Cops Behaving Badly: Irony Overload.

Shutterstock.

Shutterstock.

Hagerstown MD cops are feeling the heat, and rightly so, after video of them assaulting a 15 year old girl who had been struck by a car has gone viral. In an ideal world, I’d say this story is flat out unbelievable, but unfortunately, these days, it’s all too believable. I hope that every charge against the girl is dropped, and I hope to hell that cop shop is sued into the bloody ground. These armed assholes obviously think they are god, and are allowed to do whatever the hell they want to anyone.

Robin Ficker, the College Park, Md.,-based attorney who represents the girl’s family, said Wednesday that he met with the 15-year-old alleged victim and her mother on Monday morning and was informed the girl was riding her bike when she was struck by a vehicle Sunday afternoon. The impact, he said, caused the girl to strike her head and lose consciousness for about 30 seconds.

“She was dazed, then she got up and realized she was OK,” Ficker said.

An ambulance was called and the girl told paramedics that she didn’t want to go to the hospital. Ficker said police arrived and pulled the girl, who is 5 feet tall and weighs about 105 pounds, off her bike when she tried to ride away.

At this point, Ficker said, a police officer lifted the girl’s hands above her head from the rear and slammed her face into a wall.

“Her face hit the windowsill,” Ficker said.

He conceded that the girl, who has a white mother and a black father, resisted when officers tried to put her in the back of a cruiser.

[Read more…]

I do believe I’ll be rude.

co3fnk5vyauzlsn

Siobhan at Against the Grain has a post up about the latest anti-transgender peoples campaign of yet another conservative, bigoted, paranoid Christian group. They are all ‘family’ something or other, this one is Family Policy Alliance. I’ll just go with Fapa. Fapa apparently thinks they are oh-so-brilliant, with their latest attempt to spread bigotry, hate, and fear: they want people to ask them for permission to pee, or whatever else they plan to do in the lav. They have a website, full of women boo-hooing over the possibility that male genitals might be lurking behind a closed door. Well, maybe full isn’t the right word. They are soliciting stories, though! I’m rude enough to suggest that all manner of people send stories in – there really isn’t a rule the story has to be a hateful piece of bigotry, it’s just an expectation. They have a hashtag on twitter, which isn’t going that well for them. I think the Fapa should be completely drowned out. I can think of all kinds of things I’d apply #AskMeFirst to in the case of conservative, hateful, immoral Christians. I bet everyone else can, too.

Personally, I think it would be grand if every person of this particular persuasion had to #AskMeFirst if it was alright for them to continually try to legislate hate. Naturally, once they got their no, it would expected of them to take that answer gracefully and respectfully.

Ah, that was a nice fantasy, wasn’t it?

I think it’s time for people to get quite rude, in the nicest way possible, of course.

Via Against the Grain.

Facebook, Oh Facebook VIII.

State Sen. Jason Rapert (Facebook).

State Sen. Jason Rapert (Facebook).

Arkansas Senator Jason Rapert went on another screedfest on facebook, had his posts removed, and the Bully of Bigelow proceeded to whine about it so much that FB restored his nasty bigotry rants. Mr. Rapert isn’t like very much by his constituents, who appear disgusted but not in the least surprised.

Arkansas Times reports that Rapert is claiming vindication after Facebook has decided to restore posts he wrote over the weekend where he declared his support for rounding up and deporting not just Muslim extremists, but “every single Muslim extremist sympathizer and other anti-American crazies.”

“Regardless of who is responsible for these events today – we need to round up every single Muslim extremist sympathizer and other anti-American crazies and detain them or deport them,” wrote Rapert in response to the mass stabbing that occurred in a Minnesota mall and the dumpster bombing in Manhattan. “And for goodness sake – stop bringing more Muslims into this nation.”

Rapert also said that Muslims “wait for every opportunity to convert Americans to Islam or kill the infidels — that is what their holy book the Koran instructs them to do.”

I can’t even work up an eyeroll for this isht anymore. Just what does your bible tell you to do, Mr. Rapert? It wouldn’t have anything at all to do with converting people, preaching that gospel, saving souls or constantly committing genocide on people who were somewhat different (or had something “god’s people” wanted). It’s the same fucking religion, you idiot! Same god! Oh, and I’m fairly sure the Quran doesn’t specifically mention America, anymore than any version of the bible, you flaming idiot.

Well, in the end, FB caved to this genocidally minded puffbag of idiocy. Shame, that, because I think these posts are terror-focused. They are certainly filled with hate and the desire to harm.

Via Arkansas Times, Arkansas Online, and Raw Story.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, A History of Hate.

National Guard and wounded during 1921 Tulsa race riots (Tulsa World/Wikimedia Commons).

National Guard and wounded during 1921 Tulsa race riots (Tulsa World/Wikimedia Commons).

A brief look at Tulsa’s history, and it’s not at all a good one.

The black neighborhood in Tulsa was known as “Greenwood” because Greenwood Avenue ran through it. Approximately 10,000 African Americans lived there. While there were large numbers of black people who lived in poverty in the area, the business district was its own complete city. There were dozens of black-owned businesses. Every kind of small business — grocery stores, beauty shops, jewelry stores, photography studios, tailor shops, and much more — a large number of restaurants, and a 750-seat theatre, the Dreamland Theater “that offered live musical and theatrical revues as well as silent movies accompanied by a piano player.” There were two black-owned newspapers. There were 15 African American physicians’ offices. A hospital. A large number of churches. A library. And a 54-room hotel, the Stradford Hotel.

[…]

During the night and the following day, the white mob invaded Greenwood. They pulled residents out of their homes and beat and killed them, including old people and children. They torched every building. Black people escaping Greenwood were arrested by the Oklahoma National Guard, who locked masses of them up in holding centers and only released them when white people stepped forward and vouched for individual black people.

The best estimates are that 300 people died during the riot, and 1256 structures were torched. While the Red Cross provided relief efforts for those thousands of people who had been burnt out of their homes, for which the city and county paid into the Red Cross relief fund, no compensation was paid to the victims of the violence. In addition, not a single white person was held accountable for any of the crimes committed May 31-June 1.

I had never heard of this before, and it’s unconscionable that to this day, it’s barely acknowledged, and no restitution or compensation was ever offered. Tulsa’s history with people of colour is a dark and shameful one. It’s time to bring it all out into the light in the spirit of change, and one of those should be a vow to stop murdering people of colour. It’s been going on much too long, as the recent murder of Terence Crutcher demonstrates all too well.

Full Story.

Priorities.

From DL Hughley: Another unarmed black man gunned down by police on video, but Zika is an Epidemic? I’ll worry about a mosquito when it can carry a badge!

All I can say to that is word. A word that needs to spread and spread and spread, until we are all screaming for accountability. The murders must stop.

I saw this in Mr. Hughley’s twitter stream, and laughed:

Donald Trump: Why isn’t President Obama working instead of campaigning for Hillary Clinton?

George Takei: As Commander-in-Chief, he is sworn to protect us from threats both foreign and domestic. You, sir, are the latter.

Via https://twitter.com/RealDLHughley

Scalp the Indians.

Via Twitter.

Via Twitter.

 

A miniature float designed for Coweta High School’s indoor homecoming parade has sparked outrage with Native Americans across the community that has spread to include a national audience.

A photo of the float appeared on social media Thursday afternoon. It was a covered wagon with the words “Scalp the Indians” on the side, with a mannequin of a Native American man hanging out from the back end.

The Coweta Tigers are hosting the Catoosa Indians in homecoming football action Friday night.

In a Facebook message to the Wagoner County American-Tribune, Sierra Bowen said she was “completely disgusted at the fact that Coweta High School has decorated this wagon for their homecoming.”

“I grew up in and graduated from Coweta and I was raised much better than this,” Bowen wrote. “I did not want to come home to my home school for homecoming and see something like this on the field. This is so disrespectful.”

Katrina Jacuk posted a similar sentiment on the Coweta American Facebook page.

“Leadership at Coweta High School has permitted this to be displayed at the high school. How ignorant are these educators and students as to the history of our town, Koweta, along with the genocide of Natives that have been murdered since 1491?” Jacuk wrote in her post. “This is disgraceful and morally repugnant and creates a hostile environment for Native students at our school.”

[…]

Friday morning, Coweta Superintendent Jeff Holmes told the newspaper the homecoming float issue was brought to his attention after school on Thursday.

“The high school principal (Gary Ellis) was notified via social media and he immediately took action to find out about the float and investigate,” Holmes told the American-Tribune in an exclusive interview. “He let me know that he immediately disassembled the float. As soon as he found about it, he was taking action.”

The superintendent said students have been making floats all week throughout the entire school. Investigation continues to determine who was involved in making the float and its theme.

Early Friday via internet and social media, Holmes released a statement addressed to Coweta Public School students, families, friends and neighbors.
“I am very sorry that this happened as there is no excuse for this in our school. Please know that this does not reflect the values of our school district,” Holmes wrote. “I offer my most sincere apology to all who were offended and want to assure that we will use this situation to educate our students regarding the importance of respecting all cultures.”

“We have been getting phone calls and emails from across the country. People are offended and rightfully so,” Holmes said. “The high school principal and I are visiting to make sure that everything is double and triple checked to make sure there are no negative meanings on any of the floats, that no signs that will be offensive at the ballgame or that our student section will be doing anything that will be offensive.”

“We have a lot of great kids. This is not a school-wide activity where everyone was trying to offend someone,” Holmes said. “This one particular float is very offensive. It was never part of a parade and we caught it before the parade happened. But we didn’t know about it until then, and we have no excuses. No excuses.”

The superintendent said there will be training for students and staff as needed, and “if disciplinary action is needed, that will take place as well.”

“It’s totally disrupted the school day for hundreds of students, and it’s been very offensive to the people inside Coweta and to people around the world and in our great state,” Holmes said.

The superintendent said he has reached out to leaders within the Muscogee (Creek) nation and the Cherokee Nation about the matter. As of 12 noon, he was still waiting to speak with them directly.

As Simon Moya-Smith said, It’s a putrid effigy of the dehumanization of Native Americans, the result of a ubiquitous colonial narrative. I’m glad the school has responded the way it did, but someone had this idea, someone put this float together, and there had to be an adult floating about somewhere, who saw and did not stop this. Seeing something like this is a bone deep shock, and this is not a matter of sniffy offense, it’s a matter of trauma. Think of the Native kids who saw this, think of what something like this does to their world, what it does to any sense of trust they may have had. Whoever was responsible for this, every person responsible, including those who turned a blind eye and kept silent, you should be shamed, loudly and openly. It’s of little moment that this float didn’t make their parade, because it did make the internet, and whatever damage the person responsible wanted to do was done. And no, this was not a fucking joke, of any kind, in any way, I don’t care if it had to do with precious sportsball. This is fucking poison. *spits*

Story here.

Hands Up, Shot to Death.

Dash cam video shows Terence Crutcher with hands above his head (screen grab)

Dash cam video shows Terence Crutcher with hands above his head (screen grab)

It is with queasy despair followed by anger that I see yet another person dead, murdered by cops.

Dash cam video released by the Tulsa Police Department on Monday showed 40-year-old Terence Crutcher with his hands above his head moments before he was shot and killed by one of the officers at the scene.

At a press conference on Monday, Chief Chuck Jordan explained that the video was “very disturbing — very difficult to watch.”

The video shows multiple police cruisers approach Crutcher’s vehicle, which appears to be broken down in the middle of the road. Crutcher is seen with his hands in the air. Both hands appear to be empty.

Pastor Rodney Goss of Morning Star Baptist Church, who was able to view the dash cam video as well as video from other department vehicles, said that all views showed Crutcher’s hands in the air.

Goss also denied claims made by a police spokesperson that suggested Crutcher was shot because he refused to obey commands.

“It was not apparent at any angle from any point that he lunged, came toward, aggressively attacked, or made any sudden movements that would have been considered a threat or life-threatening toward the officer,” Goss told Tulsa World.

The article at Tulsa World is full of assurances that justice will be done, and the cop who murdered Mr. Crutcher, Betty Shelby, has been placed on administrative leave. I have to question those assurances of justice, because we’ve all heard that one before, over way too many corpses. There’s also much murmuring about “can’t talk about it yet” “might be criminal charges, we need to investigate” and “we don’t know how long an investigation will last”.

We have to stop asking what the dead person may or may not have done. This is akin to justifying rape as something caused by the victim. We need to be asking, in our shoutiest voices, why cops are murdering, and why they are allowed to get away with it. I don’t much care what any ‘suspect’ does, it’s going to be a very rare case indeed which actually calls for being gunned to death. There are plenty of examples of cops handling highly dangerous people, and everyone gets through it alive. We need to asking why, if cops are so darned scared, why are they being allowed to wander about with weapons, and interacting with people? This has to stop, and if police, as they have so far shown, continue to be unwilling and unable to police their own, we will have to do it for them.

My heart and thoughts go out to Mr. Crutcher’s family and friends, who must be lost in shock and grief.

Via Tulsa World and Raw Story. There’s ground and air video at Tulsa World.

And then you have things like this, a cop viciously assaulting a person on the ground, and who was left to carry on as a cop until late August (the assault took place in April this year) because

“It all had been documented,” Lawson said. “It just did not move as quickly as it should have.”

Via Raw Story.

Indicting Cops: Racism is alive and well.

police-officer-shutterstock-800x430

Ohio, which has a very bad record when it comes to violent cops is once again in the spotlight. One Cleveland officer has been indicted for negligent homicide, and two former officers have been indicted for kidnapping and assault (East Cleveland). What’s different in these cases is that all three officers are black men. Because of that, I expect there will be convictions in these cases. This comes after a very long string of white cops being kinda sorta indicted, then allowed to walk. That was certainly what happened in the case of Tamir Rice. So far, there’s been precious little justice to be had in all the cases of white cops viciously beating and murdering non-white people. People come oozing out of the woodwork to defend one white cop after another. It will be interesting to see if that holds true in the case of non-white cops.

In Columbus, Ohio, cops shot an innocent 13 year old to death, and they are busy blaming another black youth for that murder. If the cops who gunned Tyre King down are white, I expect nothing will happen. Okay, back to Cleveland.

In the Cleveland case, officer Alan Buford, who is black, was indicted for misdemeanor negligent homicide in the 2015 death of unarmed-breaking and entering suspect Brandon Jones, 18, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said in a statement Friday.

“It is not reasonable for a police officer to use deadly force if he or she does not believe a suspect poses a threat of death or serious bodily harm to the police or the public,” McGinty said.

Interesting how using deadly force against a suspect who does not pose a threat of death or serious bodily harm is all manner of reasonable when the cop in question is white.

In the East Cleveland case, two former officers, Denayne R. Davidson-Dixon and Gerald A. Spencer II, were indicted on three counts of kidnapping, two counts of dereliction of duty and one count each of felonious assault, conspiracy, obstructing official business and interfering with civil rights for the July 2016 beating of Jesse R. Nickerson, a prisoner in their custody.

The two officers are black, as is Nickerson.

According to prosecutors the officers arrested Nickerson and after arguing with him drove to a park near the police station, pulled him from the squad car and assaulted him.

Davidson-Dixon and Spencer were fired shortly after the incident.

Oh look, some cops were actually fired! Ah, but they are black. White cops, no matter how vicious, bigoted, and violent they are, seem to manage to hang onto their jobs without much problem. Oh yes, I know two or three are fired now and then, but most aren’t. They are allowed to keep their job, so they can murder again. So as non-white people continue to die at the hands of cops, it’s been confirmed that the only way there might be justice is if the bad cops happened to be people of colour too.

Via Raw Story.

Camp.

ict_editoon_090416

We’re heading out to the camps today, should be back on Thursday. If we end up gassed, dog bit, or arrested, might be a bit longer. Hopefully, there will be much to share on our return. I already know I’m not going to want to come back home. Sometimes, having dependent pets is kind of a drag. The Daily Bird is scheduled for the next few days, and that’s as exciting as things will be, I’m not set up for live blogging and all that jazz, and no electricity, because camping.

Standing Rock Seeks TRO.

Tim Mentz.

Tim Mentz.

CANNON BALL, ND—The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed an emergency motion Sunday for a temporary restraining order to prevent further destruction of the Tribe’s sacred sites by Dakota Access Pipeline.

“On Saturday, Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners brazenly used bulldozers to destroy our burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts,” Tribal Chairman David Archambault II said. “They did this on a holiday weekend, one day after we filed court papers identifying these sacred sites. The desecration of these ancient places has already caused the Standing Rock Sioux irreparable harm. We’re asking the court to halt this path of destruction.”

After the initial destruction Saturday, Dakota Access Pipeline returned to the area and dug up additional grounds in the pre-dawn hours Sunday, Archambault said.

The motion seeks to prevent additional construction work on an area two miles west of North Dakota Highway 1806, and within 20 miles of Lake Oahe until a judge rules on the Tribe’s previous motion to stop construction.

That motion is based on the Standing Rock Sioux’s assertion that it was not properly consulted before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fast-tracked approval of the pipeline project.

A decision on the case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is expected by Sept. 9.

“Destroying the Tribe’s sacred places over a holiday weekend, while the judge is considering whether to block the pipeline, shows a flagrant disregard for the legal process,” said Jan Hasselman, attorney for the Standing Rock Sioux. “The Tribe has been seeking to vindicate its rights peacefully through the courts. But Dakota Access Pipeline used evidence submitted to the Court as their roadmap for what to bulldoze. That’s just wrong.”

Via ICTMN.

The Whitestone Massacre.

LaDonna Bravebull Allard at Sacred Stones camp along the banks of the Cannonball River. Courtesy Kat Eng.

LaDonna Bravebull Allard at Sacred Stones camp along the banks of the Cannonball River. Courtesy Kat Eng.

On this day, [September 3rd] 153 years ago, my great-great-grandmother Nape Hote Win (Mary Big Moccasin) survived the bloodiest conflict between the Sioux Nations and the U.S. Army ever on North Dakota soil. An estimated 300 to 400 of our people were killed in the Inyan Ska (Whitestone) Massacre, far more than at Wounded Knee. But very few know the story.

As we struggle for our lives today against the Dakota Access pipeline, I remember her. We cannot forget our stories of survival.

Just 50 miles east of here, in 1863, nearly 4,000 Yanktonais, Isanti (Santee), and Hunkpapa gathered alongside a lake in southeastern North Dakota, near present-day Ellendale, for an intertribal buffalo hunt to prepare for winter. It was a time of celebration and ceremony—a time to pray for the coming year, meet relatives, arrange marriages, and make plans for winter camps. Many refugees from the 1862 uprising in Minnesota, mostly women and children, had been taken in as family. Mary’s father, Oyate Tawa, was one of the 38 Dah’kotah hung in Mankato, Minesota, less than a year earlier, in the largest mass execution in the country’s history. Brigadier General Alfred Sully and soldiers came to Dakota Territory looking for the Santee who had fled the uprising. This was part of a broader U.S. military expedition to promote white settlement in the eastern Dakotas and protect access to the Montana gold fields via the Missouri River.

As my great-great-grandmother Mary Big Moccasin told the story, the attack came the day after the big hunt, when spirits were high. The sun was setting and everyone was sharing an evening meal when Sully’s soldiers surrounded the camp on Whitestone Hill. In the chaos that ensued, people tied their children to their horses and dogs and fled. Mary was 9 years old. As she ran, she was shot in the hip and went down. She laid there until morning, when a soldier found her. As he loaded her into a wagon, she heard her relatives moaning and crying on the battlefield. She was taken to a prisoner of war camp in Crow Creek where she stayed until her release in 1870.

Where the Cannonball River joins the Missouri River, at the site of our camp today to stop the Dakota Access pipeline, there used to be a whirlpool that created large, spherical sandstone formations. The river’s true name is Inyan Wakangapi Wakpa, River that Makes the Sacred Stones, and we have named the site of our resistance on my family’s land the Sacred Stone Camp. The stones are not created anymore, ever since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the mouth of the Cannonball River and flooded the area in the late 1950s as they finished the Oahe dam. They killed a portion of our sacred river.

I was a young girl when the floods came and desecrated our burial sites and Sundance grounds. Our people are in that water.

This river holds the story of my entire life.

There is much more to this story, which you can read here.

Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Support Native Youth.  Sign the Petition. Sign urgent petition.

Holiday Desecration and Destruction. Updated.

Credit: Natalie Hand.

Credit: Natalie Hand.

I wanted this to be a day of no tears. Just one day. Didn’t happen.

Sacred places containing ancient burial sites, places of prayer and other significant cultural artifacts of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were destroyed on Saturday September 3 by Energy Transfer Partners, Tribal Chairman David Archambault II said.

On Friday, the Tribe filed court documents identifying the area as home to significant Native artifacts and sacred sites.

“This demolition is devastating,” Archambault said. “These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground.”

Construction crews removed topsoil across an area about 150 feet wide stretching for two miles, northwest of the confluence of the Cannon Ball and Missouri Rivers.

“I surveyed this land, and we confirmed multiple graves and specific prayer sites,” said Tim Mentz, the Standing Rock Sioux’s former tribal historic preservation officer. “Portions, and possibly complete sites, have been taken out entirely.”

[…]

“We’re days away from getting a resolution on the legal issues, and they came in on a holiday weekend and destroyed the site,” said Jan Hasselman, attorney for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “What they have done is absolutely outrageous.”

Full story here.

Just in, from ICTMN: What Dakota Access Destroyed: Standing Rock Former Historic Preservation Officer Explains What Was Lost [Video].

This interview was recorded on September 3, 2016. Former Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Tim Mentz explains the destruction of burial grounds and sacred sites by Dakota Access Pipeline LLC. This sacred site is what people were trying to protect when Energy Transfer Partners brought in aggressive dogs to attack unarmed people.

“This demolition is devastating,” said Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman David Archambault II. “These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground.”

https://youtu.be/9EAWpI5L_Bc

And Then the Dogs Came: Dakota Access Gets Violent.

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset

https://nodaplsolidarity.org/

We still need help, we need voices, we need people, we need all those willing to boost the signal in every way possible.

Red Warrior put out an all-call for “ALL water warriors around the world to come stand with us, inviting supporters to join us in prayer” during two Weeks of Global Solidarity Actions between September 3 and 17.

Why? Because this is what is happening in response to peaceful protesting:

Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline, or "water protectors," were attacked with dogs, pepper spray on Saturday near the site of the pipeline route.

Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline, or “water protectors,” were attacked with dogs, pepper spray on Saturday near the site of the pipeline route.

 

Video streamed live over Facebook showed Dakota Access LLC–employed security guards handling lunging dogs.

Video streamed live over Facebook showed Dakota Access LLC–employed security guards handling lunging dogs.

Courtesy Red Warrior Camp Water protectors reported a violent encounter between Dakota Access LLC security guards, who allegedly used attack dogs and pepper spray against them.

Courtesy Red Warrior Camp
Water protectors reported a violent encounter between Dakota Access LLC security guards, who allegedly used attack dogs and pepper spray against them.

 

Dakota Access pipeline security personnel used dogs to try and stop the water protectors in an action that was streamed live on Facebook. (Photo: Courtesy Red Warrior Camp).

Dakota Access pipeline security personnel used dogs to try and stop the water protectors in an action that was streamed live on Facebook. (Photo: Courtesy Red Warrior Camp).

In a statement released in a live-stream on Facebook, Red Warrior Camp leaders said that at about 3pm on Saturday September 3, “water protectors successfully stopped pipeline construction as it reached Hwy. 1806 through nonviolent direct action and mass assembly.”

As they did so, private security guards working for Dakota Access LLC “deployed vicious attack dogs, pepper spray and physical assault against the water protectors,” Red Warrior said. “According to the most recent update, six water protectors were bitten by dogs, a dozen or more pepper sprayed, while others were physically assaulted, including women. A helicopter was photographed flying over the area.

Full story here. Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Support Native Youth.  Sign the Petition. Sign urgent petition.

Sarah Sunshine Manning has an updated story about what is happening at the camps.

Harold Frazier, Cheyenne River Sioux Chair demands answers:

According to many witnesses at the scene, neither state nor county law enforcement officials were at the construction site during the incident. It is extremely suspicious to me that law enforcement became scarce at the exact time when DAPL’s hired guns were planning to attack the water defenders. A press release recently issued by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department insinuates that the peaceful protesters were the provokers of the incident because several individuals allegedly cut a fence and entered the work site. State and local law enforcement officials keep telling the media, without proof, that the protesters are committing unlawful acts. In my opinion unleashing vicious attack dogs on women and children, and spraying dozens of unarmed people simply because they are exercising their constitutional right to assemble, is unlawful.

I am calling on all members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe to avoid traveling to or doing business in the Mandan-Bismarck area until this crisis is resolved. I fear for my people’s safety. Today’s act of terrorism shows us how desperate DAPL and the State of North Dakota government are to keep things at a status quo. I am concerned about the escalating violence against Natives in that area.

When will Governor Dalrymple step up and meet with Tribal leadership in an open, good faith effort to resolve this conflict? The key to settling this situation is in the hands of North Dakota leadership. I requested a meeting with Governor Dalrymple last week, but as of today has received no response.

Matika Wilbur caught much of this on video (complete story here):