For months, the greatest Native American tribal gathering in U.S. history has peacefully resisted completion of DAPL, in the face of sometimes brutal police violence and human-rights abuses. They are now contending with the threat of forced eviction.
Last summer, pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and the USACE rejected a safer route north of Bismarck that would have crossed a much narrower water body than the present route across contested treaty lands and beneath Lake Oahe. The rerouting saved some money and possible contamination of Bismarck wells in exchange for endangerment of the water supply of these tribes and millions of residents downstream.
#RevolutionTruth, a grassroots-based, human-rights organization dedicated to protecting democratic principles and civil liberties, is preparing to file a legal challenge to DAPL based on: (1) environmental injustice; (2) racial and class discrimination; and (3) defense of the fundamental rights of sovereign native citizens.
1) Environmental Justice. We will show that the current route is far more dangerous to the environment than the one north of Bismarck originally considered.
2) Racial and Class Discrimination. We will show that the current route has a significantly disproportionate impact on indigenous people who suffer a 63% unemployment rate and an average per-capita income about half of that of the overwhelmingly Caucasian Bismarck residents.
3. Defense of Sovereign Rights. We will show that the original route crossed no unceded tribal lands, whereas the current route bisects that territory (originally ceded in 1851, redrawn in 1868 and reorganized in 1934 by the Indian Reorganization Act). These lands and waters are viewed by sovereign tribal nations as both sacred and belonging to them. As these tribes mainly exist in a state of dual sovereignty, we will show that only an act of Congress can influence a change in sovereign powers.
What happens now at #StandingRock is more important than ever. This lawsuit is an opportunity to help the Standing Rock Sioux stop DAPL and while resisting the abuses of power we are already beginning to see from the Trump Administration.
Help us win this battle for Indigenous People’s rights, water, and life. We need at least $15,000 for legal fees to bring the case. If we do not reach this’ goal, all proceeds will go to the legal defense of individual Water Protectors facing criminal charges for peaceful protesting and citizen’s journalism.
Please donate and share. Together let us crowdsource justice for #StandingRock.
Mni Wiconi! “Water Is Life!”