White Voluntourists Don’t Belong on Indian Reservations
Still, they come because such missionary trips are big business
Each summer one thing could be certain in my small town on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana — strange White folks descend upon us with their unmarked white vans. Etched in the dirt on the back window, “Honk, if you love Jesus!” They paint houses and pick up garbage when not nursing vicious sunburns. “We should take them to a party,” I remember quipping as a teenager to my tacky-humored bestie. This was clearly a joke, as we’d never interacted with these people. Not a single time. Who are they?
The do-gooders seemed to have marching orders to avoid direct eye contact. I’d see them at our pow wow celebrations hugging the benches and moving only in large groups. Since my family didn’t subscribe to whichever belief brought someone’s kids to our reservation, their presence was always mysterious to me. I knew only that summer weather was conducive to a swarm of White folk.
But who are these people? What is their goal? Upon delving into extensive research à la Google, I found seemingly large organizations that sell missions to reservations and First Nations in Canada for anywhere between $450 to $600. Splashed across photos of Brown children are the words, “Expect this…
