Since the beginning of time, man has coexisted with nature. He has connected to Earth and everything in it with a deep and profound reverence. We have lived, survived and flourished from the plants, animals and the rivers that flow through it. Everything we know has come from this planet. Due to colonial imperialism and colonization, that realization has been lost over the generations. We no longer depend on Mother Nature herself, but the exploitation of her resources. The conflict between Energy Transfer Partners and Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota embodies a dynamic battle for a better world where we can stand up to greedy corporations and marauding entities. We can replenish and nurture an Earth so badly exploited and stand up for the social injustices of the oppressed.
Just outside of Cannonball, North Dakota lies the Standing Rock Native American Reservation where Energy Transfer Partners has pushed a $3.8 Billion, 1,134-mile-long pipeline just half a mile North of the Reservation. The domestically produced crude oil Dakota Access Pipeline construction has broken the 1851 treaty with the reservation and has destroyed many sacred burial grounds. The pipeline, also known as The Black Snake is also scheduled to cross under the Missouri River and potentially threaten the water supply to the tribes and thousands of other Mid-Western residents. The pipeline’s proposed route was originally through the city of Bismarck but was re-routed towards the reservation when the locals (about 90% white) argued it was too close to the proximity of the state capital’s drinking-water.
In April, a Standing Rock Sioux elder established Standing Rock/Oceti Sakowin- Sacred Stone Camp as a center for Native preservation and spiritual resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. The camp has brought me, thousands of protestors or “Water Protectors” from around the world, environmentalists, and Indigenous Natives from over 500+ Tribes countrywide to make a stand against the injustice from the North Dakota government and profiteering corporations.
I spent a little over a week in Oceti Sakowin/Standing Rock to be an ally in the battle of avarice, clean energy, to stand for the Natives and defend this Earth for generations to come. I served 5 years in the United States Army, two tours in Iraq and I took an oath to fight all enemies foreign and domestic. The actions of North Dakota’s Morton County Police Force, The State Governor, Energy Transfer Partners and the disregard to the Earth and the Ingenious people is domestic terrorism. I stood on the front lines of history facing Riot Police, pepper spray, risking arrest, was almost ran over by DAPL workers driving full speed in a diesel truck at a peace line and stood toe to toe with those same workers swinging bats in intimidation like a baseball player walking up to the plate.
Over the past few months, the battle at Standing Rock has intensified. Private Security from DAPL has released dogs on unarmed Water Protectors and the actions of the Police force has been excessive on peaceful protestors from mace, pepper spray, sound cannons, rubber bullets to water hoses being sprayed in below freezing weather.
Being on the front lines at Standing Rock has been an emotional experience. I have seen the absolute worst in people but I have also experienced the best. It is a place filled with love and wholeness. A sacred prayer camp and the power of the spirit “Wakan Tanka” can be seen in the unity of the people, heard in the prayers and the banging of the Indian drums can be felt like the warm fires spread across the camp.
From young Natives riding bareback, the vibrant and vivid sunsets setting behind a row of Teepees, the smell of sage and cedar, to the sounds of children playing, horses neighing and prayer chants echoing throughout the land, you know this is a sacred and special place. I have helped build and participated in sweat lodges, meditated at the sacred fire and have seen the powerful presence of Mother Earth as a Great Bald Eagle circled an intense standoff with Riot Police. Everyone has come for a reason whether it’s to wash dishes in the kitchen, chop wood, report coverage, or risk being arrested, we have all come to make our stand for what’s right and just.
During my time at Sacred Stone the son of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy Jr., visited and spoke at the camp. He stated the strategy of the Oil Company is to get the pipeline into the ground and operating (even against the orders of the Army Corp of Engineer) so investors have an interest in maintaining oil as our major resource for the next 30 years. “The end of their industry is in sight and their strategy is to maintain the market. It’s easy to build the pipeline, but not transmission lines because transmission lines support wind and solar energy. They cannot beat us in the market, but they’ll saddle our children and anchor us in this dirty, addictive toxic fuel,” said Kennedy.
Right now, even against the orders of the Army Corp of Engineers, Energy Transfer Partners and DAPL workers are continuing construction. The Army Corp of Engineers have placed a mandatory halt on further building of the pipeline until the tribe’s elders can come to an agreement on the pipe being re-routed or halted altogether. Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a recent statement, “Dakota Access is so desperate to get this project in the ground that it is suing the federal government on the novel theory that it doesn’t need an easement to cross federal lands. They are wrong and the lawsuit will not succeed. We are looking forward to discussing the easement with the administration and explaining why it must be denied.”
The truth is, I have seen with my own eyes and even stood in a peaceful protest against DAPL workers as they were laying down pipe, that the amount of money it will cost them in fines for continuing construction is nothing in comparison to what they lose if they continue to build. Even the locals have had enough of the protest. They haven’t been for it or against it but the recent protests, blocked highways and roads, and police force being stretched thin has become a “nuisance” and an “annoyance.”
I can assure you the protests have been peaceful and nothing but prayer circles and ceremonies. The lack of media coverage has raised much concern and what little coverage major news outlets have covered have bent the truth to make the Water Protectors look like violent, arsonist criminals. We as a people just want our voice to be heard and have come together to make a stand for new, alternative resources, blocking fossil fuel infrastructures, safer and cleaner energy, the protection of water, and the social injustice against the Natives. This is not a “nuisance” or an “annoyance”. It is being done for a better way of life for generations to come. It is compassion and reverence for all walks of life and the Earth that we all share together.
The world is seeing a major shift and transition. The older generations of destruction, corporate greed and deceit are dying out but not without a fight. But they ARE dying out. I have faith in the new generations to come. Regardless of what happens with the Dakota Access Pipeline, I believe with all my heart that we have already won. The world is watching the way we treat one another, the Earth, our greed and how it is destroying the world and how unified people can come together peacefully for a noble, worthy cause.
After my time making a stand for the greater good, I can now look at the stars and see they align in a more profound and divine way! I have hope. What better way than to leave you with a quote from Sitting Bull. The great Native warrior died on the Standing Rock Reservation fighting years of resistance of the US Government policies and oh how prevalent his words are to this day in the Battle of the Black Snake!
“We must therefore yield to our neighbors, even our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land. Yet, we have now to deal with another race – small and feeble when our fathers first met them but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough they have a mind to till the soil and the love of possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break but the poor may not. They take their tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule.
They claim this mother of ours, the earth, for their own and fence their neighbors away; they deface her with their buildings and their refuse. The nation is like a spring freshet that overruns its banks and destroys all that are in its path. We cannot dwell side by side. Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that away from us. My brothers, shall we submit or shall we say to them: ‘First kill me before you take possession of my land”
MNI WICONI is Lakota for WATER IS LIFE!!
Mni Wiconi Water Protectors, Mni Wiconi!!!
YOU CAN ALSO HELP STANDING ROCK STOP THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE:
Your help in the battle for a better world is desperately needed but REMEMBER…Standing Rock is NOT a tourist attraction, a photo op, or a festival. No drugs of any kind, alcohol, or weapons are permitted at camp. If you attend camp, please make yourself useful and part of the movement. Help around camp, be proactive. Standing Rock is not a weekend getaway. Understand that you are at risk of arrest if you attend actions at the camp. Legal defense is provided. The camp is also preparing for winter. All Donations can be sent to:
Sacred Stone Camp
P.O. Box 1011
Fort Yates, ND 58538
Further information is also available at SacredStoneCamp.org.
Signed, Mike Petrone