THE NATIVE UPRISING

A little bit about me. Passing me on the street, one would see me as an older white lady. I am, but I am also an enrolled citizen of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.I have always lived on the west coast, but my mother grew up on the Yankton Reservation in South Dakota. She made sure her children became enrolled tribal members, and she made sure we children were well aware of the conditions of poverty which she and her siblings grew up with as a mixed blood family in South Dakota.

I always have been proud of that special percentage of me that is Native American. I have deep respect for the tribal members whose families never left the reservations, and thus lead much more challenging lives than mine.

In April of this year LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a Sioux historian whose work I have read online, became alarmed when it became apparent that construction of a crude oil pipeline was coming very close to her home and possibly through sacred grounds. The pipeline was also slated to run beneath the Missouri River, the most important water source for the region. LaDonna used social media in July to call out to any Native Americans who could, to come camp by the Cannonball River and try to get the pipeline company to reroute, as the company had done for the city of Bismark to the north.

First a trickle, then a deluge of people from tribes throughout the nation arrived. With thousands of campers it became the largest gathering of Native Americans in at least 100 years if not more. Each tribe flew its flag. It became the United Nations of the First Peoples. 

When one considers the true history of Native Americans in North America, that they were often sworn enemies, this confluence becomes doubly beautiful. And many socially aware groups from around the world have made known their desire to "Stand With Standing Rock". Called Water Defenders, the activists have sworn to keep things nonviolent. As of this writing, they have encountered state militia, private security thugs with attack dogs, road blocks stopping delivery of camp supplies, mass arrests, and now that fall has arrived on the prairie, they were struck by water cannons in below freezing temperatures.

The first blizzard of the season has come through, and I don't know how the campers can remain without casualties. What I do know is that whatever you want to call the descendants of the indigenous tribes of North America - Indians, Native Americans, First Peoples, Natives, or by their tribal affiliation - they have joined and they have risen and they will never be again relegated to a footnote in history.