Dakota Access pipeline

Recent Posts

Prairie Lights: Heritage, history call man to protest

Jordan

Jordan Wolf Voice was planning to leave early this morning for his second trip to join the pipeline protesters in North Dakota. Wolf Voice is a 27-year-old Northern Cheyenne and Lakota. He has lived in Laurel his whole life and he works in the deli at Lucky’s Market in Billings. In late November, he spent three days at the protest against the Dakota Access pipeline, just outside the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, and he’s going back for three more days out of a sense of obligation. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , , , ,

A fraught Thanksgiving weekend at Standing Rock

Overview

I spent my Thanksgiving this year at Standing Rock, where a poverty-stricken Sioux tribe has faced off with a $3.8 billion oil pipeline project. I did not understand the irony and deep significance of my trip until I was reminded of the holiday’s dual origins soon after I arrived at camp. In 1637 during the Pequot War, settlers from Massachusetts Bay colonies massacred something like 700 natives after a white man was found dead in a boat. Casualties included Pequot women and children, who were burned in their village or hunted and shot if they escaped the inferno. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , ,

Clearing the air on the clean-water pipeline protests

Protest

The dramatic footage from Amy Goodman’s Sept. 3 “Democracy Now!” show brought up images of 1963 Birmingham, Ala., when deputies under the orders of segregationist Sheriff “Bull” Connor attacked civil rights protesters with dogs and fire hoses. “To many people, the military tactics being used in North Dakota are reminiscent of the tactics used against protesters during the civil rights movement some 50 years ago. And I believe that there are similarities there,” said Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: , , , , , , ,