Want to do some good?

OK, I'm angry about this. For many reasons.

I'm angry because the abusive boors who poured beer on kids' heads and told them to "go back to the Rez" probably live on parcels of land stolen from those same kids' ancestors.

I'm angry because Miss V, while not specifically Oglala Lakota, is part Native American -- and imagining some idiot yelling at her or spattering beer on her at a hockey game just makes me want to bust some heads open.

I'm angry because there have been almost no consequences for the freaking pinheads who did this.

Most of all, I'm angry at the long-term psychological damage done to the kids, who are now very likely to retreat rather than gaining the courage to enter into and participate in a greater world. I quote American Horse School principal Gloria Kitsopolous:

Immediately after [the hockey game] I brought them in and talked to them. These were my top students, rewarded for their academics. The first thing they said to me [was], 'you said that we could go anywhere and be anything, and we can't.' That made me the angriest -- that they took that away from them: that hope.

I can't fix what Trace O'Connell and his drunken racist buddies did. I can't even keep them from getting away with it. But I can do something positive to try to offset it, and if you have the means I warmly encourage you to help too.

The Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation serve the people -- particularly the children -- of Pine Ridge Reservation. They have numerous ongoing donation drives, but the one that spoke right to my heart was the request to buy student backpacks and fill them with school supplies for the Oglala Lakota CASA children and teenagers, who have gone through horrific abuse and neglect.

Stores are starting to run back-to-school sales already, so the school items aren't that expensive. Care to join me? I'd love to see all those slots filled before school starts.

ETA (25 July 2015): ALL SLOTS FILLED FOR THE BACKPACK DRIVE! Woot!

If you're coming late to this post and you'd still like to help, click here to review the other current donation drives -- there are plenty to choose from.