe me look at all our legal cases, every duck is in a row and no matter what they pile on the letter of the law is with us.

They don't like that.

When we lose it's because they ignore/change their own rules.

Which is ironic they set the game board, made the rules, changed the rules, changed them again, and they still haven't erased us.

Every time we take the hit and make a come back.

The truth is Natives don't game the system we just play it better.

They flip the table and we play upside down.

Throughout the history of colonialism we see the rules constantly changed because we take the hit and come back, and the occupation doesn't like that.

We aren't suppose to exist still, our ways are suppose to be historical by now.

Do you know how many times in Congress the words, "and they'll cease to exist" have been spoken about us?

They can't understand how with all their privilege we survive, and so they assume we are breaking the rules to do it.

Read the history of the allotment act, the reorganization act, all the acts really.

They all start with European descendents crying that an equal footing puts Natives at an advantage.

Case in point the current Alaskan news article going around that Alaskan Natives must have gamed the system because we are able to vaccinate our own and others.

Instead of asking why their system is failing they assume we must have cheated.

Colonization needs excuses why they fail, and they make those excuses with racism.

"The Chinese are too strict," "Natives are too shady." These are statements not reflecting reality, but instead reflecting their justifications for failure to compete.

It's ironic because they are speaking of one group as unfairly competing because they are "drones" and the other because we are "wild."

Like pick a complaint.

They simply can't accept their superiority is a fantasy even when reality keeps slapping them in the face.