The Standing Rock Reservation is situated across North and South Dakota. It is home to 8,217 Sioux people according to the 2010 census. The Sioux people have fought many battles to protect their land and now they’re being forced to fight another.

What happened?

The Dakota Access Pipeline received the financial support to be built in August of 2016. The pipeline is planned to go right under Lake Oahe which supplies water to the people on the reservation and is used for religious practice by the tribe. This outraged the Native American people living on the Standing Rock reservation in North and South Dakota. The outrage caused many protests. Protesters started out in the thousands but, have now declined to only a few hundred on the Army Corp of Engineers land near by. Luckily, devoted people are still fighting for and with these tribes. According to a bustle.com article between 6 and 10 people were arrested Wednesday. Though not many people were arrested the people that were could face federal charges. These people got arrested for taking a stand and they could face federal charges for simply voicing their beliefs.

Courts

The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux have requested the construction of the pipeline be stopped because it violates their First Amendment right to freedom of religion. In order to practice the Sioux religion, they must have pure water. Drilling into the Lake Oahe will cause the water to no longer be pure and the tribes won’t be able to practice their religion. This is unlawful and unfair. Native Americans deserve to have equal rights especially when it comes to a constitutional right.

Obama vs Trump

The issue was held up in courts under the Obama Administration, but when President Trump was elected, things changed. He instructed the Army Corps of Engineers to go ahead with the project. The Army Corps of Engineers is a United States federal agency under the Department of Defense. It is one of the world’s largest engineering, design and construction management agencies. It is generally associated with with dams, canals and flood protection according to its Wikipedia page.
On the Army Corps of Engineers official website it says “Our men and women are protecting and restoring the nation’s environment..”; yet they willingly drill into Lake Oahe. According to an ABC News article, Energy Transfer Partners,a United States 500 natural gas and propane company founded in 1995, maintains that the pipeline is safe and disputes that cultural sites have been affected.

Why You Should Care.
You should care because someone needs to. We need to stand up and say when something is wrong. We need to scream loud so everybody knows that we have a voice and that we will not let that voice be taken away. You should care because if they are allowed to violate these peoples rights who’s going to stop them from violating yours. You should care because if these tribes aren’t treated with respect who’s to say you will be. You should care because everyone deserves a home. A safe home where they don’t have to worry about their water source or their religion or any of their other rights as Americans. You should care because we all deserve rights.

How to Help

Standingrock.org is a website that has more information about the standing rock and ways you can donate to the cause. The funds provided go towards helping with legal fees, sanitary and emergency purposes according to the website. Standwithstandingrock.net is another website that takes donations. It also has more information about the issue and where you can go to protest.

West High School could personally help the tribes by having a fundraiser, such as a bake sale, and donate all proceeds to the cause. We can’t all drive up to the reservation to protest but, donations can and will help them fight this battle in court.