Locals taking supplies to Standing Rock

John Two-Hawks, a Grammy-nominated Native American Flute music recording artist who resides in Eureka Springs, is traveling to North Dakota this week to take a trailer-load of locally donated supplies to about 3,000 protesters at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation who are gathered to stop the construction of the $3.8-billion Dakota Access Pipeline through Native American lands.

“There is an old prophecy in our culture that a black snake will try to come across the land,” Two-Hawks said. “If we do not kill the black snake, our world will end. We take the prophecy very seriously. That pipeline is the black snake of the prophecy.”

Energy Transfer Partners says the Dakota Access Pipeline will transport crude oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois. Plans call for the pipeline to be 30-inches in diameter crossing 1,172 miles with the capability of transporting 470,000 – 570,000 barrels of oil per day.

“Traveling through 50 counties in 4 states, the proposed route was carefully designed to transport crude in the safest, most efficient way possible,” the company writes on its website.

However, opponents say this is a classic case of environmental injustice that targets Native American lands for the pipeline after it was prohibited by the City of Bismarck, the 92-percent white capital of North Dakota, because of concerns about water contamination from a pipeline break.

Two-Hawks said the protest is getting very little national media attention, even though it is likely one of the larger and more important protests in the history of the U.S. It is the first meeting of the Seven Council Fires of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people since before the Battle of the Greasy Grass, which white people refer to as the Battle of Little Big Horn.

“It is pretty significant stuff,” Two-Hawks said. “One thing important to understand is the people at the camp aren’t moving. They have relocated from their homes. They are now living in this camp. They don’t plan to go anywhere. They are preparing even now for the colder weather. We’re talking about forty below zero at night in the winter. The cold is brutal. They are determined. Indigenous people from everywhere are coming to this camp.”

Two-Hawks said the pipeline is the proverbial straw that broke camel’s back: After Bismarck refused to let it happen in their community, the energy company decided they would find it easier to run it through Native American lands because they don’t have enough money, political power or resources to do what Bismarck did. Instead of going through regular channels to get permits, they used legally questionable methods to get quick permits.

Two-Hawks said the reason for stopping the pipeline is more than cultural. It is more than about preserving sacred Native American sites, such as burial grounds.

“Although it is about those things, and those reasons do matter, the bigger reason is protecting Mother Earth, the environment, the future of all our grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” he said. “It isn’t a matter of if the pipeline would break and contaminate the ground and water supplies, but when. Piping hundreds of thousands of barrels of fossil fuel across the midsection of this continent is not the answer to our economic woes, and it is certainly not an environmental solution. The time to stop has come.

“The future of all our children hangs in the balance. We intend to stand in the way until the pipeline dies, however long it takes. Our people have been protectors of the Earth for thousands of years. Even way back in the day when early settlers used to think the primeval forests of North America were endless, the indigenous people were trying to say ‘no.’ We must have the foresight to stop or there will come a day when we have no clean water, no clean air, and no clean soil, and we will have done this to ourselves.”

Recently the federal government ordered work stopped for 20 miles on either side of the area where protesters are gathered. But it is uncertain how long that will last. Protesters aren’t going anywhere and don’t trust the company or the government.

“They have tried to circumvent the regulatory process which, if they had gone through, would have prevented the pipeline from ever going through,” Two-Hawks said. “There is hope with the lawsuit. I do, however, think the cards are stacked against us because of the money. I think these people will do anything to the Earth in the name of profit. We are trying to stand in the way of a $10-billion Goliath. So it won’t be easy. It will require more sacrifice. But our people are up for the task. And we always have been. We are happy that President Obama stepped in, but we know the fight is not over yet, so the people are staying until the black snake of the prophecy dies completely.”

Two-Hawks is traveling with several other Native Americans leaving Friday, Sept. 16.

“My whole point for going up there is to see it myself, and connect with our Seven Council Fires,” he said. “I want to bring supplies and some of the things that people need. I just want to do my small part. We have to stop sucking the blood out of Mother Earth. Mother needs that oil. It is her blood. When we drain all that out of her, bad things happen. Look at what happened last week because of that earthquake from oil companies doing wastewater injection in Oklahoma. The time to stop is not tomorrow. It is today. The moment is now and that is why our people are there and that is why they are standing up.”

Two-Hawks expressed gratitude to the community of Eureka Springs for incredible support and generosity in donating supplies.

“It is one of the reasons I moved here seventeen years ago, because this community has such a passion for keeping the environment intact,” he said.

His wife, Peggy Hill, said she has received tremendous response from putting an appeal on Facebook. She has a long list of needs including school supplies (children at the camp are in school), diapers, food, blankets and tents.

“I barely put anything out and people were dropping things off and sending me messages,” Hill said. “One lady offered to pay for the travel expenses up there. Steve Gassaway of Mountain Bird Coffee donated coffee. The response from Eureka Springs is wonderful and reminds me of the SWEPCO protest.”

Hill said there are 3,000 people at the camp now, and it may end up being 10,000. Native Americans have come from as far away as New York and Alaska. There are hundreds of tribal flags in the camp.

Hill said despite news reports to the contrary, the protesters are 100 percent peaceful.

“The only violence has been perpetrated by the oil companies, which sent in attack dogs and people with mace, and made aggressive acts towards the people,” she said.

The last day to donate supplies for this trip is Friday, Sept. 16, but Hill said there would be other opportunities to help later. Hill can be reached at (479) 253-1732. There is also a fundraiser on Go Fund Me. Google Go Fund Me Dakota Access Pipeline Protest and Go Fund Me.