Standing with the Standing Rock: A Peak Inside Oceti Sakowin Camp

Greetings from the frontlines here at Standing Rock and the Oceti Sakowin Camp in North Dakota.

From mainstream media I am sure that you have heard what is going on here however most outlets aren’t reporting most of the facts regarding the pipeline. With the construction contracts going to the lowest bidder using the cheapest materials possible it’s not a matter of if the pipeline will break, it’s a matter of when the pipeline will break.

This unfortunately means that the 18 million people downstream the Missouri River along with the other life forms that depend on clean water, all the way to the Gulf, will suffer the effects of being poisoned.

Being indigenous from the Black Mesa area of the Navajo Reservation, I have seen the first hand effects of ecological genocide as that our pristine water sources are used to slurry coal for huge mega corporations while we actively have solar and other renewable resources as options.

While we are painted as protestors in the media, we are in fact actually protectors of the bio-region of the Missouri River and all that is connected to it.

We protectors are looking to maintain the safety of future generations by ensuring clean drinking water for everyone including the winged, the four legged and the finned ones. Knowing that all life depends on water we have taken the initiative to stand up for what is right against these greedy corporations and with your possible support.

In the coming weeks we are nearing some of the harshest winter climates in the US and I am reaching out to see if there is support in the form sharing contacts for gear recommendations to test, borrow or otherwise utilize to maintain our fight through the extreme temperatures we will face while battling this oil disaster waiting to happen should it be completed.

Attached is a short clip of some of my/our work here…

OCETI SAKOWIN from Queen Alidore on Vimeo.