Standing Rock, Dec. 29, 2016
Winter in North Dakota is, at best, harsh, and Christmas week
it has been literally life threatening. Driving into a blizzard is an
experience worthy of having your life insurance canceled and even when the snow
dies down, the wind blows a shallow river of snow over highways disguising the
layer of glistening ice on the road that makes use of your brakes either a
hazard or an insult. In short, I am glad to be alive to write this report on
the Standing Rock Sioux camp because prospects for surviving the trip were
frequently dubious.
Representatives of many tribes of American Indians have
joined the Sioux who remain in the three protest camps at the site of the
construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. I even met indigenous peoples from
Norway and Palestinians who have come to join the cause to protect the water. The
stated intent of the camp is to both welcome all who wish to come and to run
the camp based on shared community leadership. This is both a wonderful
opportunity to build a diverse and inclusive community around the cause of
protecting water and First Nation sovereignty but it is also an opportunity for
criminals and predators who have created serious security concerns. Looting is
common and sexual assault allegations seem to be credible.
Some homeless, unemployed, and impoverished people have shown
up and attempted to place themselves in the care of the camp community but
there are also many professionals who have put their medical, counseling,
construction, or catering careers on hold while they come to volunteer their
skills to support the camp. Because the camp hopes to foster a constant
environment of prayer, sacred fires are tended in careful observance of Sioux
tradition; ritual smudge pots and ceremonial use of lavender and tobacco are
ever-present. Of course, the open nature of the camp also draws every sort of
eccentric who hopes to present their various herbal, massage, and “snake oil”
products and practices as being somehow connected to Native American spirituality.
It seems like almost everyone you meet has a grand story to tell about how they
know how to cure cancer or tan deer hides. Having been a left-of-center pastor
for three decades, I know what it is like to draw both deeply thoughtful social
reformers and colorful quacks into community but the Oceti camp seems to draw
even more extreme examples of both sorts into this deeply frozen camp populated
with thieves and saints.
Like Moses, Chase Iron Eyes, seems to have inherited the task
of organizing this band of water protectors gathered in the wilderness to make
sure that everyone is safe, and has access to environmentally sensitive toilets
and shelter, along with food, medical care, and water. Iron Eyes is a lawyer
who recently mounted an unsuccessful bid for a North Dakota seat in the US
Congress. He is a product of the reservation who clearly articulates the need
for a revival of First Nation pride to help his people regain their immediate
claims to sovereignty and to break out of more than a century of enforced
poverty. I am convinced that Chase Iron Eyes is the most patient and sincere
person that I have ever met. With both humility and evident wisdom, he shows
selfless leadership while be surrounded by people demanding attention and
resources. I encourage you to watch some of the video interviews with him on
LastRealIndians.com and you may see the early development of this century’s
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The camp, though largely a freewheeling place, has strict
rules against bringing any weapons into the camp or having alcohol in you or in
your possession, a tall order for a society noted for both hunting and a
haunting problem with alcoholism. They insist upon non-violent resistance to
the construction of the pipeline even in the face of inexcusable violence on
the part of DAPL security and local sheriff’s deputies.
At present, the Obama administration has brought construction
of the pipeline to a halt and Mother Nature is doing her part to enforce the
ban by making any further progress on the pipeline virtually impossible. But
the inauguration of Donald Trump and the inevitable return of spring will
almost certainly reignite the confrontation between the water protectors and
the Dakota Access Pipeline construction company. The astonishingly resilient
volunteers keeping the camp open and running have the shared goal of making
certain that they can welcome thousands of more protestors when they are
needed.
