War for Water: Prayer as Weapon

By Tatyanna M. Wilkinson
Egeria Consulting
SRA Board of Directors

In North Dakota and around the country, water protectors(not protestors) have waged prayer to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. This movement is known on social media as the #nodapl or #standingrock movement.  The protectors are using prayer as their weapon in this fight.

From the Sacred Stone website:

On Friday, August 5, 2016, a group of Oceti Sakowin youth from different Dakota and Lakota nations arrived in Washington DC after running ~2000 miles by relay, in spiritual opposition to the pipeline. The runners delivered 140,000 petition signatures to the US Army Corps of Engineers and rallied at the White House to ask President Obama to pressure them to repeal the water crossing permits. Meanwhile, relatives back home set up a tipi and held demonstrations in front of North Dakota’s State Capitol Building during a 3-day special legislative session.   

The Dakota Access pipeline is proposed to carry 450,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day, from the Bakken fields of North Dakota, 1,172 miles to Patoka, Illinois.  Though originally planned to cross the Missouri River upstream of Bismarck, the crossing was relocated just upstream of the Standing Rock Reservation. The threats this pipeline poses to the environment, public health, and tribal and human rights are strikingly similar to those posed by the Keystone XL, but the project has seen a small fraction of the attention from media and major environmental groups.

Supporters have vowed to protect the water/fight the pipeline throughout the harsh North Dakota winter. The main camps, Oceti Sakowin Camp, Sacred Stone and Rosebud are currently winterizing and striving to leave at small of a footprint on the land as possible.

This fight is for all of us. The water belongs to all of us. Our children and grandchildren cannot survive without it. Please stand with us as we protect our sacred lands. Water is life, mni wiconi.  

Powerful short film:

“One does not sell the Earth the people walk upon.” -John Trudell

You can read more here about how the camps came to be:

Dakota Access Protest Timeline

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/09/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-timeline-sioux-standing-rock-jill-stein

Some recent developments:

Neil Young Celebrates 71st Birthday Performing at Standing Rock Protest Site

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-performs-for-protestors-at-dakota-access-pipeline-w450292

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. 11-14-16

SRST Statement: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers delays DAPL easement and calls for further environmental review. Corp says consulting with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe pivotal before final decision. Read more: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1434960889865510&id=402298239798452

How to get involved:

About the Standing Rock Tribe: http://standingrock.org/

Places to donate and get more info:

Ocecti Sakowin Camp: http://www.ocetisakowincamp.org/

Sacred Stone Camp: http://sacredstonecamp.org/

Note from the Editor: There is a call fro Yaqui elders to go to the nearest body of water and pray for the health of the water t 4PM each Monday.

Resources:

Sacred Stone Camp, Nov 15, 2016

http://sacredstonecamp.org/

Tatyanna M. Wilkinson

Born and raised in Massachusetts. Black, Irish, Indigenous North American, French, eclectic, tech geek, small biz owner, youth advocate, mother and kitty mommy. Home base is North Hollywood, California.

Wordpress Website Designer in the niche of holistic health and alternative practitioners(tarot readers, healers, coaches). geria Consulting

Transformational Workshop and women’s circle craetrix.