THREAD about Camp Mniluzahan, one of the most unique Indigenous-run, volunteer-run, and consensual+ mutual-aid based projects I know of.

#LandBack

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After an impromptu creation on forested tribal land just west of Rapid City, the camp has become highly organized with:

➡️ Large, warm army tents
➡️ A food pantry+mess hall
➡️ Meal train+transportation systems
➡️ Downtown drop site for local+mailed in donations

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The camp does not have structured leadership, strict admission policies, and steps that residents must take to continue receiving services like some nonprofits do. The goal is to keep people alive and safe, treat residents with dignity and avoid criminalization.

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The camp is not a charity or nonprofit. It centers around Lakota values, communal decision making and mutual aid. Volunteers serve as advocates, offering assistance to homeless people who want it, but not forcing anything on them.

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The camp is on land that used to belong to the massive Rapid City Indian Boarding School property. It’s one of two parcels that the Department of Interior entrusted to the Oglala, Rosebud + Cheyenne River Sioux tribes in 2017. The sovereign land is right outside Rapid City.

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Sunny Red Bear on helping homeless ppl: “Advocates do not force anything upon anyone but they just say, here's my arsenal of resources, take what you need, let me know how I can help you ... We hold a safe, welcoming space for them to figure out what it is they want.”

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Camp volunteers say some residents have become sober at the camp. They’ve connected residents who want to work on addiction issues, finding permanent housing, etc. to resources in Rapid City.

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The camp says it formed because there are gaps in services for homeless people in Rapid City. They say they have nothing against the existing services and regularly connect residents with them.

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Many of the residents became homeless after experiencing trauma and losing love 4 themselves+from others, said volunteer Hermus Bettelyoun.

“We’re just trying to give that back to them, show that love+compassion, giving them some place (to live) + showing that ppl do care.” 9/x
.@DarkMark on the camp’s connection to #LandBack, the movement to return land to Indigenous ppl: “The very fact that one of the things that we’re doing w/ our land is to take care of our most vulnerable population kind of shows you the priority+trajectory of that movement.”
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The camp is Lakota-led but there are residents and volunteers of all backgrounds. 11/x
Hermus Bettelyoun on the vibe at the forested camp: “It’s real peaceful, it's so beautiful, all you hear is the wind ... You hear laughter and joking. It’s something that really warms you up.”

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More from For later read

Humans inherently like the act of solidarity. We are social beings. We like to huddle up and be together.
They used this against us.
They convinced us that it was an act of solidarity to flatten the curve, to wear a mask for others, to take the vaccines for others,


and to reach #covidzero for others. They convinced us that this was for the greater good of society.
In reality, this couldn't be further away from the truth. They have divided us and broken the core structure of our society. They have dehumanized us with their masks.

They set us against each other into clans on opposite sides of a spectrum. They have turned us into aggressive beings fighting for our survival. Some of us fear harm from the virus, others fear harm from the vaccine, and yet others fear harm from the attack on our civilization.

We are all on a flight or fight mode. We are all operating under the influence of fear. We must collect ourselves and reflect on what has happened over the last year.
How is this for the greater good of society?

They used a tactical warfare strategy against us.
'Divide and conquer'.
We fell for it.
Now we must become aware of it and fight back.
We must reunite. We must find true solidarity to save our world. To free ourselves. To regain our autonomy.
1. The death of Silicon Valley, a thread

How did Silicon Valley die? It was killed by the internet. I will explain.

Yesterday, my friend IRL asked me "Where are good old days when techies were


2. In the "good old days" Silicon Valley was about understanding technology. Silicon, to be precise. These were people who had to understand quantum mechanics, who had to build the near-miraculous devices that we now take for granted, and they had to work

3. Now, I love libertarians, and I share much of their political philosophy. But you have to be socially naive to believe that it has a chance in a real society. In those days, Silicon Valley was not a real society. It was populated by people who understood quantum mechanics

4. Then came the microcomputer revolution. It was created by people who understood how to build computers. One borderline case was Steve Jobs. People claimed that Jobs was surrounded by a "reality distortion field" - that's how good he was at understanding people, not things

5. Still, the heroes of Silicon Valley were the engineers. The people who knew how to build things. Steve Jobs, for all his understanding of people, also had quite a good understanding of technology. He had a libertarian vibe, and so did Silicon Valley
I should mention, this is why I keep talking about this. Because I know so many people who legally CAN'T.

How do I know they have NDAs, if they can't talk legally about them? Because they trusted me with their secrets... after I said something. That's how they knew I was safe.


Some of the people who have reached out to me privately have been sitting with the pain of what happened to them and the regret that they signed for YEARS. But at the time, it didn't seem like they had any other option BUT to sign.

I do not blame *anyone* for signing an NDA, especially when it's attached to a financial lifeline. When you feel like your family's wellbeing is at stake, you'll do anything -- even sign away your own voice -- to provide for them. That's not a "choice"; that's survival.

And yes, many of the people whose stories I now know were pressured into signing an NDA by my husband's ex-employer. Some of whom I *never* would have guessed. People I thought "left well." Turns out, they've just been *very* good at abiding by the terms of their NDA.

(And others who have reached out had similar experiences with other Christian orgs. Turns out abuse, and the use of NDAs to cover up that abuse, is rampant in a LOT of places.)

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