Standing Rock

This is the way it happened.

We woke at 4:30AM ready to pray the sun up.  It was early afternoon when they came.  I was in a group of about 50 who sat down together, in a circle, in the path of the pipeline to protect the water.

We had no weapons. We prayed all day without stopping for food, water, or even in hearing screams come from the road behind us as officers leveraged any number of the tactical weapons they had come with: batons, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and sound cannons.  At the sound of the chaos behind us on Hwy 1806 we leaned into each other tighter.  The chaos behind us was never intended; folks had gathered in ceremony their to protect the water and to protect us.  However some instigators within our own crowd, even some sold out natives, antagonized our young men and waved in the officers. Chaos. Fire, gas, rubber bullets, horses killed.

At a certain point, the officers reached us despite the efforts of our own protecters standing ground around us;  they looked at the officers in their eyes and spoke to them – about the fact that they need water too, their wives and daughters need water too.

Rather than sitting down to pray with us, they pushed forward… they pushed our protectors and media more than a mile away to the point that we sat in prayer, surrounded by them and alone; we were weaponless, yet surrounded by bearcats, armored personnel carriers and riot police.  It was all very eery feeling until the buffalo came over the hill, running toward us! Pilamaya Wakan Tanka.  Unfortunately, quite quickly, a helicopter swooped in front of them, scaring them into a tangential direction.

The officers picked us off one-by-one starting with the stronger looking males. Warriors; they held strong and were treated horrible for it – hog tied to the point of purple hands.

An officer bent over to my ear and said, ” You’re being arrested for trespassing; if you resist you’ll be charged with a second misdemeanor for resisting arrest.”

I stood and walked with him across 1806 to the embankment.  We waited there in our zip-tie cuffs as the chilly North Dakota, October sun set.  Just behind us, as our elders sat facing the burial grounds – DAPL couldn’t resist immediate continued construction/destruction.  Their tinted-window, 4-by-4’s lined the horizon, less than 50 meters away and they watched with smiles, IPhones pointing at us as their groms bulldozed the land in front of us and as they set night lights across 1806; they pointed and talked and smiled toward us and at the land across the road that we sat protecting all day, all fall, all summer; they pointed toward the tents and teepees and river beyond, alluding to their immediate plans for progression upon our departure to jail.

DAPL employees

https://youtu.be/IaA8V7sbnmA

https://youtu.be/f-AYDtibV44

https://youtu.be/jeJPZu13vrw

There on the embankment we waited for more than an hour to receive the numbers, mine 195, that have so aptly been reminisced to atrocious times of the past. These numbers were written on a plastic bag that our personal property was taken and stored away in to. We boarded the bus at dusk.

Being the last group to arrive at Morton County Jail it was only a short time that we waited before continuing our in-processing – stripped down to one layer.  Important to note that in being stripped down to one layer, our clothes were stored away into a second plastic bag, a larger one in which the initial smaller, numbered bag with our personal property (for me, a bag with my cell phone and a disposable camera) was placed; it was then tied – Later, the bag of personal items would turn up “missing”. It somehow untied the larger bag it was in and removed itself to become missing.

Upon getting off of the bus I noticed the men had been placed into dog runs; the majority were in two and a third contained one person, a leader of the day; intimidation.

It was clear to me that the officers were frazzled at attempting to arrest all of us.

I sat in the dog run for merely a few minutes, ignorant to the hours of waiting and human rights violations that had occurred here for the many who had arrived before us.

I was called onto a white bus that took us to Cass County Jail.  We boarded, wearing but one layer, and froze for the 4-hour drive to Fargo. Upon arriving, about 1 or 2AM, the captain at Cass gave us a sack lunch and Gatorade, the first food and drink we had received and certainly the first we had eaten since beginning our day in protection around noon.  Eating with zip-tie cuffs, Fu@#%@#$ ridiculous – physically, and of course fundamentally, based on the conditions of our arrest.

It became clear almost immediately that the numbered bags that arrived with us didn’t match those written on our arms. We were in-processed… searched again, exposed to a PREA video for our safety, searched again – Strip Searched (!) – Yes! Had to undress in front of someone one, bend-over-and-cough searched ! Changed into oranges then, finally, sleep; or whatever takes place on a concrete bench with a 1-inch mat. 5AM by now. The gentleman’s bus came in after ours; I believe their day didn’t end until the sun had come up again.

Waited. Arraignment came – three blanket charges for all of us: misdemeanors for trespassing, inciting riot and a felony for conspiring to do harm with fire.

My actions throughout the day consisted of praying, weaponless.  I’ve never prayed so much in my life.

Some wonderful person came along with something like to $200,000 to cover all of our bails ($1500), as well as the cost of releasing all of our cars from impound (about $700).

That missing bag, containing my cell phone and a disposable camera was returned a few days after being released. It was missing the camera which the state defense has seized and is creating a warrant for, to keep the photos as evidence.  I’m one of the few lucky ones; others have damaged vehicles (mine was fine), destroyed teepees and tents (mine was the only one in perfect condition), broken chanupas and missing sacred items.

It’s as one of our legal representatives, who has spent a career practicing law in New York state, recently said to me, “… I’ve seen things in five days that I’ve never seen in my entire career.”

Upon our release we’ve been interviewing with representatives from the UN, and members of larger media outlets such as the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.  I’ll send along these links as I get them.

The story is finally getting out, what has taken so long?

Obama said he’ll see how protests over the next few weeks plays out, what is taking so long?

For those of you who know me… jail?! Felony?!  I myself had not planned on engaging in the activities of a felon when embarking on the journey to observe and support the efforts of those gathered in opposition of the “black snake”.   From day one until now, I have yet to act a felon!

In fact, from the first protector demonstration I observed in Palm Springs, California, up to now, I continue to find inspiration in the protectors as they are – prayerful and fearless mothers, grandmothers, women and children, and men who have chosen to abstain from alcohol, drugs, and violence.

The young men have had the most difficult time rejecting the inflammatory, aggressive and instigative actions of law enforcement/hired Blackwater-esque securit, understandably so. I’ve seen them misstep; the whole world is watching and has seen them misstep.  And yet, I’ve seen those same young men return to camp after tear gas, rubber bullets and jail with a sorrowful acknowledgement and humility over those missteps and their return to ceremonial discipline and respect toward their elders.

It is as clear to me in hindsight as it was in the moment – jail is nothingness, a great waste of humanity and resources.  I’m pleased to have read in a local printing that even Colby Braun, Warden of the North Dakota State Penitentiary, agrees that the back-end investment of corrections is reactionary, misplaced; it should all be invested on the front-end of society in social and cultural programs.

On the bright side, while imprisoned, I did have time to read HG Wells’ War of the Worlds.  So timely.  The book in its entirety illustrates the human races absolute helplessness against Martians that have come to Earth with clear intentions to take it as their own. Absolute devastation, only one Martian defeated by accident… a pitiful, hopeless fight.  Finally, and in a matter of ten concluding pages, upon the main characters acceptance of his fate, the Martians die – victims of an unseen force; they succumb to bacteria. They were absolutely  defenseless to this invisible thing that humans have spent centuries building immunity to.

How explicit and relevant our own present day David vs. Goliath saga.  The centuries old Lakota Way exists quiet, strong, and unbending. DAPL, Energy Transfer Partners, Enbridge, cannot win.  Everything that is within their nature to do takes them closer and closer to their own destruction. A few clear examples that their sole interest is in their own profit:

• Pipeline route plan first called for crossing north of Bismarck
• Pipeline Company Desecrates Graves On Sioux Sacred Land
• Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protesters with Dogs and Pepper Spray
• Opposition arrests journalists, elected officials, clergy and Lindsey!
• DAPL continues construction despite executive order from Army Corps of Engineers and Departments of Justice and Interior to halt construction within a 20 mile radius of Missouri River cross point.
• Shooting, hurting, destroying anyone and anything in the way.

Mni Wiconi!

Of course, we existed long before modern showers were available in most housing – but here I am, Birthday 30 – experiencing something therapeutic about my birthday real shower!  We are living in North Dakota, in October; we sit in meetings for hours listening to each other and taking ownership of our fate; we wake to frost; we feel Absolutely violated by drones, intimidating road blocks, and of course illegal construction [which has continued even beyond executive order to “halt” construction] and cavity searches.

All the more profound to say quite decidedly, I am exactly where I want to be.

My birthday wish for you ALL –

First: Please write a letter to Mr. Obama – flood his office requesting him to deny permits for the final section of the pipeline and to Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. If you don’t feel you know enough please spend 10 minutes researching any of the following sources that are reporting the truth:

• Tom Goldtooth and Dallas Goldtooth
• Veterans for Peace
• Amy Goodman
• Bernie Brigade

Second: If you’ve been waiting to come or to support… there will be some KEY moments to step up in the next 30 days.  I will call for your action and simply ask that you to act.

10/13/2016 10:14pm

If yesterday was a horrible day, emotionally, for the community – today was Amazing.

Such defeat yesterday. The urgency of Winter is coming; it’s weighing heavily on all. Additionally, the forces that we’re up against is putting all efforts into making us rip apart from the inside.

In addressing challenges, really big challenges, such as those posed by Winter Coming, we’ve been stalled in converting our thoughts as a community into unified, cohesive action. Everyone wants to be heard and to contribute with their own skills – but deciding how to share resources and progress Together is the Challenge [we all face right now in the world]. This, I’ve realized today, is one thread of what it is all about.

Sensing the need for a morale boost, as great leaders do, Dennis Banks spoke to us today in the modest setting of a green army tent, bursting at the rolled up walls while the weather gave us a break and the sun smiled upon us. He spoke profoundly at times and with levity at others, as comedic a storyteller as I’ve read Lincoln was (effective as ever for bringing together many and building bridges where no one could see how) to remind us Why we are here: For a reason; An Important Reason; and No, we will not back down, we will not retreat, we will not welcome the dogs that attack our women and children; we will go forward because that is what we do.   All of us who have come, are here because this is about protecting our precious water and air and land. It’s about resisting ways that have shown to be the wrong ways – ones that benefit few, at the sacrifice of many. It’s about remembering what has always been taken.   Because of what is happening here, Standing Rock will stay in the hearts of each of us who have heard the call to come, though none of us have been paid to do so. We will stay and finish our work here and then meet as protectors again if we are given the days to do so. For now we will go forward one day at a time.   We all have great, powerful ideas and we will each be heard. We will do so without labels. We will think and act cohesively with peace and prayer and continue to get stronger in non-violence each day.

This is what we are doing here! (Re)learning ourselves how to build the type of community in which we see each person and hear each voice; and respect ourselves And Mother Earth who can’t speak for herself against the one-sidedness of greed but who Gives Us Life!

I see Dennis Banks so coolly addressing tension and answering HUGE Why’s with stories that make us laugh as one.

I see our cooks give us everything – most of their waking hours – trying to perfect their gift to us the in most difficult of conditions.

I see our wellness guide lead with more patience than I’ve seen from any human, personally.

I hear and sit with our morning rooster, JD a local tribesman, who manages to call us awake despite the frost on our blankets – “The sun is greeting you, wake up – we need your prayers!” and we do.

I see our young men getting firewood for us Every Day.

I see our protectors securing us from the devious outsiders who are coming into camp to steal the truth of what’s happening here – and who are literally stealing our wood stoves and generators.

I see our legal aids who are teaching us our rights.

I see our medics and herbal clinicians who save us without cost.

I see people taking in each solo warrior arriving, winter ready or not, to sleep and eat.

I see our camp director, a Standing Rock tribesman, whose heart is as big as the Money against us and who tells us what Cannonball thinks is going on here, what the tribes concerns are and what Chairman Archambault is doing for/with us.

I see you, indigenous folks up from New Orleans who get us all eating Buffalo Gumbo, dancing and learning to cook our own herbal cough syrup late into the night – late into this night in which we watched the Aurora Borealis from the opening of the 40-foot-teepee they’ve opened to the thousands of us who have dug in for the winter.

Early in the day, we lamented over the defeats of yesterday – then we celebrated, because we know Why we are here, that we are here together, and that we are going to win.

I no longer need to believe it can only be what They have always told us is the way it is.

Given this new and unexpected beginning (at least unexpected to me, not so for the indigenous who are seeing prophecies fulfilled right now in our lifetimes !), I’m seeing it unfold differently every day.

Hard to know how to capture everything.

The Basics 

I’m good. Yes, very cold. Food, good.  Company, great.  Very tough to keep devices charged and to even have service in places of “service”.  So here you are, a start:

First and foremost, much happened upon first arrival – the injunction to stop construction failed.  How disappointing.  Shortly after, 28 people were arrested on the front line – I was sleeping after our long drive.  They were subject at the jailhouse to a full cavity search; this is an illegal protocol for which local authorities will be sued.

On another note –

My good friend, Chief Kindness, has been nothing but kind to me.  We rode the night together – me staying on the road and him sharing the many lessons of a lifetime in service to his Oneida tribe, the American Indian Movement, and the many causes needing support in this world.  Upon arrival we set our tents together, no fear now of the snow to come.  Matter of fact… the process took long enough that we had to break for a walk around the camp and some food.  This will be chiefs fourth visit – he watched from the front line as they brought dogs upon a peaceful group including women and children, a memorable hate in their eyes.  Three women and a child, attacked. It is just hard to believe.  Check out this gem and watch for the next: http://www.sundance.org/blogs/native-filmmakers-fighting-the-dakota-pipeline-at-standing-rock. 

We ate after waiting for the elders to be delivered their plates and the spirits to receive theirs; the Most amazing food I never expected, having walked through the truest thing to a refugee camp I’ve ever been in. Moose taco meat and greens.

So tired, I went to sleep before the sun set and then woke up to my alarm – weirdest felling of nostalgia ever.  Made myself layer up then complete my morning jumpstart: 50 pushups, 50 situps, some sun salutations, 10 jump squats. Water, first bottle freezing, second not so bad after filling up with hot water from main fire. Food, coffee.  Felt great.

Went on to meet JD, a Standing Rock tribesman with the voice of Johnny Cash. Says we’ll win.  “How?”, I asked. “Prayer, a lot of prayer.”  So I ran onward to try to catch up to the ladies headed toward the river singing the water prayer. They walk and sing the prayer across the states in gratitude of our sacred water.  Instead I ran into a local religious leader and Cannonball local. First opinion of the day in favor of moving this camp to tribal land.  How will we survive the winter otherwise? The injunction has failed. The Governor of North Dakota has personal investment in this pipeline.  The port-o-potty servicing company is receiving threats for providing for us.  The water that is currently being sent will freeze as the camp is set now.  All electoral candidates say they would negotiate with the tribe on this matter; the current government structure refuses to negotiate with the tribe. Such dismal news seemed to have brought on a dismal drop in temperature and I thought for the first time, one day in, I might not make it.

RAN back to the car, layered up even more, friends were awake now – felt right again!

Next posts to include the truth of what is going on in camp and on the front line, community building 101.  My trip to the front line. And my very own October 14th birthday request of you all!

There’s something special happening here in Standing Rock, the whole world is watching, wondering what we we’ll do next.