Fundraiser started for North Dakota Indigenous communities amid pandemic

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — The pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, but some are feeling the impact more than others.

Broken infrastructure, chronic disease and limited health care are just some of the issues that have long faced Native communities.

Adding a pandemic into the mix means those who were already vulnerable become even more so.

“Even early on during the pandemic, I remember just talking among colleagues and nobody knew anybody with COVID. But I did. I knew a few people who had COVID within Fargo,” recalls North Dakota State Rep. Ruth Ann Buffalo. “How and why Native American, American Indian, communities are being hit hard with COVID-19 right now is decades, centuries, of poor policy.”

Rep. Buffalo and Andrea Denault of Fargo are two of the multiple women joining forces across the state to raise money for Native communities.

Denault says the fundraiser was born out of necessity, as state leaders have not stepped up to get Indigenous people the help they need.

“Right now, Native Americans make up, I think, 1.8% of the entire United States population, whereas it used to be 100% of the United States population, and the reason that number is so low is because of genocide, and I don’t know if people think about it this way or if our Governor thinks about it this way, but what’s happening right now is a continuation of that legacy of genocide on this population,” she says.

Direct funds donated to the GoFundMe page, they hope, can offer a glimpse of relief and hope to those who need it while empowering them to make substantive change. 

“We know that people are struggling and it’s okay to help people when they need the help the most because it’s going to be a ripple effect,” explains Buffalo. “One day, they’re going to turn around and help somebody who might just be down on their luck.”

“You don’t need to prove how desperate you are or anything like that,” adds Denault. “We just want to make it as easy as possible for people to obtain some of the funding they need to get through this.”

“Our communities are struggling,” Buffalo says. “A lot of people passing away long before their time, and the fact that if things could have been prevented, it’s on all of us. We failed, you know, we failed because we didn’t help.”

An advisory council will determine how the funds will be distributed equitably across the state to those who ask for the help.

Click here for a link to the fundraiser.