In today’s day and age, unfortunately, finding credible information in the media is difficult, especially if there is illegal, immoral, unethical behavior that is being done by the government or a corporation. Many may be ill informed, or might even be ignorant to the turmoil that is being done in Standing Rock, a Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. The protest at Standing Rock, has had a total media blackout, censorship of news related to a certain topic, particularly in mass media. The community of Standing Rock has been fighting land-thieving invaders since July of 2016, and are now being shot at with rubber bullets, attacked by dogs, beaten, and arrested. Their only crime? Protesting against the stealing of their land.

Since 1492, when Columbus first “sailed the ocean blue”, the Indigenous people of the Americas, has had their land stolen. From the Trail of Tears to racist federal governmental policies such as the Dawes Act, an act that was geared to make Natives seem more “civilized”. Even in 2016 Natives are still being persecuted against (basically everyone that lives within the boundaries of the US that is not of European descent). On July 25, 2016, the US Army Corps of Engineers completes the final permit that would allow them to build a pipeline near Standing Rock’s reservation boundary. Later, on August 4th, Standing Rock files a lawsuit against the USACE, wanting them to withdraw their permit, eleven days after the initial lawsuit, Dakota Access LLC, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline sues Standing Rock for blocking construction. Protesters from all across the country have joined the people of Standing Rock in order to defend the reservation.

There has been a huge outcry due to the mass blackout from major news corporations and sources. Citizens from across the US have noticed that a simple hashtag, #NODAPL, has more information than CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and etc. The acquittal of the Bundy family, a family that led an armed standoff against the federal government on federal government property in 2014, received weeks upon weeks of media coverage. The peaceful protesters of Standing Rock have been beaten, maced, shot with rubber bullets, mauled by security dogs, and arrested unjustly.

Sadly in 2016, people of color are still living in subhuman conditions in the US. “The Leader of the Free World” has people of color being treated similarly to the time of Jim Crow, slavery still exist through mass incarceration, and if anyone questions anything that white and rich people do, you will be put down. I have one question, “Why is it that white people always want to steal land and culture and be oppressive and hide their savagery from the public, yet when they are victims, the world has to stop”.