Voices From Standing Rock—Standing Firm in the Face of Threats
December 3, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The Army of Corps of Engineers, and the governor of North Dakota, have issued threats to arrest anyone who remains in the camp with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe after Monday, December 5. Revolution correspondents at Standing Rock shared these responses from people they talked to about those threats.
If you are at Standing Rock, write to us. Tell us why you are there, your thoughts on what is happening and why, and what needs to happen.
Write to revolution.reports@yahoo.com.
Dawne, Shawnee Delaware Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux, Oklahoma
The Army Corps of Engineers told DAPL they do not have a permit to this land. Then they give us an eviction order, supposedly for our safety. It’s really a slap in the face... We’re standing up for the rights of the people, and that goes across the globe, worldwide. We’re leading by example. If there’s an eviction notice, we’ll stand our ground, and do what we have to do. We’re here in a prayerful, ceremonial way, but at the same time, everyone has their boundaries. We are clearly on our land, unceded land from the Fort Laramie Treaty. So we have a right to be here and they do not. And that’s how I feel about it, and it’s not going to change.
Rafael, Art Monk
I’m here with the Art Monastery Project. I’m an Art Monk. It’s inspiring to see people here pulling together. I don’t see people going anywhere and I intend to be here well past the 5th.
Dan, Nez Perce Umatilla, Washington State
I’ve been here since September. Around us here, you see the river warriors, who came down the river, canoeing for eight days. Back home we have a canoeing crew and we are related to coastal tribes, so we’re camped all here together—river warriors. It’s been a really hard time. We worked really hard to fortify ourselves for the winter. We understand the weather can reach minus 40 to minus 70 with windchill. The winds are really brutal here. We worked from when the sun comes up on the morning till you drag your butt to bed... And all of a sudden we heard about the evacuation. How could we pack all of this up and move? So we talked in our camp, with one another. There are so many people here, people are happy to be here. But in our mind we were really stressing, are we gonna move? Or stay? But then a blizzard is coming, so maybe the creator made the choice for us. We’re gonna stay here. It’s been quite an emotional journey but we’re gonna stay here.
Mikkel, a solar technician from Washington.
I see this group of people banding together in unity and taking care of each other. It’s hardship. But this is a really strong group. I have not seen these people give up. The reason I came here is because this nation, Standing Rock nation, sent out the word universally that they need help. The land we’re standing on right now is unceded land of the Laramie 1851 Treaty. That’s why we’re standing ground here, over that... This is the seventh generation, it has been spoken about that this would happen, because we are preparing for the eighth generation.
Photos: revcom.us
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