I have begun to understand some things today. Everyone, everywhere, is contributing to climate change, but there is only one Standing Rock. Yes, the Dakota Access Pipeline will increase our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels, but there are 2.4 million miles of pipelines in this country and thousands more being constructed across the globe each week. First and foremost, this is about Indigenous communities – their sovereignty and their rights.
I have spent a lot of time listening here - to people who have probably spent a lot of their lives being ignored. I have heard talk of revolutions, of dual citizenship, of black snakes and of the process of making entire communities invisible. The DAPL is colonization, plain and simple. It runs directly through treaty land, with the intent of “destroying to replace.” And what will happen if it is built? Will these camps remain? How long before the pipeline leaks? How long before the world stops seeing?
At the camp, our group of students was able to go through an orientation designed for non-Natives. The facilitators tackled a number of topics, but the one that resonated with me the most was the idea of ‘whiteness.’ Whiteness is about more than skin color. Those privileged by whiteness tend to feel that they belong everywhere or that they deserve to know things. While these beliefs are oftentimes unconscious, it is important to confront the assumptions behind them because we do not belong everywhere, and sometimes we do not need to know.
This fight is not about white people, nor is it fodder for NGOs to advance their cause. It is about real people who have spent hundreds of years doing exactly what they are doing now. This movement is part of a deliberate and determined process, and is guided by the seven principles of the Lakota people: prayer, respect, honesty, compassion, wisdom, generosity and humility. Following these principles, the Oceti Sakowin camp is a place of prayer and ceremony (two things with which I am not very familiar). The NoDAPL movement is being advanced in ways that you or I may not entirely understand, but it is incredibly important to recognize that this is okay.
As I write this I consider the reality of a Trump presidency. I do not pretend to hold out much hope for the DAPL being halted (lights shine down on the camps 24/7 as they work nonstop to construct it). But this is about more than a pipeline. It is about human rights and dignity, and the fact that Native people deserve access to clean water simply because they are human beings, and not because they are part of a larger discussion about environmentalism or climate justice. It is also about halting the erasure of Natives by non-Natives that has been ongoing for far too long.
There is a chance here to build a new legacy – one that recognizes the place we consider ‘America’ is not one huge, continuous territory. Nations exist inside this space, and only through the pursuit of understanding and connections can the rights of all humans and all nations be given the respect they deserve.
Interested in supporting the NoDAPL movement? Here are a few actions you can take:
1) Contact the Obama Administration at the White House Comment Line Monday - Friday between 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. E.T. via 1-303-816-3559.
You'll hear a recorded introduction that will give you more information before you are connected directly with the White House Comment Line
2) Sign the petitions to the Army Corp of Engineers: http://bit.ly/2fxNirE and http://bit.ly/2f5uP5f
3) Recruit your friends and family to take action too by sharing the petition on social media or by having an in person conversation. Visit addup.org to learn more.
4) Boycott the banks funding DAPL: http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/how-to-contact-the-17-banks-funding-the-dakota-access-pipeline-20160929
5) Donate money, food, supplies or your time by going to one of the camps. Visit ocetisakowincamp.org, sacredstonecamp.org, or nodaplsolidarity.org for updated lists of needed supplies and directions for getting to the camp.
6) Plan a solidarity action or educational event. Google “Power Shift Network NoDAPL Dakota Access Student Toolkit” for a list of suggested actions and reading lists.
Upcoming: Global Month of #NoDAPL Action
The financial footing of the Dakota Access Pipeline is in jeopardy if they do not complete the project by January 1st. If this deadline is missed, a majority of the stakeholders with contracts to ship oil through the pipeline will be able to renegotiate or cancel their contracts. This could be devastating to Energy Transfer Partners and the other pipeline companies behind DAPL.
Indigenous leaders are calling for a month of solidarity beginning with a Global Day of Action on December 1st. They are asking people to target the banks funding Dakota Access Pipeline and the Sheriff Departments that have been brutalizing peaceful water protectors. Find out more at sacredstonecamp.org/blog/december-action.