Another discussion we came across this week was one on pipelines. We watched a video of Natives protesting the construction of the pipeline. This video was devastating to see all these people almost fighting for the lives and getting pepper sprayed and bit by dogs. In the video the tribe won this small battle, but needed up losing the war in having the pipeline installed.
This week I also had the chance to research the Dakota Access Pipeline in great detail. The main problem with this whole thing was that tribes don’t really have full control over there land. Many people believe that the treaty rights that are in place right now should be relooked over. Having new regulations on building structures in or around tribal lands that will affect them will prevent this from happening again in the future.
The other part of this whole DAPL situation was when they proposed the pipeline to avoid the tribal reservation and go near the city of Bismarck, North Dakota. Right when the city complained about it harming their water source, they were listened to right away. Apparently it’s no big deal to harm the Indian reservation. Again another example of our country dehumanizing Native Americans.
Jake July 13, 2018
I agree that DAPL should have been rethought of. It is really sad that Natives don’t have control over their own lands. I’m glad that you did some research into DAPL and found more information about it. Once one looks into the whole DAPL situation one can see how horrible it was all around.
I don’t know too much about it but I do know that it was horrible! What we talked about in class really hurt me. It sad to see that the protesters were being brutally attacked by dogs and being pepper sprayed. It was also sad to hear that one of the horses involved in the spur of the moment Labor Day protests had to be put down thanks to the injuries caused to it by dogs..