One Man’s Opinion

1:57 p.m. CDT: Black Sheep Coffee Shop, Sioux Falls

One man stood out to me as an interview prospect. His table was less than 10 feet from mine. I walked up to him, requested an interview, and he agreed, though hesitantly. His birth name is James Starkey, but he goes by Wanbli WiWohkpe, a Lakota name.

WiWohkpe believes that America has many pressing issues.

“This anomaly of a country is a toddler running amok in the nations,” he said. “It’s time for us to start asking questions and representing.”

WiWohkpe believes that sovereignty and freedom have been ignored and that illegal immigration is indigenous people migrating. He believes that Russell Means should be the president of the United States.

“I will reject all American candidates and put in my own,” WiWohkpe said. “It has nothing to do with shutting down the white man.”

WiWohkpe thinks John McCain and Barack Obama represent the old guard. He said Americans are willing to vote for a person of color as long as he talks like them.

“We’re fighting against assimilation,” WiWohkpe said. “They’re all cooked from the same cloth.”

I was starting to believe this man did not like the presidential candidates, and then he closed with this:

“The Republicans say they’re going to rape us, while the Democrats just say they will use their thumbs.”

I guess not everyone has to agree with the candidates. This is America, after all.

—M.J. Casiano, American Indian Journalism Institute