PLEASE: Help Veterans Get to Standing Rock.

Police confront protesters with a rubber bullet gun during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 20, 2016. Stephanie Keith/REUTERS

Police confront protesters with a rubber bullet gun during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 20, 2016. Stephanie Keith/REUTERS.

The cops out at Standing Rock have now managed to blow apart most of a young woman’s arm. That’s just the grisliest of the very high list of injuries. Naturally, cops are denying responsibility, which won’t surprise anyone at all. They are doing what all cops do – lie.

Our veterans want to help, and to do that, they need some help from all of you. If you can help, please, do so. If you are unable to donate, please spread the word. What is happening here is damn wrong. It’s fucking wrong, and everyone knows that, and still, there’s nothing but silence. Please help. Lila wopila.

https://www.gofundme.com/veterans-for-standing-rock-nodapl

Native What Month 2.

thanksgiving-thankstealing-marty-two-bulls

© Marty Two Bulls.

And it continues. If you don’t know about the latest atrocities, learn. All that because fucking white people want their cake and to eat it, too. Yeah, yeah, I know, lotsa good white people out there. I know. Lots of them on the front lines, I know. And it really is appreciated, know that. It’s just that it’s not helping right now, because even all the white people who signed on, who woke up, who joined the fight, you’re in the minority with us, against all the racist, greedy white people who simply do not give a fuck. They’ll be busy with their holiday, and pretending to be thankful for fuck knows what, perhaps the fact that oppressing minorities just got a whole lot easier. I can see them thanking their idiotic, bloodthirsty god for that one.

Every year, the irony of November being named “National American Indian Heritage Month” kills me a bit more (First instituted in 1990, by Bush). This year more than most, with the criminal atrocities being committed at Standing Rock. There was a demented, malign genius to choosing November, what with most people being occupied with that grand holiday, “thanksgiving”, and preoccupied with Xmas. The majority of Americans don’t have the slightest idea of there even being an NDN heritage month, and if they do, there’s a bit of lip service perhaps, but not much more. As for learning, dive into the Standing Rock Syllabus.

High Cost of Human Rights Corrodes DAPL Financing:

Government scientists have just identified the largest deposit of oil in the United States. Newsflash: It is nowhere near the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). On November 15, the U.S. Geological Survey released the largest estimate of continuous (unconventional) oil that USGS has ever assessed in the United States. The site is the Wolfcamp Shale formation in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. USGS estimates the Wolfcamp play at 20 billion barrels.

There are two bits of significance for the fight against DAPL, the Black Snake, rooted in two theories of what the DAPL might be able to move if and when it is finished. The investment banks funding the Black Snake bought into the project based the state of the oil market at the time and expert projections for production over the life of the pipeline.

The oil market has shifted in many ways since the first round of DAPL financing was anticipating rising demand and more expensive supplies.

Hey America, I’m Taking Back Thanksgiving.

Standing Rock: Native What Month?

https://www.facebook.com/john.bravebullbaker/posts/10211164522099066

I don’t have much to say. Too fucking sick at heart. What have we ever done to merit this ongoing treatment from colonial america? In John BraveBull’s account above, he mentions Charlie Plenty Wolf. It was Charlie who welcomed us to the camp our first time there. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. FUCK. It’s just a grand Native American Heritage Month, with all the people who just don’t give a shit, the continued efforts at genocide, and everyone else being all chucklefuck happy over thankstealing and good shopping deals!

Elder in Critical Condition after Going into Cardiac Arrest at Scene of DAPL Barricade Clash.

https://www.facebook.com/josuefoto/videos/1395596380452239/

I was privileged to meet Josué at the Oceti Sakowin camp, he gave me my first press pass.

header

Water Cannons Fired at Water Protectors in Freezing Temperatures Injure Hundreds.

#nodapl, Simon-Moya Smith, Ruth Hopkins.

Yes, the cops are yelling “riot!” and claiming the protectors set fires. That is not true. It was another peaceful prayer circle, and some of the protectors went to move one of the burned out vehicles out of the way, when they were hit with gas grenades, batons, and water cannons.

Mainstream Media MIA as DAPL Action Is Met With Water Cannons and Mace.

“They want to kill people for clearing a road,” questioned Tara Houska, referencing police spraying people with water cannons in 26-degree weather. The national campaigns director of Honor the Earth reminded her friends and followers that November is Native American Heritage Month.

“When will our cries be heard?”

 

Standing Rock Syllabus: Learn, Teach.

Credit: C. Ford.

Credit: C. Ford.

The New York City Stands with Standing Rock Collective then met again and we talked at length about the syllabus and how to curate emergent sections. We want our readers and future teachers to understand that we take Sioux notions of history seriously but came to impasses with certain materials that we wanted to include, but felt inadequate to interpret. So we direct educators and students to the crucial archives of Lakota Winter Counts. One of the founders of the resistance camps at Standing Rock, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, has devoted her life to the interpretation of these counts and any responsible curriculum will point to them and invite students to think about and with them. Recognizing then, our limitations, we volunteered to work with our strengths and to curate specific sections of the syllabus, to take charge of, so to speak, the content and the form. Matthew Chrisler managed the group and ordered the text with Jaskiran Dhillon, New School Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Anthropology who stepped in at certain points to read over entries. Along with Matthew Chrisler, Sheehan Moore, a doctoral student in anthropology at CUNY, organized all of the PDFs to attach to our website for syllabus readers to view and download. In this way, there were multiple eyes on each section as it took shape. We also asked curators to narrow their selections to book chapters and specific articles to further focus the syllabus and keep it accessible for people who would read and download it in short amounts of time. We wanted people to read the syllabus and teach the material, but also to have access to the readings for themselves and their students and/or community members.

Although a “work in progress,” the current #StandingRockSyllabus places what is happening now in a broader historical, political, economic, and social context going back over 500 years to the first expeditions of Columbus, the founding of the United States on institutionalized slavery, private property, and dispossession, and the rise of global carbon supply and demand. Indigenous peoples around the world have been on the frontlines of conflicts like Standing Rock for centuries. The syllabus foregrounds the work of Indigenous and allied activists and scholars: anthropologists, historians, environmental scientists, and legal scholars, all of whom contribute important insights into the conflicts between Indigenous sovereignty and resource extraction. It can be taught in its entirety, or in sections depending on the pedagogic needs. We hope that it will be used in K-12 school settings, community centers, social justice agencies training organizers, university classrooms, legal defense campaigns, social movement and political education workshops, and in the resistance camps at Standing Rock and other similar standoffs across the globe. As we move forward, we anticipate posting lesson plans on our website that will be derived from individuals and communities using the syllabus in their respective locales.

While our primary goal is to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, we recognize that Standing Rock is one frontline of many around the world. This syllabus can be a tool to access research usually kept behind paywalls, or a resource package for those unfamiliar with Indigenous histories and politics. Please share, add, and discuss using the hashtag #StandingRockSyllabus on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. Like those on the frontlines, we are here for as long as it takes.

The #StandingRockSyllabus and accompanying PDFs can be found here.

The full story on the syllabus is here.  #StandingRockSyllabus. As Peter D’Errico says:

True to the purpose of digging to the roots of events, “#StandingRockSyllabus places what is happening now in a broader historical, political, economic, and social context going back over 500 years to the first expeditions of Columbus, the founding of the United States on institutionalized slavery, private property, and dispossession, and the rise of global carbon supply and demand. Indigenous peoples around the world have been on the frontlines of conflicts like Standing Rock for centuries.”

Importantly, #StandingRockSyllabus aims for audiences beyond the standard academic world: The authors built it for use “in K-12 school settings, community centers, social justice agencies training organizers, university classrooms, legal defense campaigns, social movement and political education workshops, and in the resistance camps at Standing Rock and other similar standoffs across the globe.”

This is an invaluable opportunity for teachers, please take advantage of it. This is also an invaluable resource and opportunity for those who wish to understand. As this is supposedly Native American Heritage Month (more on that later), spreading this everywhere would be be a great gesture. Lila wopila to all who do. (Many Thanks).

The Trump Investigative Fund.

Resist.

Resist.

There are journalists who are determined to report facts and make a constant effort to disclose the truth. That’s very important right now. Think Progress has started a fund, and if you are able to drop a few pennies, this is a good place to do so.

[Read more…]

Another Standing Rock Waits in the Wings.

Tohono O’odham Elder, second to last on the right in gray shirt. Credit: C. Ford.

Tohono O’odham Elder, second to last on the left in gray shirt. Credit: C. Ford.

Some of you might remember this from one of the many camp posts:

The Tonoho O’odham elder spoke again, about the loss of much of their way of life when they lost the Gila River. He spoke of Roosevelt’s “offer” to move them to Oklahoma (translation: you walk there), and how the people refused, wanting to stay on their own land, and how so many of them died. He spoke of Sihasin, saguaro, who are guardians. He spoke about the insanity of imposed borders where he lives, and the rabid people trying to keep people out. He spoke of a time when there were no artificial borders, and of how often he crosses this border himself, to get water or medicine. He said he is always stopped, but he speaks to people in his language, which they do not understand, and they always let him go. Other people had also spoken of the imposed borders, in the attempt to keep primarily Mexicans out, and pleaded with all tribes to offer people sanctuary, as these borders are not ours.

The Tonoho O’odham elder who was the head of their runners, those of their nation who ran all the way from Arizona to the Oceti Sakowin camp in nDakota, often spoke about the imposed borders his people had to put up with. Their peoples’ land extends past the artificial borders, and they feel free to ignore such impositions, especially when they need to get certain plants, or visit sacred sites. As far as they are concerned, wašichu borders are stupid and meaningless. Now there’s Trump, who plans to build a big old fucking wall, to keep everyone in. Oh, I mean out. The Tonoho O’odham have a different idea.

President-elect Donald Trump says that he will build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It will stop undocumented immigrants from entering the country. It will stop drugs from entering the country. It will be 50 feet tall. It will be nearly a thousand miles long. And it will cut the traditional lands of the Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona in half.

The Tohono O’odham reservation is one of the largest in the nation, and occupies area that includes 76 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. However, the tribe’s traditional lands extend deep into Mexico, and tribal members live on both sides of the border: With tribal identification, they cross regularly to visit family, receive medical services, and participate in ceremonial or religious services.

The prospect of slicing their homelands in two? Not welcome.

“Over my dead body will a wall be built,” says Verlon Jose, vice chairperson of the Tohono O’odham Nation. “If he decides to build a wall, he’s going to need to come talk to us, unless he wants to see another Standing Rock.”

In other words, to build the wall, Mr. Trump will have to fight for every single mile of Tohono O’odham land—legally, and possibly even physically.

And they’re not the only tribal nation that would be impacted by the wall.

Robert Holden, deputy director of the National Congress of American Indians, points to the Ysleta Del Sur in Texas and tribes in California, such as the Kumeyaay, who have relatives in Mexico. “There’s significant tribal sovereignty at stake here,” Holden says.

[…]

This doesn’t mean things are peachy down on the Tohono O’odham reservation, though: Tribal members say they are routinely harassed by Border Patrol; cultural and religious items are frequently confiscated; and detentions and deportations of tribal citizens are not uncommon. In 2014, two tribal members were hospitalized after being shot by a Border Patrol agent. The situation has often been compared to a Berlin Wall-like scenario, but the tribe has fought for and maintained the ability to enjoy its traditional homelands—at least more than if a wall were running through the middle of it.

“Let me come into your home and build a wall directly in the middle of your house and tell me what impacts that would have on you?” says Jose. “This land is our grocery store; this land is our medical facility, where we get our medicinal remedies from; this land is our college and university. Our sacred sites are in Mexico; our ceremonies are in what is now Mexico. The border is an imaginary line to us.”

Full story is at YES! Magazine. Also of interest: Norway’s Largest Bank Divests From Dakota Access, Launches Own Investigation and What the Trump Victory Means for Standing Rock.

Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock.

Courtesy Standing Rock In the midst of federal government deliberations over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has released a short film titled “Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock.”

Courtesy Standing Rock
In the midst of federal government deliberations over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has released a short film titled “Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock.”

In the midst of federal government deliberations over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has released a short film titled “Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock,” a new, eight-minute film exploring the nearly eight-month battle to stop construction of the pipeline on sacred tribal lands.

The short documentary can be viewed on Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Facebook page or website.

[…]

The Standing Rock’s Facebook page states the following requests:

We are asking dozens of individuals and groups to share a new short film, found here:Facebook or website.

Please share with all your followers – Facebook or website – so people around the world understand the gross injustice taking place against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota.

We need to keep the pressure on President Obama. He might be our last hope.

Here are a series of potential social media posts the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is suggesting readers share:

#StandwithStandingRock – Watch and share this new short film – Facebook or website– about the tribe’s fight against energy development and injustice. #NoDAPL

Ask President @BarackObama to deny the easement! Call Obama at 202-456-1111. #StandwithStandingRock #NoDAPL

Mni Wiconi, Water is life. Tell Obama DENY the easement by calling 202-456-1111. #StandwithStandingRock

Watch this story about why it’s critical we #StandwithStandingRock. Obama MUST deny the easement now. #NoDAPL

We all #StandWithStandingRock. The time is NOW to say #NoDAPL. Call Obama at 202-456-1111.

No more delays, no more excuses. Get on the right side of history and say #NoDAPL. Deny the easement! #WaterIsLife

Here are links to share:

https://www.facebook.com/Standing-Rock-Sioux-Tribe-402298239798452/?fref=nf

http://standwithstandingrock.net/mni-wiconi/

Learn more about the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at standwithstandingrock.net. For ongoing updates, please follow our Facebook page at Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Full story at ICTMN.

Highly recommended reading: To Brave White People: Be Braver. * A Few Thoughts on The Election and What President Trump Means for Indian Country.

Native Lives Matter.

Courtesy Marlee Kanosh Button commemorating the 2012 death of Marlee Kanosh’s brother, Corey, created by the advocacy group National Unity Against Police Brutality.

Courtesy Marlee Kanosh
Button commemorating the 2012 death of Marlee Kanosh’s brother, Corey, created by the advocacy group National Unity Against Police Brutality.

There were at least eight fatal police shootings of Native Americans in October. “I’m overwhelmed,” said Marlee Kanosh, Paiute Tribe of Utah. Her Facebook page, Native Lives Taken By Police, is a source for information on police violence affecting indigenous people. With careful, respectful research and comprehensive coverage, she chronicles a terrible toll: Natives killed outright by police and those who die in custody.

The workload, which she does as a volunteer, is always heavy, but in recent weeks it has been unexpectedly worse. “I have so many deaths to look into now,” she said. “My notebooks are full. I have piles of paper everywhere.”

The number of Natives who died in October is much higher than the monthly average found in a 2016 study by Claremont Graduate University scholars Roger Chin, Jean Schroedel and Lily Rowen. They uncovered 29 deaths in a recent 15-month period, for an average of about two a month. The October police-shooting fatalities occurred around the country—one each in Washington state, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Nevada, along with three in Oklahoma.

[…]

Kanosh criticized police claims that citizens should simply follow orders to survive these encounters. “We have a saying here in Utah, ‘Comply or Die—It’s Not the Law!’” Kanosh said. “What about our rights? We didn’t put up our hands fast enough? Someone instinctively pulled up his pants when cops ordered him to crawl forward on his knees? How can we possibly know exactly what’s expected of us in these horrible situations? And because we don’t, we die?”

Police need to better communicate what exactly compliance entails, according to Chin. That’s because officers in different jurisdictions may expect the public to behave in unique ways, he explained. “For example, while most academies train officers to have a driver remain inside the vehicle during a traffic stop, I discovered on a trip to Louisiana that sometimes officers want individuals to exit the vehicle in order to see better what they are doing. The public needs to know these and other expectations.”

Full story is at ICTMN. And here is a very nasty dose of reality.

Philando Castile: 2nd Degree Manslaughter Charge.

Philando Castile (What's Trending).

Philando Castile (What’s Trending).

The murderer of Philando Castile is going to be charged with second degree manslaughter, an absolute disgrace of a mild slap, given the circumstances and actions of that murder.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi has announced that the police officer who shot and killed Philando Castile this year will face charges of second-degree manslaughter.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Choi said that after a thorough investigation of the incident, authorities had determined that the use of deadly force against Castile was not justified.

Choi said that Officer Jeronimo Yanez shot Castile a total of seven times, and added that Castile used his final words to tell the officer that he wasn’t reaching for his gun.

All that merits is second degree manslaughter? Seems like straight up murder to me. What about the trauma inflicted on his girlfriend and her small child? Do they count at all? The murder of Mr. Castile was a very loud symptom of the sickness in this country, a sickness which has accelerated and is getting worse by the moment. Trying to downplay the actions of bigoted cops is not going to help. I’m too disgusted for words.

Via Raw Story.

Standing Rock Update.

gun

The image, above, is a real image.  It is not photoshopped.  A photographer by the name of Colin McCarthy captured this moment on his Instagram account (@Colinnnnn) and said the following:

Friends at #standingrock please be safe, this man just plowed through a peaceful prayer ceremony waving a gun, injuring 2 people and then proceeded to fire 7 shots into the air. Women, children and elders all running to get out of the way…

So there’s that.

Gyasi Ross’s full article here.

[Read more…]

DAPL Ignores Army Corp. Again.

Courtesy Dr0ne2bewild Shiyé Bidziil/Vimeo. Energy Transfer Partners has gone so far as to build its drilling pad for tunneling under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, even though it still awaits the necessary easements.

Courtesy Dr0ne2bewild Shiyé Bidziil/Vimeo.
Energy Transfer Partners has gone so far as to build its drilling pad for tunneling under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, even though it still awaits the necessary easements.

The U.S. Department of Justice is about to announce next steps on de-escalating the standoff regarding construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

“Today, the Department of Justice announced in federal court that it will be announcing the next steps on a ‘path forward’ for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing at Lake Oahe,” said Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II in a statement on November 10.

Energy Transfer Partners is refusing to stand down on its construction plans despite two requests from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it do so.

The company, builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), said on Tuesday November 8 that it planned to begin drilling in two weeks—even though at the moment it does not have the easements necessary for it to tunnel under the river legally.

Full story at ICTMN.

“Hey Nigger. Pick that up. Keep my streets clean.”

Shaun King has been tracking hate incidents, which are piling up at an alarming rate. I read about 30 something of them in this article at Raw Story, and I just can’t take anymore. The tweet I posted above is one of the milder ones. This is, I don’t know, I don’t have a word. Nightmare sounds positively pleasant in comparison to what is taking place now. Going by the words and the actions of all the Trumpians, and the children of those toxic people, they’d be just great with concentration camps. They are already busy treating people as worse than animals, they are treating people as things, and that always leads to the greatest of ills.

Local White Nationalists Gleeful.

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign elevated the voices of explicitly white nationalist movements, including the online haters in the alt-right, who had previously been largely shunned from the larger conservative movement.

It’s no wonder, then, that many of these white nationalist activists celebrated Trump’s victory last night as their own, expressing hope that the president-elect would fulfill their dreams of deporting undocumented immigrants, continue to wake “white racial consciousness” and hire like-minded people to staff his administration.

Via Right Wing Watch and Think Progress.