In recent months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in South Dakota has been acting to protect the environment by protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. It is an issue that is drawing international attention as Indigenous people are taking a stand and one that is creating solidarity amongst First Nations people.
Most recently, the Tsuut’ina Nation held a round dance to raise funds on behalf of the Standing Rock Tribe. Here in Morley, the Nakoda Wîyâbi Empowerment Society hosted a silent auction to raise funds. However, the media is largely ignoring what is really an important issue.
The primary concern is that the pipeline, which will run through land historically occupied by the Sioux Nation, has the potential to negatively impact the water supply to the reservation. In addition, the Tribe is acting to protect ancestral burial grounds and sacred sites making this a cultural issue as well. It is in this context that the Tribe and those supporting this cause refer to themselves as protectors of the land as opposed to protestors of the pipeline. It is land where the Sioux took their last stand and where many died.
Many residents of Standing Rock Reservation are descendants of Sioux leaders including Red Cloud. The Tribe signed treaties with the US government in 1851 and in 1868 in efforts to avoid bloodshed. The Treaty of Fort Laramie, signed in 1868, was a treaty that protected Sioux territory including the Sacred Black Hills. When gold was discovered in the Black Hills, there was pressure on the US government to open this land for settlement. History concedes that gold and greed were game changers in the relations between the Sioux and the US.
In 1873, US President Ulysses Grant acted to engage the Sioux in warfare. The purpose was to win access to land. The Sioux Nation responded in kind and military leaders including Sitting Bull and his son, Crow Foot, fought valiantly to protect their homeland. The Sioux were at a disadvantage because they were dealing with technological advantages as well as a willingness by their opponents to kill women and children so long as fortunes were earned. It was a different type of warfare.
The Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 in which Sitting Bull organized various tribes to defeat the US Cavalry led by General George Custer was likely the greatest victory of the Sioux and sadly the last. In 1877, the US government, in an effort to force the Sioux into surrendering, shot and killed 300 unarmed Sioux including women and children in what is now referred to as the Wounded Knee Massacre.
After the Battle of Wounded Knee, Sioux bodies were left to freeze in the wind and later put into a mass grave. The Black Hills were taken and settlers had their gold. The Sioux have Standing Rock and legends in Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
The Standing Rock Tribe is acting to protect land where the Sioux have a proud history. They are concerned about burial grounds and the health of their people. Although the Tribe lost a bid to block the pipeline in court, the US government has acted to halt development until concerns raised have been assessed. The Stoney Nation does not have an official position but CEO Ken Christensen noted that “any development has to take into account Indigenous people’s rights and concerns.”
