Street Signs: The Good and The Bad.

Official signs are cropping up across the city, with four of Toronto’s major streets now bearing signs with their Anishinaabe names. Spadina, or Ishpadinaa, is one of them. (Craig Chivers/CBC).

Toronto is joining a number of other places as far as street signs go, adding the language of the original inhabitants of the land.

“By doing this, it shows that the First Nations people are still here. We’re still on their land. We share it but we’re still on their land,” Grant said.

That’s the problem though, isn’t it, that all the colonial people are still on their land, dominating that land, and dominating the original inhabitants, and not in good ways. While I have been in favour of various street sign initiatives, I think they have little impact on on non-Native people. Oh, they might ooh and aah for a moment or three, and then it’s ignored and forgotten.

Indian Country Today reported on this effort in Toronto back in July of 2013:

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Witnessing history – Thank you DAPL.

Dave Archambault Sr. has a terrific column up at Native Sun News Today:

…Nothing much has changed for Indian Nations and their tribal members since Dee Brown’s book was written 46 years ago. Nothing – Until just recently! For some unexplainable reason, the book has miraculously come to life near a small Indian village in North Dakota, called Cannonball. In live and living color, just as the book revealed tragic treatment of Indian Nations in chapter after chapter, comes Tribal Nation after Tribal Nation announcing their arrival to the “Spirit Camp.” Here throngs of water and land protectors are gathering in a fight against corporate greed. Accounts of injustices and struggles in Indian country echoes throughout the camp and serves to strengthen the resolve to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. “I want to cheer and cry I’m so happy to see the support that arrives daily and hourly,” said Chairman of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Dave Archambault II.

The words to describe the happening are hard to find. Never in the history of the America’s has so many Tribes come together is such a unified way. This joining is about expressing solidarity in behalf of Mother Earth and to also condemn the number one enemy of Mother Earth – Greed.

It is here beside the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers, that it appears the world is watching. It is here, that the Standing Rock Sioux have drawn the line against a history of crooked dealings and disrespect for all Native rights.

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Standing Rock Testifies Before United Nations.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II, flanked by (left) United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Andrea Carmen, executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council, at the 33rd Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 20. Courtesy Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II called on the United Nations on Tuesday to halt construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline through tribal treaty territory and formally invited United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz to visit the reservation.

“I am here because oil companies are causing the deliberate destruction of our sacred places and burials,” he told the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva on September 20. “Dakota Access wants to build an oil pipeline under the river that is the source of our nation’s drinking water. This pipeline threatens our communities, the river and the earth. Our nation is working to protect our waters and our sacred places for the benefit of our children not yet born.”

Speaking at the 33rd Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which runs from September 13 through 30, Archambault outlined the ways in which the pipeline and the treatment of water protectors by the company’s employees had violated the protectors’ human rights.

“Thousands have gathered peacefully in Standing Rock in solidarity against the pipeline,” he said in a statement from the tribe afterward. “And yet many water protectors have been threatened and even injured by the pipeline’s security officers. One child was bitten and injured by a guard dog. We stand in peace but have been met with violence.”

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No DAPL: The Optics Say Birmingham 1963…

Alex Jacobs has an excellent column up at ICTMN.

The Optics Say Birmingham 1963, but It’s Standing Rock 2016, Or could it be Selma 1965, Bloody Sunday, when the President had to federalize the National Guard. Many of the water and land protectors may feel it’s like the Greasy Grass Fight in 1876, Alcatraz 1969 or Wounded Knee 1973. A new generation of activists are being passed the drums and pipes. But right now they need lawyers and funds to bail them out of North Dakota jails. Dozens more were arrested at the Red Warrior Camp including media with their cameras (probably to be used as evidence). If hundreds of the protectors went in to get arrested that would shut down the system. Perhaps shut down the camps too, but more people will come to sneak past the checkpoints, just like 1973.

The land they are on, folks keep calling it private property or Army Corps of Engineers land. But the Oceti Sakowin say the land was theirs until the Army Corps of Engineers at the behest of North Dakota politicians came in and flooded Standing Rock and Cheyenne River lands where Lake Oahe is now. There was no consultation and no compensation for their homelands, for this violation of the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868. Now it’s where the Dakota Access Pipeline threatens to be built 100 feet below, crossing the Missouri River three times. The Indians say the whites flooded the river, stole their land and left them nothing but poverty.

What we Natives are fighting, among many things, is the perceived numbers against us. We cannot deny that we are the very bottom 2% of the population. For every person talking about #NoDAPL and #Standing Rock, nine are arguing over various media distractions. But don’t get mad, just get even. Keep talking, texting, tweeting, posting, writing about #NoDAPL, Sacred Stone, Red Warrior, the indigenous activists coming from around the world and Lawrence O’Donnell too. Billionaire Kelcy Warren set-up his Energy Transfer Partners as a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) company which does not pay taxes. North Dakota politicians are in lock step with the oil & gas industries, Congressman Kevin Cramer as an energy advisor – and climate change denier – to Donald Trump (see no evil), Senator John Hoeven who sits on both Native American and Energy Committees (hear no evil), and Senator Heidi Heitcamp’s non-sequitur responses who also sits on a Native American Committee (say no evil). Is this a pattern of conflict of interests in North Dakota?

Natives are told to go home, do your protest legally, petition the government as citizens do and depend on the courts. Sovereignty, treaties, environmental justice?

Kelcy Warren and the ETP strategy is to keep buying up weaker pipeline, oil & gas companies, because the price of oil is low. The plan for DAPL/ETP in Iowa was all this dirty fracked Bakken oil in the pipelines was for domestic consumption. But Congress changed the 40 year ban to allow U.S. companies to export crude oil, this dirty fracked Bakken oil, to counter the oil price war the Saudis have unleashed on the world. All thanks to Warren’s friend, ex-Texas Governor Rick Perry who joined the board of ETP and lobbied to end the ban.

It’s no longer about American Energy Independence but outright profits for the U.S. and foreign banks who’ve invested in a futures deal to get cheap oil to their countries. The biggest problem for the citizenry (and for ETP) is that these huge pipelines need to be full to maximize profits. Bakken crude is dirty and needs to be heated to move better. This bakes the soil and along with oil and brine spills, the once black fertile land becomes useless. ETP heats, cools, or liquefies the oil & gas for its 70,000 miles of pipelines and is aiming for a goal of 150,000 miles. ETP says, “this is a growth project” and they are “exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on U.S. energy exports.” So forget any carbon reduction and pollution treaties, this sets the stage for more fracking and environmental degradation for years.

[…]

But the nation and the world is watching now. I remember the story, the Crow scouts told Lt. Col. Custer the day they looked down at the biggest gathering of Indians anyone had seen. You don’t have enough bullets for all the Indians down there. Custer didn’t believe, didn’t care about those numbers.

We got to think like that, that whatever they think they got, we got more. They fight for a paycheck. We fight for all we got and all we will have and all that we lost. We got them now. Now it’s them stuck in the past trying to impose a nationwide system of pipelines that will degrade the environment for the next 50 years. The Native water and land protectors, #NoDAPL, the Raging Grannies, farmers and ranchers of Iowa, Bold Nebraska now Bold Alliance that took down Keystone XL, all need to prepare to fight for the future. The country needs to rebuild its infrastructure, go into debt if need be to create millions of jobs not just thousands, with new transmission lines for all manner of green energy projects and not just pipelines. This is the time to start the switch to renewables.

Remember The Greasy Grass River 140 years ago. They don’t have enough “bullets” if we all stand up.

I’m just going to add a reminder here: when you read or hear “light and sweet” or “like olive oil” in regard to oil, remember that you’re drinking oil’s kool-aid. It’s marketing. They want people to think of honey or other food, because in our minds, we consign honey, syrup, or plant oils to the good category. If this oil was that manner of good, it wouldn’t poison land and water. If this oil was that manner of good, the white people of Bismarck wouldn’t have gotten upset about the pipeline running north of them. It’s toxic. It’s poison. It kills. It renders water into death, not life. It is inimical to life. Oil is invested in this type of marketing so that people won’t question, won’t try to stop them. They count on such marketing to keep the majority of people on their side of things.

Via ICTMN.

Ndakota Reality.

Breaking: Dakota Access Lake Oahe Work Stopped.

A U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. has ordered the company building the Dakota Access oil pipeline to stop construction for 20 miles on both sides of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe while the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s appeal of its denied motion to do so is considered.

“ORDERED that Dakota Access LLC be enjoined pending further order of the court from construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline for 20 miles on both sides of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe,” a three-judge panel wrote in its decision, handed down late on Friday September 16. “The purpose of this administrative injunction is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for injunction pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.”

This solidifies a request by the federal government on September 9 for Energy Transfer Partners to cease construction along the same swathe, which the Standing Rock Sioux say contains sacred artifacts and ancient burial grounds.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II expressed relief at the decision.

“This is a temporary administrative injunction and is meant to maintain status quo while the court decides what to do with the Tribe’s motion,” he said in a statement. “The Tribe appreciates this brief reprieve from pipeline construction and will continue to oppose this project, which will severly jeopardize its water and cultural resources. We will not rest until our lands, people, waters, and sacred sites are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline.”

Attorneys for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe—which has signed on as an intervenor in the case—faced off with Dakota Access LLC attorneys on September 15 in federal district court in Washington before the three-judge panel that will also hear the appeal: Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas B. Griffith and Cornelia T.L. Pillard. They voted 2–1 to stop the company from working, according to the order, with Brown casting the dissenting vote.

Also on Friday, a Bismarck judge dissolved the temporary restraining order on protesting that had been levied against Archambault, Tribal Council Member Dana Yellow Fat, and several other tribal members.

Full story here.

John Trudell: WE ARE POWER.

The words of John Trudell, who walked on late last year, ring out in this video by filmmakers Heather Rae, Cody Lucich and Ben Dupris, who recently spent time with the water protectors near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation who are trying to stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline’s proposed route under the Missouri River. His words, delivered in the 1980 speech We Are Power, are even more prophetic in the wake of the destruction of sacred burial grounds and the use of dogs and pepper spray against those who tried to stop it.

Full story at ICTMN.

The Walk, Part II.

Sorry this has taken so long, being concussed has left me spacey and sleepy. Okay, where to start…we were walking back, and stopped at another site, one where a dirt trail led up the hills to where DA equipment was sitting. Once again, it was time to still camera and video. The Chief spoke, and explained that the women elders were going to open the gate, and the warriors (on horseback), were going to run up to the equipment and make sure no one was still chained to them, so they wouldn’t be arrested when DA came to remove their equipment. The warriors got back, and all was well. There was prayer, and then everyone chose their particular place to scatter the tobacco they carried. Afterwards, everyone settled in on the surrounding land. There was an open time for anyone to speak, if they wished to do so, and many did. A young woman from Ecuador spoke eloquently, and often with a quaver of great emotion (3rd photo). She spoke of struggles of indigenous peoples in her home, and while they weren’t yet as bad as what is happening elsewhere, they are heading that way. She spoke of how deeply she was touched by what was happening at Standing Rock, and how important it was, that she felt compelled to travel here. We heard more about the U.S. declaration of bankruptcy in 1933. Representatives of tribes from all over spoke, talking of conditions in their particular areas and the fights they faced, how their water was being stolen* and the loss of their long time sustenance foods, such as salmon, due to dams. They spoke of generational language loss due to colonialism, and the struggle to make their languages flourish once again.

*Water is being stolen at a high rate from California tribes, rivers are being dammed and diverted to support large cities.

A young woman introduced herself and sang a prayer. Then a man who lives on indigenous land in Australia spoke (9th photo). I never once saw him out of that gear, he was one of the more memorable people in the camp. One of the most photographed, too. He spoke poignantly of the fight Indigenous Australians faced, and that he wanted to raise awareness everywhere, because much like water, these pipelines are also connected, and endangering water and life everywhere. Where water is life, the oil is death, and we need to break our dependence before it’s too late.

A young Na:tinixwe man (Hupa) spoke with overwhelming emotion of the stolen water and traditional sustenances of his people. He spoke of a time after their river (Klamath) had been dammed, young children dragged hoses from their houses to the river, trying to fill it up again. There is not a child anywhere on this earth that should feel such sadness and loss. He too spoke of language loss. He also spoke out to all the men, telling them that if they had adopted European ways of relationships, to abandon them, to be true to their own tradition, which values women and in which, it’s women who have the most important voices, as they are the dreamers, the weavers, the givers of life, the planners, the teachers, so it’s the women who must be listened to, always. As he spoke, tears often ran down his face. As an aside to his message, when we were at the first site, one of the elders who spoke was an Anishinaabeg woman. She started to speak, then mentioned how she wasn’t liked by her council because she talked too much, and the crowd of people broke out in loud, raucous cheers. In Indigenous cultures, there’s a great love of women who talk too much, who won’t be silenced, because their contributions are always needed, even if someone doesn’t want to hear what they have to say.

An elder from a newly arrived delegation from Maine spoke (11th photo), and he spoke a bit about dirt. He reached down, and scooped up a handful of dirt. He said it was a shame that in English there’s just the word dirt, which is used in negative ways, to express disgust. He let the dirt sprinkle softly down, then reached and scooped up some more, as he explained that they taught their children that when you pick up a handful of dirt, you are holding a handful of the molecules of your ancestors. That the earth, the dirt is rich in history, and it nourishes all life. It’s yet another reminder to be mindful. To be aware. To have respect. The folks from Maine also brought a truckload of moose meat.

The Tonoho O’odham elder spoke again, about the loss of much of their way of life when they lost the Gila River. He spoke of Roosevelt’s “offer” to move them to Oklahoma (translation: you walk there), and how the people refused, wanting to stay on their own land, and how so many of them died. He spoke of Sihasin, saguaro, who are guardians. He spoke about the insanity of imposed borders where he lives, and the rabid people trying to keep people out. He spoke of a time when there were no artificial borders, and of how often he crosses this border himself, to get water or medicine. He said he is always stopped, but he speaks to people in his language, which they do not understand, and they always let him go. Other people had also spoken of the imposed borders, in the attempt to keep primarily Mexicans out, and pleaded with all tribes to offer people sanctuary, as these borders are not ours.

Eventually, it was time to go back home. We enjoyed the walk, taking in all the land, stopping for a slight rest, then finally making it back into camp, where not much later, I was brained by the tent frame. :D Perhaps I should have stayed on the road longer.

Indigenous people are everywhere in the world. If you are near indigenous people, be aware of their struggles, and ask if you can help. Ask more people to be awake and help. Join those people, be aware that their struggles are also yours. Join in with all the facebook NDNs (and twitter, blogs, and other social media), and spread the word – can’t stop the signal!

The Walk, Part 1.

Yesterday, after sleeping quite late, I had enough time to wander into the communal area, snag some coffee, and cozy up to the council fire. Everyone started moving to the main camp road, and Rick was off, giving another walking stick, so I went walking too. People were walking (and some driving) the 20 miles to the site of the desecration. When Rick tried to find me and didn’t, he thought “crazy woman of mine, she’s probably walking, and ran a long way to catch up. Crazy man of mine. Lots and lots of photos here, and this is the walk to, not the full walk. (Click da images for full size.) In the 2nd photo, over to the left, you can see Joan Baez still hanging, and she went on the walk. In the 7th photo, the elder in the gray T-shirt leading is the elder of the Tonoho O’odham runners, who ran 1500 miles to join us.

I want to take some time to address someone who was being very idiotic, ignorant, and disrespectful in a thread over at Pharyngula. This person wanted to know if there were photos of the sacred sites before they were bulldozed, because there wasn’t any evidence they were actually there, and this was probably just a story people made up. All the land in these photos alone, and much more, is history. These are history books, so to speak. I have given photos, so to that person, I say, can you read the history that is there? Just because you cannot read that history does not mean it doesn’t exist. All history is not contained inside the texts that colonialists wrote. Little history is there at all. This is a land where many, many massacres took place. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead. There were no formal, white-type cemeteries set up and built, that is not the way Indigenous people did things. No temples, no cathedrals. That is not the way of this land, of these people. Back then, with massacres happening so often, many ancestors were barely buried, maybe three feet down. Not all of these sites are specifically known, but many are, because of the history carried forward through generations. To that person in the thread, I would ask what did you think you would see? Because nothing they saw would constitute proof in their mind, because they carry no learning, and no understanding. To understand, you need to break yourself out of that colonial box that has commandeered minds all over the land, all over this earth. It’s a greedy, uncaring, disrespectful way of thinking and living, and it is time for all people to break the chains of colonialism. Teach your children the necessity of respect, for all life, for our earth, rather than colonial thinking. This can end, if people care enough.

Someone else in that thread spoke of disliking seeing people in traditional dress, because it made them look like stereotypical Indians. If that sort of idiocy pops up in your head, please, shut up. Ask yourself, do I know an Indian? Do I know anything about their way of life, their culture, their language, or traditions? If you don’t, please, don’t spill ignorance. Ask, learn. We are people who live in this world, who also have thousands of years of culture and tradition with them. In that, we are no different from any other people, except perhaps, in our refusal to lose our traditions.

When we reached the site of the desecration, it was time again to shut down all recorders and cameras. The actual site which was bulldozed is not pictured, it’s up on a hill past the tipis in the last photo. After the Chief spoke, many elders spoke. One of the elders was speaking, and turned about and asked “is there a baby here, a young one? Bring them up” Several people got up and took their very young children to the center of the circle. The elder held one baby girl, and said to everyone there “remember this – today, you are standing in this girl’s past. She will remember this, and she will tell the story of this day, this time, all you standing here. She will tell this story, and her children, and grandchildren will tell this story. We stand in the children’s past, and we must stand strong and right, we are the history of their future.”

I think this is extremely important. It does not matter if you have children, I don’t, but every single one of us, we are all standing in the children’s past. All over the world. We must stand up, we must rise for what is right. We must make our voices strong, we must make a history that is strong and right for all the children to build on, to provide them with a strong and true foundation. This provides the continuing foundation for the next seven generations, and the seven to come after that. All of us adults, we are living history at this moment, and our actions, our words, they will continue on, echoing far into the future. Never think, “oh, there is nothing I can do.” Yes, there is much you can do, right where you are, no matter in the world. Be strong. Stand. Add your voice. Refuse to stay in a colonialist box. Raise your children and grandchildren with a mind to the past and the future, be a bridge. Start a garden, even better, start a community garden. Pull people in, remind them, we are meant to be a community, we are not meant to be isolated and alone. When we are good, we are great, but it must be remembered that that goodness starts with community, with care. Caring for our neighbours, caring for our elders, caring for our young people. Care for the earth, the air, the water, where ever you live. Be a protector, refuse to passively accept the lies, disregard, and disrespect of corporations who do nothing but destroy. We have this strength. We have this power. We have this voice.

There were ceremonies, but I’m not going to speak about them in any detail. The ancestors were honoured. Then we started the walk back to the second site, where there would be more ceremonies, and that will be part 2, tomorrow. I’m a bit shaky today, and back home, because there was a whirlwind in camp yesterday, and I had a tent pole frame slam into my thoracic vertebra at around 40 miles an hour. So, more tomorrow, and I’ll probably think of everything I forgot and meant to write today, yeah? I’m sure I will. :D Oh, for anyone sending supplies out – please, no more plastic utensils or styrofoam cups. Right now, the plastic utensils are being washed, because around a hundred thousand of them are being going through in a week, and while many have been sent off for recycling, we don’t want to be part of the problem in using these things. The major need right now is for wood, and I know that’s something which can’t be sent through the mail. So money is probably best, if you can part with a dollar or two, or blankets and quilts for winter. Thoughts are now on planning for the winter, which is descending quickly. We’ll be taking wood out over the next couple of weeks. For those of you who have things to send, this is where:

SHIP TO:

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
attn: Johnelle Leingang
North Standing Rock Ave
Fort Yates, North Dakota, 58538

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More Monday.

So much happened yesterday, so this will be a bit rambling all over. The man in the first photo, Garbanzo, came with a truckload of fresh vegetables from Minnesota, and regaled everyone with Oh Susanna on his fiddle, which put a smile on everyone’s face. Delegations kept coming in, from California and Canada, including Akwesasne (Mohawk), who have started AIM in Canada. Midnight Express, championship singers, were set up by the council fire, they were here to sing the runners in. Emmet, the 84 soon to be 85 year old runner, couldn’t stay down when they sang, he was up dancing every song. There were two women poets, very powerful, and a young woman who sang a beautiful song. I wish I had heard her name, but I missed it, but I did hear that a video she did on youtube had a million views. More people from Alberta, Canada came. One woman spoke, and her voice was a river of tears for what is happening in her homeland. A young man, a trader, came and spoke about the native traders who have been working very hard, and caused Energy Transfer and Dakota Access to lose over one billion dollars from their stock. Suicide Squad, Lunatic Fringe, and Bad Company traders in NY were largely responsible, and much thanks went out to them. Yesterday was Leonard Peltier’s birthday, and we all listened to an audio recording from him, 72 years old, and still in prison. This was, as always, great sadness, but Midnight Express sang a Happy Birthday drum song, with everyone joining in, and dancing a round dance for him, and that recording and video will be given to Leonard.

Everyone was waiting for the runners, from the Tohono O’odham. Seven of them, who ran 1500 miles to join us here. They were wearing sacred paint, and requested no video and no photos. The last part of this journey, they were facing heavy winds, which slowed them down a bit. When word came they were running into camp, followed by their singers, people lined the road to cheer them in. The elder spoke, then their singers sang several songs. It was serious cold by that time, so after supper and a while hugging the council fire, we headed off for the night. Today, we walked the 20 miles to the graves which were desecrated, and the 20 miles back, so a bit tired here. More tomorrow.

Monday, Monday.

Finally got moved, back in Oglala camp, listened to various speakers and singers this morning, and while standing in line for lunch. Robby Romero sang again, and a Native Hawaiian with an electric ukulele, and Joan Baez. Oh, the one photo is of the sage, cedar, and cansasa (chahn shah shah, tobacco, inner bark of red willow), for prayers and offerings. Heading back to the council area.

Sunday Sunset.

Click for full size.

Sunday sometime…

Trying to catch up here, when I can get a signal. Ooh, let’s see. Many elders spoke yesterday afternoon and into evening. Rick was back in the kitchen cooking frybread. Emmet (in the yellow shirt) who is 84, soon to be 85, who has been organizing runs all over the world since 1971, to spread the message that we are all related and that all life is sacred, spoke of the many places he has been in the world; and his most memorable run, in 80 below windchill, running with the four-leggeds, wild horses, and how that was such an honor, to be allowed to run with them. Dolores Taken Alive spoke, as one of the oldest residents of Standing Rock, of how it is time for our way of life to become the way of life for all people. Bear Woman spoke of the United States bankruptcy in 1933, and treason against treaties. Youth rallies will be taking place on Tuesday, to get prepared for winter. (We’ll be bringing wood in next week). There are now more flags here than the United Nations. A delegation from Samson Cree from Alberta, Canada was here yesterday, and presented their flag. Solemn people, who are fighting so hard for their land and water. A Haudenosaunee women’s group of singers came into camp, and sang two beautiful songs. A young Apache woman from New Mexico introduced herself yesterday, with a voice full of tears and joy. Robby Romero is here, and he sang Heartbeat. Joan Baez showed up last night, and there was a rap concert which lasted for hours.

A person donated a brand new Toyota truck yesterday, and today, a gorgeous bus pulled in, full of supplies, and with the news the bus was being donated, too! It was roasting hot yesterday, but the winds came up last night, and are still with us. Chill and windy windy today. Oh, also, a huge semi truck came in last night, completely loaded with wood.