;)
;)
;){kind=icon}
'Mni Wiconi' Film Illustrates The Power of a Mother's Prayer
Friday, December 2, 2016 at 3:00AM 
Yesterday, I watched Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock, a short film about water protectors from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies who are trying to stop the 1,100-mile Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
The completion of this project – also known as the Bakken Pipeline – would damage sacred Native American burial grounds and poison the water supply for 17 million people across four states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
Maybe you’ve recently come across a brief news story about some aspect of the resistance. Maybe you heard about the group of U.S. veterans headed there this week to protect the citizens who are under attack at the hands of the Morton County Police Department, on the government’s watch. One of the biggest takeaways from Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock, however, is that this spiritual awakening that has brought so many citizens from around the globe together – especially during a time when the world is so divided -- began with a woman named Ladonna Allard.
“I wasn’t an activist. I’m a mom,” expresses Allard in the film as she describes the beginnings of Sacred Stone Camp after finding out the construction of Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) was taking place where her son is buried, in North Dakota. In April 2016, Allard asked her relatives to come and stand with her to protect the water and the land. Today, several hundred tribes are united on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, a historic gathering with prayer demonstrations to prevent the “black snake” (referring to DAPL) from destroying the earth.
Mni Wiconi: The Stand at Standing Rock is a must-see film. Please watch it, share it and honor tribal sovereignty and the Earth we inhabit by telling President Obama to deny the easement by calling 202-456-1111.
We need every person to call Obama this week before Dec. 5th!
Reader Comments (2)
Not 100% sure, but I think I saw an article mentioning that some progress has been made on getting the pipeline moved. *crossing fingers*
Angela,
Yes the Army decided to not grant the easement (or permit) for drilling under the Missouri River, and has requested a full Environmental Impact Statement to be made.
It's a small victory for the tribe members whose concerns and struggles have been ignored and outright dismissed for so long by the company running the pipeline, the local and federal governments, law enforcement agencies and citizens. The pipeline company, however, filed a lawsuit against the Army, in hopes that a judge can overturn their decision. That trial is set to take place in February.