North Dakota National Guard Accused Of Racism

These accusations of racism are getting out of hand.

According to a letter to the editor from UND professor Danielle Mead Skjelver published by Native News Online, a recruiter working for the North Dakota National Guard was racist at the State Class B basketball tournament because he allegedly cheered with and gave freebies to the “white student population” while ignoring Native American fans.

The game was apparently between Rugby and the Four Winds High School at Fort Totten on the Spirit Lake Reservation.

At half-time, one of the two Guardsmen spent a good five minutes drumming up cheers and throwing out recruiting goodies to the white student population, building spirit for one team in the championship game. The other Guardsman was nowhere to be seen, and the first Guardsman spent all of his time with the one side, never even looking at the opposing team. Effectively, the National Guard snubbed the opposing team.

The North Dakota National Guard has responded to the accusation on their Facebook page, explaining that the recruiter was simply interacting with the people closest to their booth.

Seems like a reasonable enough explanation to me, and it’s a shame that the National Guard was forced to apologize for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Seriously, what’s the crime here? The National Guard representative didn’t demonstrate sufficient support for both teams? There wasn’t an even distribution of freebies among all racial demographics present at the game?

Give me a break.

These unserious and hyperbolic accusations of racism aren’t doing anyone any good, least of all those who are making them. If your goal is to convince your fellow citizens that there’s a real problem with racial issues in this country, a good way not to accomplish it is to fill the air with these shallow accusations.