The Standing Rock Sioux Challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline
CHAPTER 1 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY On On October 10 2016 a car drove through the Oceti Sakowin camp Oceti Sakowin or the Seven Council Fires refers to the seven bands of the Sioux Nation The camp was in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation A drumbeat called for people to awaken It was Indigenous Peoples Day Many people in the camp belonged to the Sioux Nation or other indigenous groups from across the Americas An upside-down flag waves above the Oceti Sakowin camp It serves as a symbol of distress 5
According to the company building it the Dakota Access Pipeline created 12,000 temporary construction jobs They had come to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe After praying and singing people in the camp drove over dirt roads to a nearby construction site Giant pieces of pipe lay on bare ground Workers were constructing a pipeline that would stretch 1,200 miles 1,900 km from North Dakota to Illinois The construction was set to go through land that was sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux 6
The pipe would eventually go under the Missouri River But if the pipe leaked it would pollute the drinking water for the Standing Rock Reservation People from the camp planned to stop progress on the pipeline Some had already chained themselves to construction equipment early that morning That way workers wouldn’t be able to build the pipeline The newcomers set up and decorated a tipi They prayed and danced But before long the police began to arrive They arrested people who didn’t move back to the road The protesters returned to the camp but they weren’t going home They were taking a stand THINK ABOUT IT Would you risk arrest to support a cause you believed in Why or why not 7
