I can't look at my life and see the opportunities that I've had, the health that I've had, my education... How do I look at that and then look at the people in Turtle Mountain, in Red Lake and Leech Lake and Pine Ridge and not see the completely different story?...Growing up, I never learned about any of this...We don't want to make the connection between us, the land and native people, and poverty. We're unwilling because it's a hard thing to face...that's a much bigger conversation that we're just not having...But for me, it's pretty simple. It's all about land. It's always been about land, still about land. -Ty Olson
Ty Olson is a filmmaker who is on a 250 mile cross country skiing quest across the Voyageurs Highway to inspire awareness and conversation around native issues while raising money for One Spirit, a nonprofit collective of Oglala Lakota and volunteers from around the globe, working hand in hand for the Pine Ridge Reservation community in South Dakota, supporting the Lakota community by providing resources that allow them to meet the needs of their people according to their own culture, traditions and values.
We have to start thinking about - what is our place in this? - Ty Olson
Click the arrow for the full story. Follow Ty’s journey and learn more about his mission at skiforfire.com.
