I'm sure many of you have heard about what is going on at Standing Rock: The issue that the media refuses to report on.
It needs to stop. I think America is great, (no Trump pun intended), however, our history just shows that we were selfish, racist, demeaning pigs. To this day, we still are.j
We have robbed the Native Americans from their land. They were here first, not us. After we wiped out their entire kind, we stuck what was left of them on (excuse my language) pretty shitty reservations. What is currently going on at Standing Rock is just the tip of the iceberg.
Millions of protesters (Including some celebrities like Shailene Woodley) are gathering at Standing Rock to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Pipeline will deliver crude oil through North Dakota down to Illinois.
The only problem with that is that it will run through a very sacred Indian burial ground at Standing Rock. I have a little bit of Cherokee heritage in my blood and if there is one thing I can tell you about the Native Americans it's that they are incredibly spiritual people. They believe in the power of healing, and that everything is a part of nature. The indian burial ground is very sacred to them. That's one reason that they are so against it. However, I'm not here to talk about why or why not the Dakota Access Pipeline should happen, I'm here to call out our government and the officers who are currently at Standing Rock.
Protestors are being sprayed with water in freezing cold temperatures, being shot with rubber bullets, some have even claimed to have been locked in dog kennels. Others tazed, or sprayed with pepper spray. I'm not at Standing Rock to know what is going on, but if that is the case it needs to stop.
Shailene Woodley got arrested for no reason. If you don't believe me, see for yourself. She streamed it on facebook live. She was walking around with the other protestors. Cops just tagged her, and arrested her. There was no violence in the video, there was no mistreatment of police officers. They arrested her anyway.
What right do the officers at Standing Rock have to treat these peaceful protestors like dirt? Since when was protesting a crime? It's in our constitution. Now, if the protestors were being violent and acting wild like they did in Oregon after Donald Trump won the presidency, then yes, the officers have a right to defend themselves. However, that isn't the case.
The reason you probably haven't been seeing this occur on the news a lot is because the media doesn't want to report of officers mistreating citizens, they want to report on officers being shot, and other stuff like that. They covered the election more than they did Standing Rock, and honestly, I think this is more important.
These police officers should be charged with misconduct. They do not deserve the badges they wear. They are supposed to enforce the law. The only thing these people are doing is standing up for what they believe in, I didn't know that was a crime.
Like I said earlier in this article, we have mistreated the Native Americans enough. So why would we continue to rob them even more?
The construction of the pipeline needs to stop. The officers need to be stripped of the badges they wear. Instead of focusing on how to transport crude oil nationwide, let's find ways to utilize renewable energy sources. We won't have oil forever. So why spend trillions of dollars for a pipeline that we won't need in the future?
In 1851, a treaty was made between the tribes of several Native Americans and the government, giving them their own territory. Some say this treaty is being breached. However, I haven't done enough research on this to form an opinion on whether or not that the treaty is being breached.
I understand that we have mistreated a lot of different ethnicities, so don't think for a second I'm only defending one. The only thing Donald Trump has done with his political campaign is divide our country. He lit a fire that will result in the world burning (I mean that in a metaphorical sense). All those years spent trying to move forward have been destroyed. I'm not saying Hillary is even better.
The bottom line is that the construction needs to stop, and the police officers at standing rock need to leave the protestors alone and let them protest peacefully. I'm sure there are other areas you can put a pipeline other than straight through sacred ground.
