The afternoon of November 6th, approximately 200 people gathered under the arch in Washington Square park to stand in solidarity with Native Americans in North Dakota to fight against the North Dakota Access Pipeline that is scheduled to be dug through sacred land.

After about an hour and a half of chanting “water is life” and “no justice, no peace” among other protest chants, we all gathered together to hear from Natives and lawyers supporting the activists at Standing Rock. Bob Goff, a lawyer who works with the National Congress of American Indians, suggested donating to Honor The Earth, a non-profit supporting activist in building temporary structures for themselves to be protected from the weather in the winter as they continue to occupy Standing Rock.

Following Goff, a member of the New York State assembly, Jose Rivera spoke about the connection between what is happening at Standing Rock and what has been happening in Puerto Rico and the Bronx and Ferguson for years with regards to water safety. Two crowd members, Puerto Rican women, echoed his statements with their first hand experiences with unsafe water.

Another woman held a sign that said “occupation is a crime, Standing Rock to Palestine,” comparing the US federal government’s occupation of land in North Dakota with Israel’s occupation of Palestine. This is all to say that while Standing Rock is the focus of activist efforts right now, it is not an isolated incident.

A member of Six Nations Ontario, Jessica Martin, beautifully summed up the importance of this fight “if we did not have the water, the wind, and the sun, we would not be human.”

If you are in New York city and/or a student at NYU, there is an action planned for Tuesday November 15th on the Kimmel stairs. NYU Divest has organized a rally to join 350.org’s National Day of Action to stop DAPL.