I would like you to take a minute to imagine yourself sitting peacefully at home, enjoying a meal with your family, when all of a sudden you hear a loud racket outside. You rush to your window to see construction workers digging up your beautiful yard, tossing your children's toys aside and installing a pipeline through your yard without your consent. I bet most of you would not be too thrilled about it. After all, that is your land, your home, and they are destroying something that you consider very dear to you.
Well, that is exactly how the Native Americans are feeling right now with this new pipeline going into the works starting in North Dakota and running through Illinois. Now, a lot of you might be thinking, "Shannon, it's just a pipeline, and oil is a necessity in our country!" Yes, I am well aware of that. Oil is a huge necessity to our country and our economy, but the blueprints of where this line is being constructed were not thought about in the interest of others. The pipeline is going to be extremely close to the Missouri River and Lake Oahe. If the pipe breaks, or leaks, it will contaminate the water and the organisms that inhabit it.
According to The New York Times, who wrote a piece about this issue, pipelines rupture and spill regularly. Native Americans view the land as something extremely sacred to them, along with the river. Not only is the land sacred, they also use it for hunting and fishing. One oil spill could kill off the animals and there goes one of their sources of food. A rupture in the pipe could contaminate the water and there goes their source of water for their horses and other livestock.
Not only is this an environmental concern, it is also destroying history. The plans for the pipeline will go right through sacred burial and tribal grounds. It's basically the same as someone building this pipeline through a church cemetery. Also, the government is once again disregarding treaties that were set in place over a hundred years ago, but apparently that is okay because it's just the Native Americans. WRONG. They were here long before any of us were, and it's time they get the respect the deserve. America is pushing equality, but yet there is still no equality for these people? That baffles me.
My older sister works and lives on a Native American Reservation in South Dakota, as a school teacher for first and second graders. She sees, first hand, how these people live, and the struggles they face on a daily basis. The school can't even afford to give these children age appropriate books to read. They are still living on reservations because they can't afford to be anywhere else. There are still treaties in place telling them what they can and can't own. They are living in poverty, and alcoholic and suicide rates are high. The least we can do is not destroy what these people have left. If no one is willing to stand up for them, then I will.
If this article got you thinking about Native Americans and their living conditions, feel free to donate to my sister and I's GofundMe page!
