Photo Credit: Native Impact, Kyle SD
Full Protest Story: Story Excerpt ~ Oglala Lakota Nationals prevent oil pipeline materials, destined for Canadian Tar Sands and/or Keystone XL infrastructure locales (or some unknown destination) from being transported across the Pine Ridge Reservation’s Treaty territory. Information travelled to Debra and Alex White Plume (Owe Aku, Inc. “Bring Back the Way) and Olowan Martinez that semi-trucks loaded with enormous oil pipeline components were set to cross Oglala territory sometime during the afternoon on March 5th, 2012. We did not know where the equipment was going, but we knew that these trucks were too huge, too heavy, and too dangerous to pass our roads. We thought the equipment may be going to the Tar Sands oil mine, or other oil mines in Canada,” Debra White Plume explained. A call went out via digital media and other sources for all able bodied and willing participants to mobilize and report to Wanblee, South Dakota, for an impromptu gathering of scores of activists ready to block the road with their bodies to prevent semi-trucks and pipeline components from crossing Oglala Territory.
Debra White Plume of Owe Aku, Inc. summed up the peoples’ sentiment when she said “It is always good to see that we’re still Indigenous. We will never stop caring for mother earth. When the call went out asking for help, the response was immediate. People from the community of Wanblee – [a major Traditional stronghold during the tension and violent filled 1970s between the federally backed goon squads and the American Indian Movement backed the Traditionals) poured out in numbers offering huge pots of soup, coffee, and other provisions for anyone willing to take a stand. The people will always help each other.”
Photo Credit: Native Impact, Kyle SD
Article Credit: Chase Iron Eyes is the Owner and Founding Writer at www.lastrealindians.com, a new authentic media project that offers fresh, incisive takes on relevant, hard hitting subjects impacting Indian country and the world. This article was originally published at Lastrealindians.com.
