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Prior to the shooting at Donald Trump鈥檚 rally earlier this week, 鈥攁n Indigenous power-building organization鈥攑repared to attend the Republican National Convention (RNC) and related community events. The goals for attending the were simple: combat the invisibilization of Indigenous issues and priorities in the national discourse around elections, and be in solidarity with those fighting for human rights constantly under threat by the right-wing extremism of one party and the inaction of the other. 

As news of the shooting flooded the media, at NDN Collective our first reaction was empathy for the loss of life and for the rally attendees who now hold the trauma of gunshots and people dying in front of them. Simultaneously, we were filled with great concern for the safety of systemically oppressed communities, knowing that right-wing extremism disproportionately impacts us, and that state actors under real, perceived, or falsified threat invariably respond with increased policing of social justice movements and Black and Brown communities. Because of this, we issued a reminding people that more than anything, the shooting was 鈥測et another consequence of building and maintaining a nation based in violence, control and bloodshed.鈥� 

When shootings capture mainstream media attention, we see the same players dominate our news feeds: a tired spectrum ranging from empty 鈥渢houghts and prayers,鈥� to shallow messages of unity, to vague demands for more gun control. This form of gun control hyper-focuses on individual acts of violence, but disproportionately impacts the ability of to access guns and exercise our Second Amendment rights鈥攄espite the . 

It鈥檚 unsurprising that mainstream narratives in response to the shooting at Trump鈥檚 rally have been centered on condemnation of 鈥榩olitical violence,鈥� when they only mean violence against politicians.鈥�

The real-world implications of race-based exceptionalism around weapons looks like white youth 鈥攚ho killed two people with an illegal gun鈥攂eing arrested without a scratch, acquitted of all charges, and turned into a conservative hero. In fact, Rittenhouse was invited to . Meanwhile, 12-year-old was murdered by the police just for holding a toy pellet gun. He was shot by officers within two seconds鈥攖hey didn鈥檛 even stop long enough to exit their vehicles before deciding this Black child, alone in a park, posed enough of a threat to be executed.

It鈥檚 unsurprising that mainstream narratives in response to the shooting at Trump鈥檚 rally have been centered on condemnation of 鈥減olitical violence,鈥� when they only mean violence against politicians. Intentionally excluded from this discourse are the most egregious forms of political violence being carried out by both parties, through the apparatus of American imperialism. While Trump nurses a cut on his ear and the Republican party rallies around the call to 鈥渕ake America safe again,鈥� Gaza has experienced the since the start of the latest genocide of Palestinian peoples. And two days ago, less than a mile from the perimeter of the RNC, the community of Milwaukee was rocked by the killing of beloved unhoused Black relative by Ohio police who were brought in to provide extra security for the RNC. 

WATCH: What Is (And Is Not) Political Violence

The real political violence is our being increasingly funneled toward to kill people for their land and resources; and . The real political violence is both the state-sanctioned murders carried out in the name of profit鈥攁nd that these wars are being fought with our resources, but without our consent. Refusing to acknowledge the link between the systemic oppression of Black and Brown communities by militarized police forces within our country and the slaughter of entire populations by United States militaries and weapons developed by the U.S. is hypocritical, and aids the country鈥檚 rapid descent into fascism.

Real power has never been won at a ballot box alone, but is the result of sustained, principled resistance demanding structural change.鈥�

As a dedicated to supporting the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples, we acknowledge the two-party system represents two sides of the same coin. They both uphold a culture of violence whose primary goal is to protect and maintain control of the power and wealth built from the theft of Indigenous lands and resources, and the exploitation of Black, Brown, and poor, working-class labor. These are the conditions of a country built on political violence and based in principles of white supremacy, religious extremism, heteropatriarchy, and colonialism, in which racism, classism, ableism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobia are ideological tools of suppression meant to divide and systemically oppress mass intersectional mobilizations.   

We are not facing a new 鈥渃risis鈥� of democracy. Indigenous people have never been represented by this system, or protected by it. Real power has never been won at a ballot box alone, but is the result of sustained, principled resistance demanding structural change. That鈥檚 why NDN Collective also plans to attend the Democratic National Convention in August鈥攂ecause we understand election outcomes have a huge impact on the organizing conditions within which we must operate. 

We are not helpless victims of the state, but expert survivors with resources that can be pooled together to counter death and destruction.鈥�   

The legislated gaslighting around what is and what is not political violence can no longer be accepted. We need and deserve elected officials who understand safety and peace are not abstract ideas鈥攖hey are policy choices鈥攁nd we all deserve leaders wise and courageous enough to center the well-being of all sacred life and Mother Earth.

Indigenous Peoples hold a wealth of talents, skills, and knowledge needed for our shared liberation. We are not helpless victims of the state, but expert survivors with resources that can be pooled together to counter death and destruction. There are so many ways we can build sustainable power. One way is to support Indigenous-led movements鈥攅specially if you are feeling particularly disenfranchised and pessimistic about the direction of this country.  

Indigenous Peoples have faced apocalypses before, but we are still here: running healing justice circles, maintaining localized systems of mutual aid, carrying out direct actions in protection of water and sacred life, and revitalizing our lifeways and traditional knowledge systems to build sustainable food systems and models for regenerative economies. 

No matter the direction of this country, we are not going anywhere.