Gente de NAHJ: Driver uses Uber to elevate Afro-Indigenous issues
For Dante Cain (Lakota), being an Uber driver in Los Angeles isn’t just a way to pay the bills.
Born and raised in this city, Cain returned to California recently after spending time in Dallas and other parts of the United States. He identifies as Black and Lakota. His experience has provided him with “hybrid eyes” and insight into his activism.
“I’m adjusting, and I’m driving Uber, and I’m surveying the land and checking out how Los Angeles has changed,” Cain said.
Following his brother’s death last summer, Cain returned to southern California to work on a fictional documentary that highlights his mixed background. Since returning, he’s been driving tourists and locals throughout Hollywood, learning about human nature and raising awareness about issues impacting Black and Indigenous communities.
“You learn, through Uber, how to get your points in without being too argumentative and without upsetting someone,” Cain said.
From filmmakers to journalists, Cain said that as creatives, driving for Uber is a way to help with their craft. For actors trying to bond with the community while paying the bills, he said, “the waitress job is no longer that connection. It’s the Uber ride. From physicists to doctors to your common employee at a restaurant — We’re all the same. We’re all human.”
In Indigenous cultures, oral storytelling — as opposed to written language — is prevalent. Words paint pictures and heal, Cain said, and interacting with community members from all backgrounds helps to keep this tradition alive.
Lauren Lifke is an incoming senior double-majoring in journalism and statistics at the University of New Mexico. She is the news editor for its student newspaper The New Mexico Daily Lobo and an intern for the Santa Fe Reporter. She aspires to work with data and investigative journalism. She can be reached at lifke.laur [at] gmail [dot] com or on X at @Lauren_Lifke.
