Thanksgiving has come and gone and, once again, the United States government is attacking Native Americans and their land. By now, many of you should be aware of what is currently going on at the Standing Rock reservation in North and South Dakota, but for those who are unaware of the events, let's have a little recap.
In September of 2016, protests sparked over Energy Transfer Partners' proposed pipeline, which would transfer oil from North Dakota to Illinois. These protests started because a portion of the route this pipeline is set to take goes directly through the Standing Rock Reservation. Not only does the destruction threaten to damage and disrupt their sacred land and burial grounds, the pipeline also happens to run right underneath Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, which is where the Sioux residents get their water. This means that not only will this water be contaminated during construction of the pipeline, there is also a large risk that if the pipeline for some reason bursts, the river and some of its tributaries will be ruined.
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Water protectors, the people that the media keep calling "protesters", have since risen and continued fighting for the right to their land, their water, and their lives, which have continually been put in danger since the beginning of this whole ordeal. They've been met with attack dogs and barbed wire from the start, and it only got worse.
On Sunday night, November 20th, 2016, water protectors attempted to clear a bridge of two broken down military vehicles. The response they were met with was violent. In the below freezing weather, these people were shot with water hoses, rubber bullets, tear gas, and even concussion grenades. 300 people were injured. Around 17 people were sent to the hospital after this attack, including those suffering from hypothermia. One young woman was hit in the arm with a concussion grenade and may now face amputation of that arm.
A 13 year old girl was shot in the face with a rubber bullet.
A young man was shot in the stomach and the response he was given from an officer was a smile and shots to both of his knee caps.
These people are unarmed. They are concerned about the fact that their lands are, once again, in danger of being ruined by the US government. They are peacefully assembled, there to express their unhappiness with the fact that the government is allowing an oil company without the proper permits to drill and to continue on with this project.
This is the America we live in now. A place where people gather to protest peacefully, without weapons or the intent to injure, and are met with violent, militaristic attacks.
Many of you all gave thanks on Thursday evening for many things: your friends, your family, the food on your table. There are people in Standing Rock that have to fight to keep all of that safe.
Thanksgiving is already rooted in wiping out Native American lives and stealing their land for profit, but thanks to commercialization we've all managed to conveniently forget about that and roll our eyes when people bring it up because it's "in the past."
Well, you really can't say that anymore, can you? The week of Thanksgiving, over 300 Native lives were directly threatened in the pursuit of their lands and water for the sake of money.
Donate to the Standing Rock Reservation here. Help the water protectors achieve their goal and keep their land and their people safe.
