McCrory: Nthing Down.

Credit: Youtube.

Credit: Youtube.

You really can’t say that McCrory is doubling down at this point. It’s gone far beyond that. He hangs onto HB 2 like it was a life preserver and he a drowning man. I don’t know why he clings so very hard to this hateful bigotry, especially in the face of so much opposition, not only from people all over the States, but from his own constituency. The majority of people in NC are not invested in this legalization of hate and fear; they don’t want this enacted. [See the full article for stats.] Surely, it must have occurred to McCrory that he could salvage at least a part of his reputation if he stepped back and killed HB 2. People might not like him, but he would at least get grudging respect for doing the right thing, for once. Unfortunately, McCrory is still McCrory, and he’s busy spreading his hate, fear, and bigotry as far as he can. Beware, there’s a major irony hazard coming up:

A new campaign ad from North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory released Wednesday defends his anti-trans bathroom bill on the basis of “privacy and safety.”

The 30-second spot is intended to answer criticisms of House Bill 2, the controversial legislation that effectively forces trans people to use public restrooms (in government buildings) that do not correspond with their gender identity; it also invalidated all municipal protections for LGBT people, and makes it impossible to pass future pro-LGBT housing and employment laws. In the ad, McCrory stands by the embattled bill, which was introduced, debated, and signed into law in a single day.

“You know, when we were raising average teacher pay, creating new jobs, and cutting taxes, other folks were actually pushing to make our schools allow boys to use the girls’ locker rooms and showers,” McCrory claims. “Are we really talking about this? Does the desire to be politically correct outweigh our children’s privacy and safety? Not on my watch. Our kids and teachers are my priority.

“This is North Carolina,” he concludes. “Let’s do what’s right.”

Wouldn’t that be something, seeing McCrory doing something right? As for his “watch”, from what I understand, there’s hardly a thing McCrory has touched that hasn’t been a major fuck up. By this time, McCrory knows about trans* peoples, and how they work, so he has zero excuses for this “oh no, boys in the girl’s locker room!” nonsense. This has been ceaselessly debunked, and yet he carries on. He is an excellent example of someone who holds up hate and bigotry as virtues, I’ll give him that much. Content Note: contains lies, bigotry, and hate.

Full Story at The Advocate.

The Walk, Part 1.

Yesterday, after sleeping quite late, I had enough time to wander into the communal area, snag some coffee, and cozy up to the council fire. Everyone started moving to the main camp road, and Rick was off, giving another walking stick, so I went walking too. People were walking (and some driving) the 20 miles to the site of the desecration. When Rick tried to find me and didn’t, he thought “crazy woman of mine, she’s probably walking, and ran a long way to catch up. Crazy man of mine. Lots and lots of photos here, and this is the walk to, not the full walk. (Click da images for full size.) In the 2nd photo, over to the left, you can see Joan Baez still hanging, and she went on the walk. In the 7th photo, the elder in the gray T-shirt leading is the elder of the Tonoho O’odham runners, who ran 1500 miles to join us.

I want to take some time to address someone who was being very idiotic, ignorant, and disrespectful in a thread over at Pharyngula. This person wanted to know if there were photos of the sacred sites before they were bulldozed, because there wasn’t any evidence they were actually there, and this was probably just a story people made up. All the land in these photos alone, and much more, is history. These are history books, so to speak. I have given photos, so to that person, I say, can you read the history that is there? Just because you cannot read that history does not mean it doesn’t exist. All history is not contained inside the texts that colonialists wrote. Little history is there at all. This is a land where many, many massacres took place. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead. There were no formal, white-type cemeteries set up and built, that is not the way Indigenous people did things. No temples, no cathedrals. That is not the way of this land, of these people. Back then, with massacres happening so often, many ancestors were barely buried, maybe three feet down. Not all of these sites are specifically known, but many are, because of the history carried forward through generations. To that person in the thread, I would ask what did you think you would see? Because nothing they saw would constitute proof in their mind, because they carry no learning, and no understanding. To understand, you need to break yourself out of that colonial box that has commandeered minds all over the land, all over this earth. It’s a greedy, uncaring, disrespectful way of thinking and living, and it is time for all people to break the chains of colonialism. Teach your children the necessity of respect, for all life, for our earth, rather than colonial thinking. This can end, if people care enough.

Someone else in that thread spoke of disliking seeing people in traditional dress, because it made them look like stereotypical Indians. If that sort of idiocy pops up in your head, please, shut up. Ask yourself, do I know an Indian? Do I know anything about their way of life, their culture, their language, or traditions? If you don’t, please, don’t spill ignorance. Ask, learn. We are people who live in this world, who also have thousands of years of culture and tradition with them. In that, we are no different from any other people, except perhaps, in our refusal to lose our traditions.

When we reached the site of the desecration, it was time again to shut down all recorders and cameras. The actual site which was bulldozed is not pictured, it’s up on a hill past the tipis in the last photo. After the Chief spoke, many elders spoke. One of the elders was speaking, and turned about and asked “is there a baby here, a young one? Bring them up” Several people got up and took their very young children to the center of the circle. The elder held one baby girl, and said to everyone there “remember this – today, you are standing in this girl’s past. She will remember this, and she will tell the story of this day, this time, all you standing here. She will tell this story, and her children, and grandchildren will tell this story. We stand in the children’s past, and we must stand strong and right, we are the history of their future.”

I think this is extremely important. It does not matter if you have children, I don’t, but every single one of us, we are all standing in the children’s past. All over the world. We must stand up, we must rise for what is right. We must make our voices strong, we must make a history that is strong and right for all the children to build on, to provide them with a strong and true foundation. This provides the continuing foundation for the next seven generations, and the seven to come after that. All of us adults, we are living history at this moment, and our actions, our words, they will continue on, echoing far into the future. Never think, “oh, there is nothing I can do.” Yes, there is much you can do, right where you are, no matter in the world. Be strong. Stand. Add your voice. Refuse to stay in a colonialist box. Raise your children and grandchildren with a mind to the past and the future, be a bridge. Start a garden, even better, start a community garden. Pull people in, remind them, we are meant to be a community, we are not meant to be isolated and alone. When we are good, we are great, but it must be remembered that that goodness starts with community, with care. Caring for our neighbours, caring for our elders, caring for our young people. Care for the earth, the air, the water, where ever you live. Be a protector, refuse to passively accept the lies, disregard, and disrespect of corporations who do nothing but destroy. We have this strength. We have this power. We have this voice.

There were ceremonies, but I’m not going to speak about them in any detail. The ancestors were honoured. Then we started the walk back to the second site, where there would be more ceremonies, and that will be part 2, tomorrow. I’m a bit shaky today, and back home, because there was a whirlwind in camp yesterday, and I had a tent pole frame slam into my thoracic vertebra at around 40 miles an hour. So, more tomorrow, and I’ll probably think of everything I forgot and meant to write today, yeah? I’m sure I will. :D Oh, for anyone sending supplies out – please, no more plastic utensils or styrofoam cups. Right now, the plastic utensils are being washed, because around a hundred thousand of them are being going through in a week, and while many have been sent off for recycling, we don’t want to be part of the problem in using these things. The major need right now is for wood, and I know that’s something which can’t be sent through the mail. So money is probably best, if you can part with a dollar or two, or blankets and quilts for winter. Thoughts are now on planning for the winter, which is descending quickly. We’ll be taking wood out over the next couple of weeks. For those of you who have things to send, this is where:

SHIP TO:

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
attn: Johnelle Leingang
North Standing Rock Ave
Fort Yates, North Dakota, 58538
1

2

3

4

5

6

[Read more…]

Sunday sometime…

Trying to catch up here, when I can get a signal. Ooh, let’s see. Many elders spoke yesterday afternoon and into evening. Rick was back in the kitchen cooking frybread. Emmet (in the yellow shirt) who is 84, soon to be 85, who has been organizing runs all over the world since 1971, to spread the message that we are all related and that all life is sacred, spoke of the many places he has been in the world; and his most memorable run, in 80 below windchill, running with the four-leggeds, wild horses, and how that was such an honor, to be allowed to run with them. Dolores Taken Alive spoke, as one of the oldest residents of Standing Rock, of how it is time for our way of life to become the way of life for all people. Bear Woman spoke of the United States bankruptcy in 1933, and treason against treaties. Youth rallies will be taking place on Tuesday, to get prepared for winter. (We’ll be bringing wood in next week). There are now more flags here than the United Nations. A delegation from Samson Cree from Alberta, Canada was here yesterday, and presented their flag. Solemn people, who are fighting so hard for their land and water. A Haudenosaunee women’s group of singers came into camp, and sang two beautiful songs. A young Apache woman from New Mexico introduced herself yesterday, with a voice full of tears and joy. Robby Romero is here, and he sang Heartbeat. Joan Baez showed up last night, and there was a rap concert which lasted for hours.

A person donated a brand new Toyota truck yesterday, and today, a gorgeous bus pulled in, full of supplies, and with the news the bus was being donated, too! It was roasting hot yesterday, but the winds came up last night, and are still with us. Chill and windy windy today. Oh, also, a huge semi truck came in last night, completely loaded with wood.

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

17

Click images for full size. © C. Ford, all rights reserved.

Mornin’

Good morning. Woke up, got the dogs out of their tent, and watered. Wandered off for coffee and some breakfast, eggs, oatmeal, banana and watermelon. Listened to a man sing a song to the day, then wandered back to our camp out in the hills. Off to go find the horse race now!

22

23

24

25

26

Click images for full size. © C. Ford, all rights reserved.

Sunday Camp.

Some shots from yesterday, actually, when I couldn’t get a connection to post. A tipi was set up by the communal area for everyone to sign. I think another one is going to be needed! I found a small space for our name. Then there was squash drying, off behind the kitchens. We had a wonderful corn and potato soup yesterday, and now it’s time to search out coffee, I think I want about a gallon. :D

6

10

11

12

13

5

Click images for full size. © C. Ford, all rights reserved.

Back at Camp.

43

Getting set up. We’re way out now, the camp swelled to about 3 times the size it was when we left on Wednesday. Many more delegations have arrived. It’s amazing! If you can, get here, this is history being made!

Standing Rock: Camp Story, Part 7.

And then…the rain came. No big deal at first, just a bit of rain. It didn’t stay a bit of rain though. People rushed to grab ponchos or trash bags, then went back to getting coffee and breakfast.

24

Before the rain got serious though, back when I was still sitting around the council fire (pictured above), everyone was having a quiet moment when a thin blonde woman rushed up and sat down two chairs over from me. A reporter of some type, clutching pen and clipboard, began asking questions of the young man next to me. I wasn’t paying much attention, until I heard him talking about Arvol Looking Horse, then I looked over in time to see the young man trying to make a point of spelling Arvol correctly, when she interrupted and hand-waved, saying “I can look it up later.” The disregard and disrespect was shocking, and it showed on faces, but she was oblivious. It was clear that she hadn’t taken so much as five minutes to talk to anyone, or to try and understand what was going on at the camps. Then she started asking the young man questions, attempting to find out who someone was, and she was describing badly, but it was clear to me she was describing Dennis Banks. So, I said “Dennis Banks. That’s Dennis Banks.” She stared up with a rather blank and confused face, and said, but the man kept talking about Dennis Banks. I stared for a moment, nonplussed, as did the others, then explained, “yes, he was talking about the court case, you know, in the ’60s – The United States of America vs Dennis Banks and Russell Means.” Still a somewhat confused look, then she scribbled something down, thanked me profusely and ran off. The quality of media coverage leaves one hell of a lot to be desired, and that’s the very least I could say. Everyone is welcome at the camps, but please, if you’re a completely clueless person, at least listen, don’t be an unconcerned hand-waver. I sincerely hope I don’t see Ms. Blonde I can look it up later again. Okay, back to the rain!

25

26

27

[Read more…]

Standing Rock: Camp Story, Part 6.

1

Finally, we arrive at Wednesday morning. Like most people, we arose with the sun, more or less, joining the other sleep dusted people wandering about and waking up. A woman drove by in her tiny car, packed full, steering with one hand, brushing her teeth with the other. Curls of woodsmoke lazily drifted from banked fires. We went off in pursuit of coffee. Started to feel a bit more woke, and took the second cuppa over to the circle of chairs around the council fire. Sat and listened to people talk, and it wasn’t long before Travis Harden stopped by, and regaled us with a groaningly awful joke, which got boos and laughs. Some new people came and sat, and we talked about where they were from, and other things. Rick decided to grab his walking stick and go walkabout. I’m kind of hard to move from that fire, especially in the morning. It’s nice there, and people come and go, you get to meet all kinds of people, talk, and have fun. Rick got back in time for oatmeal with raisins, while I continued to drink coffee like I had never tasted it before. The clouds got heavier, and it was a bit chill, so we went back to camp to get warmer clothes, then I went on walkabout with Rick. We had a nice meander by the banks of the Cannon Ball river, saw gumweed, licorice, and more, and said a good morning to the grasshoppers.

2

3

4

5

[Read more…]

Standing Rock: Camp Story, Part 5.

Picking up where we left off in Part 4, twilight was descending, and people were lining up for buffalo, squash, and hominy stew and wojapi. Word had rippled through camp that Jill Stein had been up at the construction site where the protectors were, and was coming to the camp to speak. The council fire was stoked to a blaze. The clouds were beautiful.

1

2

3

4

Jill Stein didn’t say anything new, she spoke of the need to break our dependence on oil, the need to focus on other forms of energy, and called on our President to speak up, speak out, and to stand with Standing Rock. Some people might not know that President Obama and the First Lady visited the people of Standing Rock in 2014, and greatly enjoyed that visit, so it has been a bitter hurt, the silence emanating from the Capitol. That is not all the silence. The silence echoes from every point. As I noted earlier in comments:

As for Jill Stein, she was at the construction site where the protectors are during Tuesday afternoon, and she came to speak at the camp that evening, I was there. Think I got pictures, too. People can say whatever they want about her, and I know there’s bad things, but she’s the only one to show up.

And to add, Indian Country everywhere has a long history of voting democrat (yeah, there are a few repubs), but people are losing faith almost completely in democrats, because none of them will stand up, none of them stand with us. The president remains silent. The Clintons? Silent. Tim Kaine? He needs more info.

Bernie Sanders made noises of support, but he hasn’t been here. We have elders in their 80s who are making very long journeys to come and stand. What’s the excuse of all our so-called representatives?

[Read more…]

Standing Rock: Camp Story, Part 4.

Picking up from where we left off at Camp Story 3 (Remember, starting with this post, all these events being related are happening on one day, Tuesday, September 6th, 2016. I’ll get to Wednesday eventually. The Osage Delegation from Oklahoma arrived. They spoke with great pain, grief, and anger over the cost to their people, in blood, of many lives, in their fight against oil. A prayer was sung, and the Osage flag took its place among the many.

1

2

3

Delegations from the Pit River Indians and Winnemem Wintu arrived. The Winnemem Wintu are a tribe that have been brutally crushed under the steamroller of U.S. government, yet refuse to give in, refuse to fade away. They stand strong, and they continue to fight. Like too many other tribes, vast amounts of lands were stolen by means of dam building and flooding the land. The Pit River Indians are also fighting, for their rights, their land, and for the salmon, too. They are also threatened by the black snake of oil. If hasn’t occurred to you yet, ask yourself why all the risk of oil is being placed on Indian land, from one state to the next here in uStates, and why it’s the land of Indigenous peoples in other countries who are facing similar threat and loss.*  The colonial mindset is alive and well, and Indigenous people are still the ones expected to pay for everyone else’s convenience and greed. And yes, a whole lot of Indians and other indigenous people drive cars, and use modern things, just like everyone else. There’s little choice, is there? We aren’t exactly set up for horses anymore, and most employers wouldn’t care to accommodate the time of travel. Is there money being poured into sustainable infrastructure, such as mass, public transport? No. As you should be able to tell from photos, the Dakotas are a place where you’re far away from everything else. The camps at Standing Rock, map wise, aren’t terribly far from us, but it’s a long drive.

*In the comments, Lofty highlights this ongoing problem:

Meanwhile South Australians have their own battle against Big Oil. BP want to drill in a pristine marine reserve in the Great Australian Bight, an important whale breeding area and clean fishing resource. In the event of a spill, BP won’t have any resources available to fix anything. Time to make waves.

4

5

[Read more…]

Breaking: National Guard Called In.

8

Chairman Archambault II spoke with the governor this morning and was notified of action by the National Guard to ensure safety of all citizens. The National Guard has been called in to assist state and county police in notifying drivers on Highway 1806 traveling south that there may be pedestrians on the road and cars may be parked on the side of the road. This is intended to keep all drivers and pedestrians safe. The National Guard will not enter the camp.

This was appended to a media statement, an appeal for peace in advance of the ruling tomorrow. I don’t think anyone needs to be told what an unnecessary, chickenshit move this was by Governor Dalrymple, oil’s best friend and investor. I suspect this was not in anticipation of the ruling tomorrow, but a favour to oil, whose propaganda has suffered a bit lately, after the move with the savage dogs and handlers attacking the protectors. We hold fast, we hold strong, we hold in peace.

Standing Rock: Camp Story, Part 3.

1

Standing Rock had filed an for an emergency TRO, after the desecration and destruction the construction company did over the holiday weekend. (See here and here). The decision came in early afternoon, around 2 p.m. At that time, spirits were high, people were happy. The judge denied the order. There was a crushing wave of disappointment, but not much surprise. We were reminded of our gathered strength, of how government has always been allied against Indians, how we never stopped, never backed down, continued to fight for our rights, and for what was right. Dennis Banks spoke of the early days of AIM, when he and Russel Means were sued, and they looked at the court papers, where it read:  The United States of America vs Dennis Banks and Russel Means. They won that fight. The judge was appalled by the actions of The United States of America, and said so, in scathing terms. Dennis reminded us that this fight is not impossible, and it is not over. We need to stand, we need to stand together, we need to be an unbreakable chain. Others began to speak, when we were interrupted by the often heard “wave to the plane, everyone!”

2

Everyone waved at the latest surveillance plane. They even fly over in the middle of the night, as if they’ll unearth nefarious schemes being plotted. The plane disappeared, and everyone settled in to listen to Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, and always a voice for our earth.

3

[Read more…]

Standing Rock: Camp Story, Part 2.

Right after where we left off, the Fort Mojave delegation came into camp, led by their veterans and elder singer. They came carrying a massive banner, with all the signatures of those who wished to come, and could not. They spoke of their own fight against the government for their land, and the sanctity of it. They sang and danced, gave gifts, and a check for 10,000 dollars. There was singing back, in great gratitude, and everyone lined up to thank them for their presence, strength, and generosity. This was an emotional time, a feeling like the universe, for one blink of time, decided to hug you. This is how people should be, standing together, standing as one.

33

34

35

36

37

38

[Read more…]