This past week has been an interesting one for me, as are the many previous weeks that I have spent here, since I started living in Humboldt. This week, my focus has been drawn to the North Dakota Pipeline that is currently trying to be built right upon Native American burial grounds. Some of you reading may have already heard about this horrific incident that has been taking place, but unfortunately I’ve only become aware of it just last Tuesday. Why is that?
A fellow student who has been back and forth from class and Standing Rock, (the location of the pipeline, an Indian Reservation) brought it to my attention in one of my natural resource classes that the media has specifically not been covering this story. The people who are peacefully protesting the construction have started to get arrested, on felony accounts and if I am correct, trespassing. The police have been legally allowed to start using weaponized drones against the people who are protesting the creation of this pipeline. May I remind you, that the individuals are peacefully protesting the uprooting of their land.
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When I heard all of this, it blew my mind. I think it’s insane that the people in power are still trying to take away rights and land from minorities, specifically Native Americans. Not to mention, they already had their land forcefully taken away from them during the start of America.
I also was lucky enough to have the time allotted for me by my professor during her lab period to go to, “Indigenous River Defenders: Klamath-Baram Indigenous Connection Program,” which was held in a building at Humboldt State. There I heard from the people who have been protesting at Standing Rock, the Klamath River, and in other countries such as, Malaysia, in regards to mega dams being built on land owned by small tribes. The atmosphere in the room was peace, and respect, I could tell that everyone listening to the speakers all wanted to hear what they had to say. What I really took from all the amazing people who spoke was that, rivers are sacred, and vastly important to native people, and should be to everyone in the world really. It is a way of life, to be a fisherman, water is life. Mega dams ruin ecosystems and displace communities. Just like the North Dakota Pipeline could burst and absolutely destroy the river's ecosystem.
After learning about all of this I felt a very strong desire to write about it. I think it’s important to know what is really going on in the world, especially if it does not directly affect you. I wish I could take time out my school schedule to fly to North Dakota to stand with the Native Americans and others who greatly oppose the pipeline, just like my classmate has been doing. I can’t, or at least I tell myself I can’t. Instead, I am writing about this issue in the hopes that someone who hasn’t heard of what’s going on can be informed, and pass along this information to others.
If you want to learn more about the North Dakota Pipeline, or the mega dams in Malaysia, or what’s been going on with the attempts to un-dam the Klamath, I have attached some links from the New York Times, Rawstory, Huffington Post, the Borneo Project, Klamath River and how North Dakota hits home for local Tribes.
Thanks for taking the time to read, spread the news and stay aware!
