Beginning today, Native Americans from across the nation will gather in Washington, D.C., for four days of protests against the Trump administration and the Dakota Access oil pipeline that will culminate with a Friday march on the White House.
The Rise With Standing Rock Native Nations March will happen in D.C. on March 10, where protesters will march from the Army Corps of Engineers office to the White House, where a rally is scheduled.
The Standing Rock Sioux and other water protecters have been for months fighting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, which many believe desecrates sacred land and threatens to poison the water supply.
“We are calling on all our Native relatives and allies to rise with us,” said Dave Archambault, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. “We must march against injustice. Native nations cannot continue to be pushed aside to benefit corporate interests and government whim.”
“We are committed to the people of Standing Rock, we are committed to nonviolence, and we will do everything within our power to ensure that the environment and human life are respected. That pipeline will not get completed. Not on our watch,” said Anthony Diggs, a spokesman for Veterans Stand, who came to the Standing Rock campsite to protect protesters there, reports the Indigenous Peoples.
PBS NewsHour reports that a federal judge is expected to issue a decision this week weighing a request by the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes to halt construction of the last section of the Dakota Access pipeline pending the outcomes of their lawsuit seeking to stop the project.
President Donald Trump reversed President Barack Obama’s decision to re-route the pipeline when he took office. Trump issued an executive order during his first weeks in office advancing the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines. The two tribes contend that their treaty rights were violated when the government changed its mind.
SOURCE: PBS NewsHour, The Indigenous Peoples
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Trump Issues Executive Order To Advance Controversial Pipelines