Jesuit volunteer writes from Standing Rock

Amanda (right) with her St. Xavier, Montana Jesuit Volunteer community

The frigid air bites into my skin as I look around the Oceti Sakowin Camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Tribal, state, and country flags flap rapidly in the wind. Hundreds of tents, shacks, teepees, and permanent structures go on for miles. A young man walks around offering food, as the steady beat of the drum circle envelops me.

Since August, when I began my year of service on the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana, I have strived to educate myself and engage in social justice issues that affect the tribe and indigenous peoples as a whole. In mid-November, my intentions manifested into action, as my St Xavier JV community and the Ashland JV community headed to Standing Rock. The experience led me to further contemplate the immediate necessity of ecological justice as well as navigate my place as a Native ally.

Hundreds have been gathered in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline for the past nine months, fighting against both the ecological risks of the pipeline, as well as the oil company's neglect for Native rights and autonomy surrounding the construction. The pipeline would not go through the reservation, at least as it currently stands--it would be directly on the edge of it. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, however, granted the Sioux much greater territory (including the site of construction) that was later illegally taken by the US government. The treaty was never nullified. Legally, then, to whom do these lands belong? How would a potential oil spill affect the reservation and the country as a whole? Is the pipeline construction worth the risk?

To read on see: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2017/01/23/on-standing-rock-and-allyhood/

Note: on 28 January Global Prayers for Standing Rock will be taking place around the world. Find a prayer group near you. For more information see: http://globalprayeraction.com/homepage