Arizona tribes show outpouring of support in pipeline battle

[mmksparbud]

I was wondering how the Casinos on Indian land have worked out? When they proposed this I was rather torn---on one hand, if the non-Indians went there, the Indians get a chance to get at least a little of their money back. On the other hand, I was concerned that the Native Americans themselves would just end up further into loosing their own money and the alcohol.

 

[tadoflamb]

What? We are just American Indians after all. Take what scraps of tribal lands we have left, keep violating the treaties, go visit the desecrated mountain in the Black Hills with the heads of four racist United States presidents who either had our ancestors slaughtered or forcibly removed from their homes, let the greedy conservative politicians try to sell Oak Flats Apache land to a foreign mining company, keep poisoning the water of the Navajo Nation with uranium and coal mining, let the US government sell off more land in the Black Hills, let the big oil corporations keep fracking and running those black snake oil pipelines through our lands. Who cares? We are just Indians. Out of sight, out of mind. Invisible. Am I angry? You can bet your life I am angry. And before any of the usual suspects have a chance to even speak and mock me. Yes, I know, "Get over it!" "Stop living in the past!" "Stop playing the victim!" "Stop playing the race card!" "There is no such thing as race!" "All Lives Matter!" I think I have heard it all, ad nauseam.

You and your people have a right to your anger. It's no wonder why the Standing Rock Sioux are getting so much support from the other tribes. I'm just grateful that this is coming out of the shadows and more into the public view.

We offered more prayers for the protectors at mass this morning.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Documentary of the protest against DAPL lead by the American Indian Movement Of Central Texas in Dallas, Texas on September 2, 2016.

The video from Facebook would not post. So, it is the Confluence Documentary with Yolanda BlueHorse.

https://www.facebook.com/confluencedocumentary/?ref=page_internal

 

[Shiloh Raven]

I thought it would be acceptable to post the video here in Tad's thread since it is about people (NDN and non-NDN) coming together to stand against DAPL.

 

[tadoflamb]

We are just Indians. Out of sight, out of mind. Invisible. Am I angry? You can bet your life I am angry. And before any of the usual suspects have a chance to even speak and mock me. Yes, I know, "Get over it!" "Stop living in the past!" "Stop playing the victim!" "Stop playing the race card!"

I apologize in advance for bringing this up, but this has been bothering me for a while now. In the short time I've known you, you've been told to 'get over it' many times.

Last Sunday our pastor asked a question, "Who would you not welcome with open arms into this faith community?"

I ask the same question but with a twist. "What person coming into this faith community would we tell, who was clearly hurt and angry, 'to get over it'?

I can run through my list of candidates, as I'm sure so can you, and in the end I have to conclude you, the Standing Rock Tribe and all indigenous people hold a special place modern Christian culture.

"You need to get over it."

It would be a lot easier to 'get over it' if it wasn't an ongoing thing.

I understand why you're angry.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

I apologize in advance for bringing this up, but this has been bothering me for a while now. In the short time I've known you, you've been told to 'get over it' many times.

Last Sunday our pastor asked a question, "Who would you not welcome with open arms into this faith community?"

I ask the same question but with a twist. "What person coming into this faith community would we tell, who was clearly hurt and angry, 'to get over it'?

I can run through my list of candidates, as I'm sure so can you, and in the end I have to conclude you, the Standing Rock Tribe and all indigenous people hold a special place modern Christian culture.

You need to get over it.

It would be a lot easier to 'get over it' if it wasn't an ongoing thing.

I understand why you're angry.

In all honesty, there is no getting over it, Tad. Not completely.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

I was wondering how the Casinos on Indian land have worked out? When they proposed this I was rather torn---on one hand, if the non-Indians went there, the Indians get a chance to get at least a little of their money back. On the other hand, I was concerned that the Native Americans themselves would just end up further into loosing their own money and the alcohol.

Personally speaking, I have never supported NDN casinos. I have never stepped foot inside one either. I am against gambling and I am against drinking.

 

[mmksparbud]

Personally speaking, I have never supported NDN casinos. I have never stepped foot inside one either. I am against gambling and I am against drinking.

Yes-- both bring much misery.

In all honesty, there is no getting over it, Tad. Not completely.

But it wasn't as though you guys didn't get something for your land----beads, white flour, sugar, and alcohol----what a deal!!

 

[Shiloh Raven]

But it wasn't as though you guys didn't get something for your land----beads, white flour, sugar, and alcohol----what a deal!!

What we really got in return was either death or the attempted destruction of our entire culture and way of life. And as if that was not enough to defeat us and crush our spirits, we also endured poverty and third world living conditions on the reservations. We have endured centuries of being marginalized and lied to. But more often than not, whenever we try to talk about this or the other struggles we, as a people, have endured in this country, we are often accused of spreading white guilt or accused of playing the victim. We are told to just get over it and stop living in the past. Meanwhile, we are expected to be respectful of America and toward the American flag. We are expected to stand during the national anthem and pledge our allegiance to a country that desperately tried to annihilate our entire race, and when that was unsuccessful, the mindset of "Kill the Indian, Save the Man" set in and the cultural genocide to destroy everything about us through forced assimilation and Christianization soon followed.

 

[Rhamiel]

I wonder how many people are out of work because this pipe line is being held up?

I feel so bad for all those families that have kids who are going to go hungry because work can not get done

 

[Shiloh Raven]

I wonder how many people are out of work because this pipe line is being held up?

I feel so bad for all those families that have kids who are going to go hungry because work can not get done

No one and no children are going to go hungry, Rhamiel. There is other work available for people to earn money for their families. Working construction on a pipeline is not the only job on the planet. And if the oil company was so concerned for their employees and their families, they would not have delayed construction to reroute the pipeline in order to move it away from a predominantly white residential area near the state capitol of Bismarck and put it on the path closer to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Tad, I thought you would want to see this. It was recently tweeted by the National Counsel of American Indians.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Written by Natives In America. Posted September 14, 2016.

An Open Letter to President Obama from Natives In America

 

[tadoflamb]

I wonder how many people are out of work because this pipe line is being held up?

I feel so bad for all those families that have kids who are going to go hungry because work can not get done

I couldn't find any evidence of pipeline workers children going hungry. Though the oil boom in North Dakota has slowed, I'm sure that there's something Dakota Access can do to keep their workers gainfully employed.

My heart goes out more to the children on the Standing Rock Reservation and indigenous children everywhere who are engaged in this struggle for their rights and their future. The letter writing campaigns and the petitions started by these young people has been very uplifting for me. I've even signed a few petitions myself.

Just in case oil worker's children are going hungry, a contribution to one of the areas St. Vincent de Paul food banks could never be a bad idea.

 

[tadoflamb]

I thought it would be acceptable to post the video here in Tad's thread since it is about people (NDN and non-NDN) coming together to stand against DAPL.

I would also like it if you would post some photos. I've found that photos/videos put a face on the people who have largely been kept out of sight. It's good to see them.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

As requested by @tadoflamb.

'Putting a face' on the ongoing fight against the Dakota Access pipeline.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Dakota Access pipeline construction workers desecrating Standing Rock Sioux Nation burial grounds and sacred sites.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Native youth on horseback. Modern day warriors.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

People gathered at the Sacred Stone Camp.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Many of the Tribal flags at the Sacred Stone Camp representing the Indian Nations now standing in solidarity with the Sioux Nation of Standing Rock.