Tanka’s Mark Tilsen Speaks.

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Mark A. Tilsen, Sr., President, Native American Natural Foods.

We are proud to be able to share our Tanka Bars with true water warriors. I just got back from delivering another 5,700 Tanka Bars to the Standing Rock water protectors. Spending four days at the camp, you realize that we are at a historic moment!

The unity and deep commitment to peaceful, nonviolent protest and the respectful way in which people of many nations – native and non-native – are living together to form a solid resistance is a very moving and powerful statement from which I think we can all learn. While some have expressed a willingness to die to protect their communities, Tribal President Dave Archambault asked in a speech to the entire camp that the young people make a commitment to live! Fight and work for Native communities by being great fathers, mothers and grandmothers. He recognized that this fight is part of a long history to stop exploitation of the Standing Rock community and a new movement toward building a healthy, sustainable future. He expressed his love and appreciation for to every tribal member and supporter there.

President Archambault’s open expressions of love of his people was refreshing to hear from a politician and is in sharp contradiction to the governor and state government of North Dakota, which is completely controlled by the oil industry. The state pulled out all water and safety services without notice to the more than 2,000 people at the camp on a day when temperatures were hitting 100 degrees, and is preparing to remove the water protectors when given the first excuse!

The next 72 hours will be critical. Please read the following New York Times article and share it with your friends. Contact the White House, the Army Corps of Engineers and give donations of money, water, food or your talents to help.

Occupying the Prairie: Tensions Rise as Tribes Move to Block a Pipeline

Join us in saying it’s no longer OK to keep oppressing and threatening the Indian communities that we have and let us all stand together and support those who are leading the transition from a petroleum-dependent economy that is threatening our planet to a new economy that can provide true sustainability and full employment.

Other progressive natural foods companies who would like to join Native American Natural Foods, and over 80 tribes, organizations and other food companies from across the country help feed the over 2,000 water warriors at Standing Rock, send your full pallets to:

Water Defenders of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe
Blg # 1 North standing Rock Ave
Fort Yates, ND 58538

If you are sending perishables or frozen products, please notify Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Executive Secretary Johnelle Leingang at 701-854-8524 or [email protected]

They have a major need for fresh fruits and vegetables but prepackaged healthy foods will be great as well.

Via the Tanka blog. Tanka’s products are absolutely delicious, by the way, all of them.

Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Rezpect Our Water.  Sign the Petition. Sign urgent petition. And Washington DC people, don’t forget – the hearing is tomorrow! Susan Sarandon has tweeted that she will be there, among many others.

Adding Insult to Injury.

August 18th, 2016. Reuters.

August 18th, 2016. Reuters.

Indianz.com reports:

Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier of Morton County has been largely responsible for law enforcement at the site and he has accused protesters of shooting guns, carrying weapons and even threatening to use pipe bombs against his officers. But tribal members told The New York Times that the “bombs” were mistaken for sacred Chanunpa pipes used in ceremonies.

It’s bad enough the feds and “homeland security” has decided to lie about why they pulled the camps’ water supply and air conditioned trailer. This wouldn’t have anything to do with intimidation and force, oh no. *spits* And seriously, Chanunpa are pipe bombs? Please, the last thing we need is stupid cop paranoia.

WE ARE STANDING. WE ARE RESISTANCE. JOIN US.

Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Rezpect Our Water.  Sign the Petition. Sign urgent petition. And Washington DC people, don’t forget – the hearing is tomorrow! Susan Sarandon has tweeted that she will be there, among many others.

Live news from the camp, I’ll update when possible.

Coping With Cops.

Young Rita Waln led a procession of women and children who shook hands with officers at the ND Capitol after they held a demonstration to deny charges that weapons or pipe bombs were at the Lakota encampments along the Missouri River. About 200 water protectors took their message of peace to the governor that they are unarmed and peaceful.

Young Rita Waln led a procession of women and children who shook hands with officers at the ND Capitol.

Throughout the peaceful protest that water protectors are waging against the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, rumors have swirled about potential threats to public safety—rumors that have been refuted by numerous images and accounts of what is actually happening.

It started with claims on August 17 by Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier that those standing against the pipeline were compromising safety and continued this past weekend, when North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple went so far as to declare a state of emergency across several counties in order to free up federal funds.

“They were preparing to throw pipe bombs at our line, M80s, fireworks, things of that nature, to disrupt us,” Kirchmeier told reporters. “And that in itself makes it an unlawful protest.”

Though Dalrymple stopped short of activating the National Guard, he issued an executive order implying that public safety was at risk.

[…]

With a gathering that has swelled to more than 3,000 people and counting, friction and conflict might not be out of the realm of possibility. But the opposite is in fact the case: accounts and pictures abound of police officers taking off their hats in respect for the daily morning prayers being conducted at the construction site; police shaking hands with a little girl; officers being smudged.

Here are six images of how the dynamics are really playing out on the ground, including one issued by the Bismarck Police Department itself.

Following two days of arresting protestors trying to stop an oil pipeline on Treaty lands, officers joined in morning prayers. As officers learned more about the Tribe's efforts to protect the Missouri River from oil leaks and contamination, many expressed personal support for clean water. (Photo: Courtesy No Dakota Access Pipeline).

Following two days of arresting protestors trying to stop an oil pipeline on Treaty lands, officers joined in morning prayers. As officers learned more about the Tribe’s efforts to protect the Missouri River from oil leaks and contamination, many expressed personal support for clean water. (Photo: Courtesy No Dakota Access Pipeline).

 

Officers removed their hats out of respect as a Lakota prayer song is sung as part of morning prayers at the site where construction was halted by water protectors. (Photo: Courtesy No Dakota Access Pipeline).

Officers removed their hats out of respect as a Lakota prayer song is sung as part of morning prayers at the site where construction was halted by water protectors. (Photo: Courtesy No Dakota Access Pipeline).

 

On day three, after realizing the water protectors are peacefully trying to protect their water from a Texas-based oil company, many officers chose to show respect for morning prayer songs and those who offered to smudge them. (Photo: Courtesy No Dakota Access Pipeline).

On day three, after realizing the water protectors are peacefully trying to protect their water from a Texas-based oil company, many officers chose to show respect for morning prayer songs and those who offered to smudge them. (Photo: Courtesy No Dakota Access Pipeline).

 

We Are Unarmed: After Morton Country Sheriff Kirchmeier said his agency received reports of pipe bombs and threats, Lakota women and children pushed back on those allegations with messages from elders, youth and women. (Photo: Courtesy Indigenous Environmental Network).

We Are Unarmed: After Morton Country Sheriff Kirchmeier said his agency received reports of pipe bombs and threats, Lakota women and children pushed back on those allegations with messages from elders, youth and women. (Photo: Courtesy Indigenous Environmental Network).

 

The Bismarck Police Department itself posted its own photo on Facebook after the same event, with this caption: “Demonstrators shaking hands with officers as event ends. No incidents and peaceful throughout. Thank you to all!” (Photo: Bismarck Police Department/Facebook).

The Bismarck Police Department itself posted its own photo on Facebook after the same event, with this caption: “Demonstrators shaking hands with officers as event ends. No incidents and peaceful throughout. Thank you to all!” (Photo: Bismarck Police Department/Facebook).

Full article at ICTMN.

Fucking Assholes.

Hateful fucking bigots. *spits* Oh, and the military is flying copters over the camps. Armed helicopters. *spits again*

Lakota No Access.

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© Marty Two Bulls.

HUNKPAPA TERRITORY—John Eagle Shield Sr. of Standing Rock, one of several traditionally appointed camp leaders, estimated on Sunday August 21 that about 2,500 people were peacefully gathered amongst what has grown into three separate prayer camps. The mission of those gathered is to protect Standing Rock’s water from the environmentally disastrous Dakota Access Pipeline. The campsites are clustered on the west side of the Cannonball River just north of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, along the Standing Rock reservation’s northern border, where the pipeline is slated to cross.

[Read more…]

A Tale of Two Standoffs.

UrbanNativeEra.

UrbanNativeEra.

Jacobin has a good article up:

The federal response to Lakota protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline couldn’t be more different than their reaction to this year’s Bundy occupation.

[…]

The Lakota, on other hand, are resisting a real and all too familiar danger. Their numbers grow every day. And, unlike the standoff in Oregon, almost no major national news outlets are covering the story. This too participates in a great American tradition: the true fight against oppression is the one nobody notices.

Is that ever the truth. Mainstream media is doing their damndest to ignore us, to ignore the issue. Thanks to Michael McLean at Jacobin for a very good story. Go read, please!

Via Jo-Ellen’s petition.

The Sioux Chef: An Indigenous Kitchen.

Schef

I know I have been asking half the world of people lately, and yes, here I am again, asking. This too, is important. Chef Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge rez, wants to change a serious absence in the food scene. Where’s all the Indigenous food? Traditionally based indigenous food is delicious, healthy, and sustainable. This also marks a great potential for so many Indigenous kids, who are looking more and more to traditional foods, and would like to be able to earn a living cooking, doing what they love. The kickstarter for the restaurant is so close, so very close. If you have a few bucks, please become a backer in this most important venture. (Oh yeah, I’m a backer. I want travel over and eat, so gotta make this happen.)

There is a great deal of information at the site, so I’ll just include a bit here, but I’m putting up lots of photos of amazing, delicious food. Foooooooooood. If you haven’t eaten Indigenous food, seriously, you are so missing out. If we can get one Native restaurant up and running, others will happen. So please visit, and back if you can. If you can’t, please signal boost, spread the word everywhere!

Chef1

[Read more…]

URGENT Petition Call and Solidarity Sings III

Stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline which endangers the water supply to Native American reservations.

 
Please, please sign – we need many, many, lots of signatures by September 14th. We are all in this together!

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Hupa

There continue to be problems, like this:

People at Pine Ridge rez are being harassed by cops, and turned back in their attempts to travel to the camps. This has been going on a while. The concrete roadblocks remain in place here in ND, and the state is bristling with armed cops. The camps continue to grow, as more people from all roads join us, there are 3 camps now, Sacred Stone Camp, Oceti Sakowin (Seven Councils) Camp, and Red Warrior Camp. There are ways into the camps, keep coming, people, join us! The usual caveat: no feds, no guns, no alcohol. We need supplies, donations, signatures, signal boosting! Yell, talk, dance, light the cedar and sage, please, please stand up, stand with us, join us.

Dakota Access Pipeline Standoff. – Feds Grant TRO Against Standing Rock Members. – Dakota Access Protest: We’re being sued – help us fight it! – Dakota Access Standoff Calls on Obama. – Among Those Arrested… – Sacred Stone Camp: Calling Water Warriors! – Dakota Access: About That Oil… – Dakota Access Purchaser Looking Like Enron. – Standing Rock and IITC File Urgent Communication to UN. – Sacred Stone Camp. – North Dakota: State of Emergency Declared. – Solidarity Sings! – Settling into Camp – Washington DC: Action Alert – Solidarity Sings Along. – WE ARE… –

Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Rezpect Our Water.  Sign the Petition. Sign urgent petition.

Dakota Access: Democracy Now! Profiles Water Protectors at Sacred Stones Camp.

WE ARE…

Protect

Protect1

Protect3

Protect4

These are the lies oil is spreading all over about us, especially out Dickinson way. We are not radical extremists. Indians are not busy body out-of-staters. Bad news, Mr. Oil, we were here first. We are not, and have not been violent in any way. Indians can’t be violent, it would be the excuse to finish the genocide.

Out of staters are more than welcome! Everyone is welcome! (Well, no fuckin’ feds. No guns. No alcohol.) Join us! Help us! Stand with us, fight. Fight for our rights to say no. We have a right to safety, to clean water, to healthy land. We stand. We resist. Boost the signal, every and any platform. Donate if you can, supplies, a few dollars, your wireless signal for a few moments, whatever you can do. We have the ability to stand strong. We have the ability to fight for our land, our earth, our water, our people, all people, everywhere. We can stand against corporations and greed. Rise!

#MattRemle – #Honor the Earth – #ProtectorsNOTProtesters – Sacred Stone Camp – Legal Defense Fund. Want a hoodie? (Winter’s coming, stock up!)

Solidarity Sings Along.

The Chief Big Foot Riders arriving in camp to support their Hunkpapa relatives. The riders honor the memory Mniconjou Lakota Chief Bigfoot and his band of 400 people who were massacred at Wounded Knee Creek by the U.S. Army 7th Calvary. In December 1990, they began a four-year commemoration on horseback over the same trail that Chief Big Foot's band followed in 1890, paying tribute and mourning those that died 100 years ago. Credit: Thosh Collins.

The Chief Big Foot Riders arriving in camp to support their Hunkpapa relatives. The riders honor the memory Mniconjou Lakota Chief Bigfoot and his band of 400 people who were massacred at Wounded Knee Creek by the U.S. Army 7th Calvary. In December 1990, they began a four-year commemoration on horseback over the same trail that Chief Big Foot’s band followed in 1890, paying tribute and mourning those that died 100 years ago. Credit: Thosh Collins.

In Iowa, residents are also suing the government, saying that Dakota Access LLC illegally wielded eminent domain to obtain rights of way on their land. That right rests solely with utility companies, they have argued in court. A ruling is pending on that as well, according to The DesMoines Register. Construction has begun in all four states.

Dakota Access Pipeline Standoff. – Feds Grant TRO Against Standing Rock Members. – Dakota Access Protest: We’re being sued – help us fight it! – Dakota Access Standoff Calls on Obama. – Among Those Arrested… – Sacred Stone Camp: Calling Water Warriors! – Dakota Access: About That Oil… – Dakota Access Purchaser Looking Like Enron. – Standing Rock and IITC File Urgent Communication to UN. – Sacred Stone Camp. – North Dakota: State of Emergency Declared. – Solidarity Sings! – Settling into Camp – Washington DC: Action Alert – Solidarity Sings Along. –

Via ICTMN and #LastRealIndians and Simon Moya-Smith.

Washington DC: Action Alert.

To drive this home a bit, these are all the water ways at risk:

If you can be there, please, stand with us. Stand for all people. Stand for our right to say no. Stand for our right to clean air, clean, healthy water, healthy land. We should not have to fight for these things, these are necessary for all life. Water is life. We must care, because corporations do not. We must insist on responsibility and accountability. We must not be resigned. We must fight. Join us.

#LastRealIndians. #NoDAPL. #IndigenousRising.

Dakota Access Pipeline Standoff. – Feds Grant TRO Against Standing Rock Members. – Dakota Access Protest: We’re being sued – help us fight it! – Dakota Access Standoff Calls on Obama. – Among Those Arrested… – Sacred Stone Camp: Calling Water Warriors! – Dakota Access: About That Oil… – Dakota Access Purchaser Looking Like Enron. – Standing Rock and IITC File Urgent Communication to UN. – Sacred Stone Camp. – North Dakota: State of Emergency Declared. – Solidarity Sings! – Settling into Camp – Washington DC: Action Alert –

No DAPL: Settling into Camp.

Arvol

Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th successive keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf pipe leads hundreds from the Oceti Sakowin camp. Credit: Lauren Donovan.

An upside down flag hangs in the center of a new community larger than most small towns in North Dakota. It’s a protest camp near the Cannonball River at the border of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

The flag is a symbol of distress, that the area had been taken over by an enemy. But the atmosphere Thursday afternoon at the Seven Councils or Overflow Camp, where hundreds are staying in Morton County, hardly feels urgent. Rather, it’s joyful and cooperative.

The setup is an extension of the Camp of Sacred Stones, located on the reservation at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers, where people have been protesting an oil pipeline since April. During the past week, the once-small effort has grown to an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 people.

WalterBrave

Walter Brave. Credit: Tom Stromme.

[Read more…]

Solidarity Sings!

Via #LastRealIndians and #IndigenousRising. Seeing such an outpouring of love, prayers, support, donations, and supplies from our allies around the world at Sacred Stone Camp. There are two camps now, so we can use all the help we can get. Thank you all, so very much. Keep standing. Join hands. Join us. Together, we are strong. Together, we can say no. Together, we can protect our land and water. Together, we can make sure we have a good legacy for our children and grandchildren.