UPDATE: The DAPL Pipeline Protest Movement is Claiming Sacred Ground

DAPL and the Indian Reservation

The greatest show on earth right now is DAPL  in North Dakota

Commentary by S. Tom Bond, Retired Teacher & Resident Farmer, Jane Lew, Lewis County, WV

Most of my readers will be aware of the standoff of the Indian Nations and the Local Sheriff in North Dakota.  North Dakota is sometimes called the “Mississippi of the North” because of racial prejudice against Indians.  (Montana has recently also been in the news.)

The 1,172 mile Dakota Access Pipeline or DAPL would carry Bakken Shale oil.

The result is a Cowboys and Indians alliance, everybody concerned with the land, everybody who doesn’t consider the countryside a desert waiting for development, has combined against it.   Ranchers’ views have evolved, as they have learned a lot about the potential environmental and climate impacts of shale development through meetings with tribal nations.

The complaint is the contamination of the Missouri River and the destruction of Indian graves and sacred ground.  The showdown here between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the company building the Dakota Access crude-oil pipeline began as a legal battle.  It has turned into a movement.

The U.S. government must consult with tribes on any issue that might affect them, but tribes say the government has failed to do so in a reasonable way.  As a consequence of the way the Indian Wars were settled they must be dealt with as foreign nations in many respects.  Their reservations have been decreased many times, but they remain citizens of their respective reservations all over the United States. 

 The effect has been to draw together Native Americans from all over the United States, which surrounds the reservations, as never before.  It has also attracted indigenous peoples from all over the world.  The conflict has also attracted many white and a few Black people with a sense of fairness about the situation to struggle with them.

There is a 10 minute video taken on the scene some three weeks ago to give you some idea of what is going on.  The wrecked vehicles on the bridge were placed there by the Morton County Sheriff’s Office to close the road.  The demonstrators are trying open the road.  A reporter is shot near the end.  Reporters and cameramen have been particularly hard hit, as the Sheriff is trying to prevent news from getting out.

There seems to be no limit to the meanness exhibited toward the demonstrators.  The troops are dressed in body armor and face masks, and there are numerous pictures of them spraying mace directly in the face of demonstrators, firing rubber bullets, and using water cannon in subfreezing weather.

The Washington Post has a detailed (because of their resources) article.  It includes a three minute video at the beginning, a map of the location next down, and 47 pictures. The situation became so bad in terms of negative publicity, ands the indebtedness of the Sheriff that other sheriffs refused to send support. 

As one source puts it: “This pits America’s political and corporate interests against the interests of Native Nations – whether it be over the acquisition and transportation of ‘black gold’ or some other precious mineral or natural resource via a Dakota Access, Keystone XL, Kinder Morgan, Enbridge pipeline, rail or ship – a long-standing relationship of deceit and mistrust lies at its heart.”

At their core, these battles are between two diametrically-opposed world views: one that believes in the sacredness of a simple hand-shake, spoken promise, or hand and ink touched to paper that is inviolate, and the other that only sees such things as expedient means to an end, words on a page that hold little real significance and so can be violated or broken at will or whim.

It’s The Same Ol’ Same Ol’ Story for Native People.

Another interesting angle is Donald Trump Owns Stock in Company Constructing Dakota Access Pipeline.  According to al Jazeera (they actually still maintain research journalism):  ”Trump’s 2016 federal disclosure forms show he owned between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. Trump also owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Phillips 66, which has a one-quarter share of Dakota Access.”

One issue is: The electoral College must reject Trump unless he sells his business, top lawyers for Bush and Obama say. They say, “the founders did not want any foreign payments to the president. Period.” This principle is enshrined in Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, which bars office holders from accepting “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”  This is a great article.  You really should read it.

Going on.  The shear meanness of the pipeline guards is distressing.  A medic treating injuries says  it “felt like low-grade war.” The article goes on ” Sophia  Wilansky, 21, faces potential amputation of her left arm after the latest incident early Monday morning near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.”  It blew off flesh from her wrist to her elbow.  Such injuries are caused by concussion grenades.  “Grenade pieces were removed from Wilansky’s arm in surgery and will be saved for evidence,” said the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council, a group that provided medical assistance to protesters during Sunday night’s standoff.

The Sheriff says they did not throw it, in fact did not use concussion grenades, but protesters think several were used.  The protestors were trying to remove the vehicles you saw in the first video blocking the bridge to the reservation.  The medic also said, ” “I think of Birmingham, [Alabama], I think of Wounded Knee, it felt like low-grade war,” he said. “If we hadn’t been there on Sunday night, people would have probably died. The use of water canons for 8 hours on hundreds and hundreds of demonstrators in 22 degrees is enough to kill someone.”

Senator Al Franken has called on the Department of Justice to protect the safety and First Amendment Rights of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters. “The reported use of water cannons for crowd control in sub-freezing temperatures is excessive and unnecessary,” he stated in a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. ”Native America populations have struggled for decades under the complex burden of historical trauma,” he stated, adding, “I urge you to do everything in your power to prevent further escalation of violence.”

Some who were detained have also faced degrading and humiliating treatment, including young women strip-searched, people left naked in cells overnight and confined in what some described as dog cages.

The Corps of Engineers (known to landowners as the outfit that does the political dirty work in many situations) has, first, announced a delay in work while permits were reviewed, but failed to enforce it on the companies building the pipeline, and second, announced the camp of the protestors must be vacated by December 4th.  It seems obvious when camp is vacated the pipeline will go through.

Wes Mekasi Horinek, spokesman for the Indians, puts it this way: “The Army Corps now says we have to evacuate camp by December 5^th, but the people in the camp have been working for months to prepare for winter, the people say they will not leave!!!! It is evident that the corps is going to approve the easement for the pipeline and that’s why they are going to try to remove us, so this will be a forced removal of a peaceful camp, just what they did to the Ponca people and so many other tribes throughout history. I pray for a peaceful outcome but I am preparing for the worst, given the track record of the United states government t’ward our people. I’m still asking for more people to come, for more warriors to come to help us stand our ground not only to stop this pipeline but also to stand up for ourselves as indigenous people and to insure the survival of our children, the future generations, humanity, and the planet it’s self!!!!!

The most recent development is veterans to stand with the Indians.  On December 4, hundreds of veterans plan to “deploy” to Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota to join in protest against the planned Dakota Access Pipeline.

The event, Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, is a call for veterans to “assemble as a peaceful, unarmed militia” to “defend the water protectors from assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force and DAPL security.” The organizers hope to prevent progress on the construction of the pipeline as well as draw national attention to the cause.  The organizers say they will not “tolerate hate, violence or divisive behavior of any kind. We’re doing this to support our country so lets do it with honor, working together. We can stop this savage injustice being committed right here at home. If not us, who? If not now, when?”

The veterans say they want to protect the Water Protectors from what they call “assault” by police, who have adopted an increasingly militarized presence they say is necessary to protect private property.

Wesley Clark Jr., (son of Wesley Clark, one-time NATO Supreme Allied Commander, who supports his sons venture) a veteran, screenwriter and activist, created the event and Michael Wood Jr., “a retired Baltimore police officer and Marine Corps veteran who advocates for police reform.

They started a GoFundMe page which by November 27 had raised $458,000. It was started on November 11. The money will go toward food, transportation and supplies for the veterans who attend. “It’s time to display that honor, courage and commitment we claim to represent,” the page reads. “It’s time for real patriots. Now more than ever, it’s time for anyone and everyone to lead.”   They also have an Amazon.com Wish list.  Blankets and heaters are a high priority.

Instructions to veterans are “Bring body armor, gas masks, earplugs (we may be facing a sound cannon) but no drugs, alcohol or weapons…if we don’t stop it, who will?”

The site invites veterans everywhere to join the effort, stating, “We are veterans of the United States Armed Forces, including the U.S. Army, United States Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard and we are calling for our fellow veterans to assemble as a peaceful, unarmed militia at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation on December 4 – 7 and defend the water protectors from assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force and DAPL security.

I know one veteran from West Virginia who is going with them, and one other who will be there at that time.  Also I know one woman who has gone and returned.  One West Virginia group will support any veteran who will go.

This is unquestionably the most under reported news in our corporate media.  The whole world, except United States citizens, is watching.  What will the corporations come up with next?  Will our indigenous people be “whupped” for financial gain of the few again, a repeat of history, and an example for other domineering nations?  We will see.

Tagged as: climate change, DAPL, fossil fuels, global warming, greenhouse gases, methane, natural gas, pipelines