On November second, The New York Times posted President Obama’s most recent comments on the controversy surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). President Obama said, “We are monitoring this closely. I think as a general rule, my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans.” This is a good thing to hear, and for the people defending the water to hear, yet it lacks indication of anything slowing the construction of the pipeline other than potentially the actual protesters themselves.
He went on to give another statement lacking definitive action, “I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline.”
According to the Verge, the pipeline is being constructed and hasn't been deterred at all, despite President Obama’s comments. The pipeline’s construction will allegedly cost $3.7 billion, and is about to enter the most crucial portion of the construction. Said section is also the part under the most contention, due to risks of water contamination effecting up to millions of people, as it is charted to go under a lake, while also disgracing sacred Native American burial grounds and property.
The Times article stated that the whole world is watching, and I think this is somewhat true. This is a contemporary event, for months not aired in almost any media, but is now gaining publicity. Even if people are unaware of what is happening, as exposure increases, as people scratch the surface a little, they will see flaws of our country plainly.
Our history in America between white settlers and Native Americans hasn’t been pretty; think the Trail of Tears, etcetera, etcetera. It is exceedingly disturbing to see that this relationship hasn’t changed much in our entire 240 years of existence as a progressive nation.
400 protestors of the DAPL have been arrested, and there has been violence perpetrated by the police similar to the violence done in other parts of the country to minorities in the name of self defense. Anti-DAPL activists have been tazed, shot with rubber bullets, hit with batons, bit by police dogs, threatened with arrest, and more. I see many resurfacings of history in present day events such as this. Here we see it plainly: the more powerful and socioeconomically “superior” citizens in Bismarck being able to resist the pipeline from going through land near them, while individuals on sovereign Native American land are largely unheard and their requests are unanswered by the power holders of our country. Will the voices of minorities and the ill-treated continue to go unheard?
