By Travis Poland

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon has been occupied by a right-wing “Patriot Militia.” The self-described militia, composed mostly of white cattle ranchers and many of whom are not Oregonians, is occupying the refuge because they claim the federal government is ignoring the ranchers’ inherent right to the land. They want control of the territory, as they claim it belongs to the, albeit white, people of Oregon. However, the land is traditional territory of the Burns Paiute Indigenous people.

The armed men, whose numbers have yet to be confirmed, have been occupying the park since Jan. 2. No action has been taken against them, and negotiations with the FBI have only begun as of Jan. 23. However, conversation quickly broke down with militia leader Ammon Bundy walking out of the staging area soon after arriving.

Under the hashtag #OregonUnderAttack, people have spoken out about how the American government’s gentle handling of this incident highlights racially-based double standards and white privilege in contemporary American society.

Crystal (@cjmperspective) tweeted: “Remember when that racially disparate response happened to unarmed black protesters…? #OregonUnderAttack.”

This is in reference to the immediate and forcible eviction of 40 members of the People Organized for Equal Rights organization in 1979, who were camped at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia.

Linda Sarsour (@lsasarsour) tweeted: “We send national guards & military to #Ferguson for protesters & watch on every network but white militia take over a federal building, nah.”

On top of these troubling connotations, what the members of this militia seem to be ignorant of is that, by their own logic, the land they are trying to claim is not even theirs in the first place. Robbed of them by white colonizers, the territory first belonged to the Burns Paiute Tribe.

Carla Teeman, a member of the Burns Paiute Tribe, told the Huffington Post, “As a Native, if we were to go out there and fight back like they are, we would have been dead by now.” History supports this claim.

In 1973, 200 Oglala Lakota, with support from the American Indian Movement (AIM), occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, near the site of the infamous 1890 massacre. The United States government responded immediately by sending federal marshals, the FBI and National Guard with armoured vehicles to besiege the town. At least two AIM members were killed during the 71-day siege, with many more wounded.

The U.S. is by no means alone in this kind of racially-based state violence. Consider the 1995 Ipperwash crisis and Gustafsen Lake standoff, or the Oka crisis in 1990, or the Rexton fracking protest in 2013. Each of these attempts to defend traditional lands was met by force and extreme violence by the Canadian government.

Citizens have a right to protest and governments have the right to keep the peace. Governments in North America, however, must recognize the blatant double standards of race and colour with regards to police reactions to civil disobedience. The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is the traditional territory of the Burns Paiute and if the ranchers want it returned to the rightful owners, the United States government should sign it over to the Burns Paiute.

This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 8 No. 4 (Jan/Feb 2016).