The right to clean water is the right to live. It's a right that millions of people take for granted every single day when they turn on a faucet, take a shower, do laundry, cook, or a dozen other small things.
The Dakota Access Pipeline that will run from North Dakota to Illinois is threatening that right as it crosses under the Missouri River. This pipeline would go into Native American lands, under their burial grounds, through artifacts, and under a river that supplies millions of people across the United States with water.
By fracking for oil, the pipeline will destroy the environment around this area and potentially for thousands of miles. After the most recent oil spill in Alabama and Georgia, there's no need to continue polluting water all over the country.
No one deserves this, especially when we still have things like the the Flint water crisis still going on.
There is still a huge drought in California as well, but apparently people think it's okay to continue to threaten sources of water when some people don't have water.
Protests have sprung up in response, and rightfully so. In fact, it's the largest gather of Native American tribes and people in years. Over 200 different tribes are represented in this protest, but the media has decided to ignore it for the most part.
This is more than a matter of clean water for all, though.
By running through and near the Standing Rock Sioux's reservation, they cut through ancestral lands that hold religious artifacts for the tribe as well as through burial grounds.
We wouldn't put up with a pipeline through Arlington National Cemetery, so why should we put up with it through other's burial grounds? Especially when this is a tribe that had claim to this land before the United States were around.
They aren't the only tribe being threatened either, and that is why this is so big. Native Americans deserve the same respect as everyone else. Their protests deserve to be heard, and they've started to make an impact.
The Obama administration has called for a halt for the time being, and permits are being reviewed, but that doesn't mean anything has changed yet.
This isn't something we can hope will solve itself, and we can't believe that a few steps in the right direction will stay like that even if it is a start. We all have to deal with the consequences of this, and the Stand Rock Sioux will feel it first. They deserve far better than this.
Say no to the Dakota Access Pipeline and help the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes.
