There is a Media Black out going on while a nation in our own fights for their land.
Months-long protests against a multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline have boiled over into tense clashes as snarling dogs were used against protesters and the tribe claims burial grounds were bulldozed.
The North Dakota protest site at the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux has grown into “the largest gathering of Native Americans in more than 100 years,” reports the BBC. The protesters, who have gathered together from multiple tribes, as well as those supporting the cause, say they are taking a stand for future generations against the four-state Dakota Access Pipeline Project.
On September 6, tensions heightened further as authorities said they “plan to pursue charges” of trespassing and vandalism against the Green Party’s nominee for president Jill Stein “for spray-painting construction equipment at a Dakota Access Pipeline protest,” according to ABC News, which quoted a Stein spokeswoman as saying Stein wrote “I approve this message” in red on a bulldozer blade. You can watch video of Stein spray painting here. Stein, in turn, shared a quote from Sitting Bull and questioned why others weren’t possibly facing charges.
There were reports of injuries on both sides — of people and dogs — as protesters and security clashed violently on September 3. The tribal chairman contended that burial grounds were destroyed and desecrated by bulldozers.
A photo from the scene of the protest on September 3. (Getty)
“In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground,” the tribal chairman said,according to The Chicago Tribune.
Vivid photos showed protesters being treated for injuries as menacing-looking dogs were brought to the scene. The tribal spokesman said multiple protesters were pepper-sprayed and bitten, including a child. The company’s spokeswoman told Heavy that “unwarranted violence occurred on private property under easement to Dakota Access Pipeline, resulting in injury to multiple members of our security personnel and several dogs” on September 3.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe is worried that the pipeline will negatively impact water quality on its reservation and imperil cultural heritage sites, reports The Dallas Morning News.
The Sioux City Journal reports the Standing Rock tribe “is fighting the installation of the pipeline on their reservation bordering North and South Dakota.” Meanwhile, proponents of the project say it will boost the economy, creating thousands of construction jobs.
The day after the incident with the dogs, the protesters continued their efforts to stop the pipeline, marching to the site where they say bulldozers disturbed a sacred burial ground.
Native Americans march to a burial ground sacred site that was disturbed by bulldozers building the Dakota Access Pipeline, on September 4 near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Getty)
“As demonstrators came to stop the tractors, they had encountered private security armed with pepper spray, attack dogs, and zip ties. Warriors on the front line were attacked for protecting the land and water,” wrote one man on Facebook. “Pregnant women were maced, young children and horses were attacked by dogs … the water provides life for the animals, the crops, the land, and millions of people.”
1. Protesters Cried Out on Social Media Amid Reports of Attack Dogs, Pepper Spray & Injuries
Native American protesters and their supporters are confronted by security during a demonstration against work being done for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) oil pipeline, near Cannonball, North Dakota, September 3, 2016. (Getty)
Social media filled with dramatic photos, videos and eyewitness accounts of dogs being used against protesters on September 3, including reports of injuries and pepper spray being allegedly directed at protesters.
The Wall Street Journal reports the protests against the $3.8 billion pipeline have united “groups of Native Americans, landowners and environmentalists.”
Activist Winona LaDuke wrote on EcoWatch that the pipeline struggle represents “the future of a people. All of us. If I ask the question ‘What would Sitting Bull do?’ — the answer is pretty clear. He would remind me what he said 150 years ago: ‘Let us put our minds together to see what kind of future we can make for our children.’”
The clashes have grown in intensity.
A protester is treated after being pepper sprayed by private security contractors on land being graded for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) oil pipeline, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, September 3, 2016. The tribe says that multiple people were pepper sprayed and bitten by dogs. The energy company says private security and dogs were injured. (Getty)
According to the Daily Mail, quoting the Associated Press, the Morton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Donnell Preskey said “four private security guards and two guard dogs were injured,” and the tribal spokesman said six protesters were bitten by dogs, including a child, and 30 people were pepper-sprayed.
2. The Native American Protesters Said They Are Prepared for a ‘Long Battle’ & Have Taken Their Case to Court
The Energy Transfer company says on its website that the company “is developing a new pipeline to provide crude oil transportation service from point(s) of origin in the Bakken/Three Forks play in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois.” The site contains additional details about the pipeline, including safety.
The tribe has made its stand in federal court as well as at the construction site.
The Wall Street Journal says the tribe has sued in federal court seeking to stop construction of the pipeline with a decision expected in early September. “The tribe has argued that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improperly granted permits for the project,” says the newspaper.
You can read the lawsuit here.
The tribe filed an emergency motion on September 4 for a temporary restraining order “to prevent further destruction of the tribe’s sacred sites by Dakota Access Pipeline,” said KCCI, quoting the tribal chairman as saying, “On Saturday, Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners brazenly used bulldozers to destroy our burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts. They did this on a holiday weekend, one day after we filed court papers identifying these sacred sites.”
3. A Texas Billionaire Is Behind the Pipeline Project
Protesters hold a rally with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in support of a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers and plans for the Dakota Access Pipeline outside the US District Court in Washington, DC, August 24, 2016. (Getty)
Energy Transfer is owned by Kelcy Warren, a Texas entrepreneur worth $4 billion, according to Forbes Magazine.
In 2015, Bloomberg wrote in an extensive profile of Warren, “pipeline billionaire Kelcy Warren is having fun in the oil bust.” The profile said Warren lives in a 23,000-square-foot home complete with “chip-and-putt green, a pole-vault pit, a four-lane bowling alley, and a 200-seat theater where the billionaire’s musician pals play private concerts.” Protests have also occurred outside the company’s Dallas building, reports The Dallas Morning News.
Native American protesters are living in camps on the Standing Rock reservation while they protest the pipeline’s construction, says BBC. A community has arisen as the tribe is joined by representatives of other Indian nations, environmentalists, and others who support the tribe’s cause.
The tribe has created a donation fund. You can access it here.
A petition against the pipeline on Change.org has more than 250,000 supporters.
4. Hollywood Celebrities Such as Susan Sarandon Have Joined the Protests, & Leo DiCaprio & Stein Also Showed Support
Actress Susan Sarandon speaks during a rally and protest by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in support of a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers and plans for the Dakota Access Pipeline outside the US District Court in Washington, D.C., August 24, 2016. (Getty)
Before the news that Stein could possibly face charges for spray painting a bulldozer blade, the presidential candidate tweeted her support for the protesters. Stein wrote on her campaign website that she believes the pipeline “would violate U.S. treaties by endangering the drinking water and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.” Around the same time the news broke on potential charges, she tweeted a quote from Sitting Bull:
5. The Standing Rock Tribe Is Concerned About the Impact on Water Quality for Millions
Native American protesters and their supporters are confronted by security during a demonstration against work being done for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) oil pipeline, near Cannonball, North Dakota, September 3. (Getty)
According to the Bismarck Tribune, the tribe, located in North Dakota, fears the project “will disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water for thousands of tribal members on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and millions further downstream.”
“Our cause is just,” the newspaper quoted the tribe’s chairman, Dave Archambault II, as saying, adding that the tribe was staging the fight on behalf of future generations.
On EcoWatch, Winona LaDuke wrote a passionate column opposing the pipeline. It started, “My destination is the homeland of the Hunkpapa Oceti, Standing Rock Reservation…If you close your eyes, you can remember the 50 million buffalo—the single largest migratory herd in the world. The pounding of their hooves would vibrate the Earth, make the grass grow.”
She said the struggle is a continuation of a historical one. “There were once 250 species of grass,” she wrote. “Today the buffalo are gone… Many of the fields are now in a single GMO crop, full of so many pesticides that the monarch butterflies are dying off. But in my memory, the old world remains.”
In a press release, Archambault said, “This demolition is devastating. These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced.” He said that “construction crews removed topsoil across an area about 150 feet wide stretching for two miles, northwest of the confluence of the Cannon Ball and Missouri Rivers.”
Protesters ride back to the public road at the end of their demonstration. (Getty)
“I surveyed this land and we confirmed multiple graves and specific prayer sites,” said Tim Mentz, the Standing Rock Sioux’s former tribal historic preservation officer, in the tribal press release. “Portions, and possibly complete sites, have been taken out entirely.”
The local sheriff said construction of the pipeline was temporarily halted “for safety reasons,” said NPR.
According to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, the tribe’s reservation is located in both North and South Dakota, and the people of Standing Rock are “members of the Dakota and Lakota nations,” terms that mean “friends” or “allies.”
“The people of these nations are often called ‘Sioux,’” a term that dates back to the seventeenth century “when the people were living in the Great Lakes area,” says the tribe.