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Dismantling Racism Resource Book

things—we care deeply about whether our people remain as sovereign nations. But we’re also
trying to deal with the fact that our kids are getting kicked out of the school system and harassed
by law enforcement, and we can’t get jobs.”

Northern Cheyenne and Sioux, Robideau grew up on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation amidst
vicious racism. She recalls signs in local stores that read “No Dogs and No Indians Allowed,”
and an incident where white parents pelted her school bus with eggs and tomatoes after a
basketball game, “because our team was good.” “These days most people aren’t quite as blatant,”
she says. “But people who don’t dare say anything to an African-American, Asian or Latina feel
quite comfortable saying those types of things to Native Americans.”

In 1992, Robideau was organizing nursing homes for the Montana Coalition for Nursing Home
Reform. When they stalled in negotiations, the coalition brought the Reverend Jesse Jackson to
town for a rally that attracted a big Montana crowd (2000) including hundreds of Indian People
from Missoula. “I was amazed,” Robideau said. “I thought there were maybe thirty of us who
lived here! I found out that there were actually closer to 1800 at the time. When I saw all those
Indian people at the rally, I thought ‘We have to unite our voice.’”

Robideau set out to do just that, but had trouble raising money for the project. Having seen a
number of Indian groups start up only to flounder and disappear a year later, she was cautious.
She took a job with Montana People’s Action, a predominantly white statewide community
group organizing low-and moderate-income residents on such issues as health access and living
wages. There, Robideau proposed organizing an urban Indian chapter, got the green light in 1996
and spent a full year lining up funding. Indian People’s Action (IPA) started up the following
year.

IPA was established as a direct-action organization committed to leadership development in the
context of issue campaigns. Its mission is to “address the issues of institutionalized racism and
change those by setting policies that are going to ensure fair and equitable treatment of Indian
people.” Says Robideau, “We need to change those systems that set our people up to fail.” The
group draws members from all across the vast state, keeping her on the road a good deal of the
time.

Urban Indians weren’t sure what to make of Robideau’s organizing at first. Accustomed to being
courted for their votes, many assumed that was her motive and would ask, “Is it election time
again?” Culturally, the most difficult part of direct action organizing in Indian Country has been
the issue of dues. “I would go to a house and visit and talk about IPA and how we together can
change things, and that the organization needed to be supported, and people often took offense,”
remembers Robideau. “In our culture, it was the equivalent of offering to help someone, and then
asking them for payment.”

Ultimately, what got new members over that hurdle was IPA’s campaign on racism in public
schools. “I’d tell people, ‘Look, our grandparents went through this; our parents went through
this; we went through this; our children are going through this in the public school system and if
we don’t change it our grandchildren will experience it. That,” she says, “is what really resonated
with members, so they were willing to pay the dues.”

Dismantling Racism Project 83 Western States Center