Since 2014, the Dakota Access Pipeline has been in the process of being constructed, as well as being protested. The Native Americans of North Dakota have recently caught the attention of citizens all around America with their protesting against the ongoing construction.
This pipe line stretches from Illinois to South Dakota. It is made to transfer around half a million barrels of crude oil to consumers in the Midwest and East coast. This construction would run through the Mississippi river, which is where the Native American tribe Standing Rock Sioux goes to retrieve their drinking water.
The tribes main concern of the pipeline would be oil leakage into the Mississippi river. While being an obvious environmental controversy, building this pipeline through their homeland would disturb the many ancestors buried on the reservation, creating a cultural issue.
Although the pipeline construction is already 70% complete, protest groups continue to grow in size and stretch across the entire country. Last weekend, the weekend of the 2016 Presidential Election, there was a peaceful protest in Boston, Massachusetts, by tribe supporters all over the area. Protestors gathered in the Boston Common to speak out against and raise awareness about this controversial issue.
Thousands of supporters continuously joined together to show awareness of the issues arising on Indian Tribal grounds. Despite whether or not the process of building the oil pipeline will stop, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has made history due to their influential protesting.
