Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Bemidji, MN - In response to the racially motivated incidence of bigotry in its ugliest form (the physical and verbal assault by adults on Indian children) at the Bemidji Lakeside MacDonald's where the McDonalds employee sided with the adults making racial slurs against Native Americans from the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, the North Central Minnesota Native American Veterans Outreach & Resource Center is calling for a boycott of Bemidji McDonalds restaurants.

There has been some type of race relations "task force" in this area for as long as our Veterans Outreach program has existed...clearly some business leaders are still missing the point.

While we take this opportunity to recognize the courage of the employee behind the counter who stepped forward to speak in defense of a refund for the meals that had been paid for but had not been served to the Red Lake family, we are calling for a general boycott of McDonalds until resolution has been made with the Red Lake family who was traumatized by the actions of racist patrons at the Lake Bemidji restaurant site and then humiliated by the MacDonald's employee who chose to stand with those racists against a 2 year old Native American child and his family.

Per capita more Native Americans volunteer and serve in the United States Military than any other group of Americans. This fact has been recognized and documented by the United States government.

To the families of those Indian veterans who served in defense of their homeland, many who lost their lives on foreign soil, many who came home permanently disabled, many who are still missing in action.... to those family members we say: "Your (relative) warrior did not volunteer to fight in the newcomers' wars to safeguard this country for their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren to be treated like animals in the ceded territories of their native homeland. Boycott McDonalds!!!