Photo: After a prayer march to Backwater Bridge, protesters are lead in a defiant cheer by an elder and descendant of Chief Sitting Bull (the gentleman in the white jacket) against North Dakota State Police, who have been permanently deployed on the north side of the bridge. Photo © Matt Hamon
Although the Federal court ruled for a delay in the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on November 14, the police action against unarmed protestors gathered at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, continues to escalate with acts extreme force.
Also: Standing Rock Has Become the First Major American Battleground of the 21st Century
Most recently, on the evening of Sunday, November 20, as temperatures dipped down to 26 degrees Fahrenheit, law enforcement officials blasted hundreds of people with water cannons near Oceti Sakowin camp. Video can be seen at The Guardian.
Standing behind a barbed wire fence, militarized police dressed in riot gear also launch concussion grenades, rubber bullets, and tear gas, injuring 300 people; 26 were taken to area hospitals, while 21 year-old New York resident Sophia Wilansky, who was air lifted to County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where she has been undergoing extensive surgery to save her arm from amputation after being hit by a grenade.
Since August 10 of this year, thousands of activists from across the United States have come together at Standing Rock to protest the construction of DAPL. Calling themselves “Water Protectors,” the activists are unarmed, using peaceful means of protest against the destruction of sacred lands and the environment. The response of the federal, state, and local governments have included a 12-day “No Fly Zone,” sound cannon blasts, tear gas and pepper spray, and hundreds of arrests on trumped up charges.
This Thanksgiving, we invite you to give real thanks to the people risking their lives to protect the water supply of 17 million Americans in four states. Here are some ways you can stand tall with Standing Rock.
A general view of Oceti Sakowin the Standing Rock encampment near Canon Ball, ND and on HWY 1806, which is currently blockaded by state police. Photo © Matt Hamon.
Donations:
- Donate to support the Oceti Sakowin Camp
- Donate items to support the Oceti Sakowin Camp
- Donate to the Standing Rock Health Clinic
- Donate to support the Standing Rock Sioux
- Donate items from the Sacred Stone Camp Supply List
- Contribute to the Sacred Stone Camp Legal Defense Fund
- Contribute to the Sacred Stone Camp gofundme account
- Contribute to Red Warrior Camp
- Donate to the Standing Rock medics
- Contribute to the medical fund for Sophia Wilansky
Supplies:
Standing Rock medics have indicated they are in need of the following items:
- Milk of Magnesia
- Wool socks
- Wool blankets
- Space blankets
- Hand warmers
- Trauma kits (portable)
- Suturing kits
- Straw bales
Supplies can be shipped to:
Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council, PO Box 1251, Bismark ND, 58502
If you are shipping via UPS or Fed Ex, please use the address:
220 E. Rosser Ave. 1251, Bismark, ND, 58502
Volunteer:
If you are a certified medic, EMTs, nurse, physician, herbalist, midwife and massage therapist, you can fill out an application to volunteer. They are also looking for people who can help with logistics, such as supply deliveries.
Organize Locally:
Start or join events in your area at #NoDAPL Solidarity Actions
Boycott:
In a letter to Tribal Leaders and Supporters dated November 22, Harold Frazier, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe wrote, “In September, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council voted unanimously to divest all tribal money from Bismarck and Mandan and asked that tribe members not spend any money in these cities. We are now asking that ALL people who oppose this pipeline join us.
“These communities have led the violent law enforcement efforts against out people and we will not support them financially. If these communities will not listen to our reasoned pleas for justice and fairness, we must speak the only language they seem to have understood throughout the entire DAPL project: MONEY.”
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is:
Big banks are heavily invested in the Energy Transfer family, the company that is funding DAPL. You can see a list of banks and their investments at Food and Water Watch to see if your bank is involved.
A call has gone out for people to take their money out of big banks and put them into credit unions and community development banks. Credit unions are nonprofits with low fees and excellent interest rates that invest in local projects, so that you will personally be staking your community. Community investment banks work with financially underserved institutions, businesses, and people, making it another great way to give back.
Taken from a bluff adjacent to the camp looking east toward the Missouri River, at the site where Dakota Access LLC awaits a permit to tunnel beneath. Photo © Matt Hamon.
Protest:
Call the White House and the Army Corps of Engineers to demand the permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline be rescinded:
The White House
(202) 456-1111
(202) 456-1414
Army Corps of Engineers
(202) 761-5903
Call the executives at Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline:
Lee Hanse, Executive Vice President
(210) 403-6455
Glenn Emery, Vice President
(210) 403-6762
Michael (Cliff) Waters , Lead Analyst
(713) 989-2404
Call the powers in North Dakota to stop the violence against peaceful protesters:
North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple
(701) 328-2200
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier
(701) 667-3330
Contact local law enforcement who have sent police officers to Standing Rock. If your city or town has sent deployments, ask them to bring their people back:
Michigan City Police Department
Michigan City, IN
(219) 874-3221
North Dakota Highway Patrol
Offices across North Dakota
(701) 328-2455
Hammond Police Department
Hammond, IN
219-852-2900
Munster Police Department
Munster, IN
(219) 836-6600
Griffith Police Department
Griffith, IN
(219) 924-7503
Anoka County Sheriff’s Office
Andover, MN
(763) 323-5000
Washington County Sheriff’s Office
Stillwater, MN
651-430-6000
Marathon County Sheriff’s Department
Wausau, WI
(715) 261-1200
La Porte County Sheriff’s Office
La Porte, IN
(219) 326-7700
Newton County Sheriff’s Office
Kentland, IN
219-474-3331
South Dakota Highway Patrol
Pierre, SD
605-773-3105
Jasper County Sheriff
Rensselaer, Indiana
219-866-7344
Lake County Sheriff Sheriff’s Department
Crown Point, IN
219-755-3333
Laramie County Sheriff’s Department
Cheyenne, WY
307-633-4700
Wyoming Highway Patrol
Cheyenne, WY
307-777-4301
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Columbus, Ohio
614-466-2660
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
Lincoln, NE
(402) 471-7421
All photographs: © Matt Hamon, www.matthamon.com
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
