Zero Hour: Native American Tribes Stand Against Oppression

Joe Fowler, Assistant Editor

After months of growing tension over the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota, the major news networks started covering the plight of the Lakota Sioux and their efforts to protect sacred land.  Karen Allen, a concerned citizen living in Charlottesville, mentioned that major media outlets labeled the Sioux and their supporters as protesters. This is an understatement at best considering the atrocities and ongoing mistreatment of indigenous tribes in the Americas. The story began when Christopher Columbus failed to fall of face of the earth and instead landed in the New World.  

During the ensuing race for imperialistic domination, Europeans eventually landed on the east coast of what is now known as the United States. They immediately set about the genocidal oppression of the people that already occupied the land ‒ the Native Americans. Eventually, the blood stopped flowing as freely, and the United States government signed treaties with various tribes. This includes the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851. New York Times contributor David Archambault II summarized that treaty, and the subsequent Laramie treaty of 1868, by saying, “The government broke them before the ink was dry.”

Maps of the great Sioux reservation from National Geographic and North Dakota Studies (ndstudies.gov) seem to echo that statement by outlining losses of land coinciding with the gold rush and westward expansion in the mid to late 19th century. The loss of reservation land frequently occurred around the same time the confirmation of capital gain for the United States, be it gold in the Black Hills or railroads to transport the vast amount of European immigrants who wished to settle in the western portion of the country. Dr. Colum Leckey, who teaches a course on Native American history at Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) addressed these observations as a matter of historical fact.

But, according to Archambault, the pipeline project was pushed through with legal loopholes that allowed the oil company to avoid environmental protection and clean water acts. Archambault added that the oil company and the local sheriff considered the protests unlawful.

Despite these claims, and a lawsuit filed by Energy Transfer Partners against Archambault and several others for the protests and the declaration of a state of emergency by the governor of North Dakota, many have since sided with the Lakota Sioux, including over 200 Native American tribes along with Leo Dicaprio, Rosario Dawson and many other celebrities, according to the Washington Post. Additionally, leaders of the Episcopalian Church have called for support as reported on the episcopal digital network; and the pagan news network, wildhunt.com has also reported individuals who identify as pagan assisting on the ground.

Local citizens in Charlottesville have also pledged or shown support for the protests. Dr. Karenne Wood, program director at the Virginia foundation for the Humanities and member of the Monacan Indian Nation recently posted, “If I thought for one minute that I could drive to ND by myself I’d … be on my way to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline with the tribes. The last time Native ppl (sic) stood up like this, I was 13 and couldn’t drive. Now my body has been thru too much to drive 2 days straight. Just saying, I am so with you. So sorry. So proud.”

Meanwhile, PVCC student and activist Nic McCarthy organized a fundraiser on Crowdrise.com, which raised upwards of $1200 that McCarthy sent directly to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for resources and legal support.

Still, a federal judge who suspended the pipeline construction in August, ordered it to continue on September 9, according to NPR. In the same interview with reporter Amy Sisk, Sisk stated that mere moments later the Justice Department and the Army Corp of Engineers voluntarily halted construction on the portions of the pipeline that are on federal land.

“Due process has failed because they started digging,” Leckey said earlier the same day, pointing out that the Sioux Nation had been involved in courtroom battles since the 1920s to restore the substantial amount of reservation land they lost due to legal escapades and blatant treaty violations by the United States government.

Perhaps the process still has failed considering that the decision to halt the project is currently only temporary, but for the moment, the power of the people, has halted the hand of greed and injustice. The Justice Department will be meeting with tribal leaders this fall to discuss the matter in greater detail, according to NPR.

The unity and momentum of the people, both indigenous and beyond, has inspired hope and rejuvenated the true spirit of America. Change can happen. Old injustices can be corrected. Misguided mistakes of the past can be made right as the nation gradually inches to the day that “All men were created equal,” translates to all people are equal.