On Dec. 4, the U.S. Army Corps announced to a country of relentless protestors and angered supporters that Dakota Access, L.L.C. and Energy Transfer Partners did not have permission to construct the Dakota Pipeline. The goal behind preventing the construction and resulting line was, ultimately, the protection of sacred Native American land and barring the potential of poisoned Sioux water sources.
"We stand ready to stand with you if and when your people are in need."
-Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on the U.S. Army Corps' #DAPL decision pic.twitter.com/BkrqQyZHEP
— AJ+ (@ajplus) December 4, 2016
And this is fantastic news, for multiple reasons. The first being Native Americans have, for once, hopefully not been completely fucked over by the people who forced them out of their lands. The second being we’ve now seen the effects of a protest, fought long and hard. Throughout the turmoil and mistreatment from police forces in response to preservation efforts, Native American protestors, and the allies to them, have won.
This is important, especially due to the massive amount of protests this decade have brought us. From Occupy Wall Street to Ferguson, MO, the 2010’s have brought an increasing amount of leftist protest, typically to conservative criticism that it doesn’t work. But this is a very good example of what a vocal outcry can do – persuade the minds of the people in charge. These people bravely exercised their first amendment right, and they reaped the benefits of it. But let me pose a question.
Why did it take so fucking long to change the government’s mind, and why did the protestors have to suffer so bitterly and so ruthlessly to do so?
I mean, seriously. Anti-pipeline protestors started making stances at Standing Rock in, what, September? When they were greeted by private security and dogs to maul them to death? I understand the political sphere might’ve been a little tense with a war criminal and the living embodiment of human failure running for President, but that didn’t mean Obama was shirked of responsibility, and it, frankly, took him too goddamn long to address the Dakota Pipeline issue. He still had a job to do, and despite the resolution ending up not as bad as originally intended (which is still not good), he failed the people in what currently remains his country.
This is not only a problem because of how long it took Obama to take this into federal hands, it’s a problem because of how long people suffered for it. As previously mentioned, protestors had dogs sent on them by private security. We haven’t even gotten to the problem of police yet. We’ll get into specific incidents in a second, but as a quick overview: Cold water was thrown onto protestors in freezing weather, blockades were established to prevent the intake of supplies, journalists were shot while trying to cover the protest, and Shailene fucking Woodley got herself arrested during the efforts. That last one, by the way, is the most unlikely headline of 2016, right behind “Donald Trump elected President.”
Who, by the way, has a few ties to the companies behind this project.
But diving into the specifics of the protests make this situation even worse. For example, some protestors were allegedly held in “mesh containers” and marked by number. To clarify, they were treated like dogs in a fucking shelter. And interestingly enough, the same Army Corps that just announced the decision to prevent the construction of this pipeline, issued a statement that ordered all protestors evacuate before Dec. 5, lest they be subject to prosecution. So they broke this news literally less than 24 hours before there would be criminal consequences. People at Standing Rock were also shot with rubber bullets, presumably rubber because if they actually killed someone, they’d be held responsible for this abuse.
https://twitter.com/lindablackelk/status/792112349666680833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And with all of this mistreatment, the pipeline may still do a lot of damage, wherever it ends up built. Because the fact is, if it can poison water for the Sioux people, it can poison water somewhere else too. It can’t slip our minds that the pipeline is still being built, and just because it’s no longer impeding on one group of people, doesn’t mean it’s not going to impede on another. The pipeline itself is an issue, alongside where exactly it’s built. This is not a problem to forget overnight.
So if there’s anything to take away from the #NoDAPL protests, it’s this; we’re stronger unified, and we need to amplify voices that have been muzzled by oppressive, marginalizing structures.
We fight for those who need help, and we can win together. But it’s also that maybe, just maybe, those in positions of power shouldn’t treat protestors as disruptive or divisive. They should wake the fuck up, realize there are protestors for a reason and have the human decency to acknowledge and help their cause.
Because protesting only works if the people you’re trying to convince aren’t dense enough to ignore it, and you shouldn’t have to kill yourself to make a change.
