"Protectors, not protesters."

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe have been protesting alongside allies against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline for the last few months. This fracked pipeline project is a multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline projected to span the distance 1172 miles across four states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois) and transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude, dirty oil daily across countless waterways.

This pipeline would affect native communities and their lands, and this is what has sparked protest. It would disrupt native land, sacred sites, archaeological sites, and countless waterways that those living along this pipeline need access to in order to survive. Water is life. Yet construction continued without grievance to the protests that have been building since the inception of this project.

Current laws only allow for activists on native lands to assess safety and security and have a cultural dialogue, thus blocking any true means of action – but construction is underway and little notice has been made of the activists and this type of conversation is useless to give them any voice in these types of matters. Collective awareness is necessary to bring these grievances to light, yet these conversations have not been part of main media.

Events and issues in native communities have long since been left out of “mainstream” American media and our conversations as a nation. This only perpetuates the oppressive nature of our collective consciousness as a nation – whose voices do we care about? Whose humanity is important to us? The answer lies in the voices you see represented in the media, the faces we see day by day on screen and in paper. When was the last time you heard about problems in the Native community?

Native activists have been protesting this development for months. After seeing what happened to the Tar Sands of Canada, it’s pretty clear what the lands along this pipeline will look like after it is built.

The events in Standing Rock represent the biggest gathering of Native Americans in over 100 years. Over 30 tribes have joined together to be part of these protests, over 100 tribes have allied themselves across the United States and Canada, and even Black Lives Matter has come out in support.

Yet where is the national coverage? Where is the outcry on social media, the profile filters mourning those being attacked by our very government and protectors? Where are we focusing our attention? Whose lives matter to our collective voice?

Activists have been holding prayer protests for months, but to no avail. Recently, however, social media has picked up the protests and people from all over the world are beginning to stand up and speak out. Celebrities are helping the protest gain traction (such as Leonardo DiCaprio online and Shailene Woodley actively protesting in Washington), and we are becoming more aware.

Yet national coverage is not showing you the injustices these communities are facing.

Recently, the pipeline’s firm hired private security attacked the activists with dogs and pepper spray.

Law enforcement has punched and tackled protesters.

Nearly 30 people have been arrested in the last two weeks.

Natives’ ancestral gravesites have been desecrated.

Prayer sites have been destroyed.

Amnesty International has sent a delegation of human rights observers and written letters to law enforcement authorities dictating the ways they are required to act in accordance with international human rights standards.

Yet our collective eyes remain averted to these atrocities.

Construction was ordered to halt on September 6 in lieu of a court date scheduled for later this month to decide the fate of the pipeline project.

However, the pipeline is 48% complete. It is scheduled to start delivering oil in January 2017. Just months away.

Protests are continuing to evolve and new information is continuing to unfold. National coverage remains at a minimum. We must keep our eyes and ears open and our hearts compassionate.

Pipelines have been stopped before by activist pressure. This movement unites many – the tribes across North America who are affected, minorities across the country who have been oppressed and ignored, the green energy movement, movements to end climate change.

Water is life. For the tribal nations, for the farmers and residents whose water is being threatened, for the planet we live in and must protect. We take clean water for granted, but what happens when it is taken away? Water is life.

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If you would like to help stop the pipeline and support native communities, these are actions you can take to help:

-Sign the petition to the White House to stop the DAPL.
-Donate to the DAPL Fund.
-Adapt this letter to show your organization’s support.-Send supplies to this address: Bldg #1, N. Standing Rock Ave, PO Box DFort Yates ND, 58538
-Call the White House and leave a message at (202) 465-1414
-Contact the North Dakota governor, Jack Darlymple, at (701) 328-2200 and leave a message.