Prayer Over Mother Earth

Note from the Publisher: On the 1st of April, 2016, citizens of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota Nations set up a spirit camp near Cannonball, South Dakota, to peacefully protest the proposed route of the $3.7 billion bakken oil pipeline, aka Dakota Access pipeline, which upon completion, is slated to carry an estimated 450,000 barrels per day of hydrofracked crude oil. As water protectors, they are raising awareness of the disastrous impacts the Dakota Access pipeline will have on the water, including farming and drinking, of the Missouri river and the ecosystems, wildlife, and people dependent upon it.

Since April, thousands of protectors, including Native Americans from more than 100 tribes across the country, have joined together in an unprecedented show of solidarity over an issue which affects the well being of anyone or anything dependent on clean air and water, which is to say, all of us. To read more, including the legal standing of the protest, go to the Camp of the Sacred Stones website or Mother Jones, which has an excellent timeline of events through September 9, 2016.

On the 3rd of September, the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked the protectors with pepper spray and dogs. Meanwhile, they continued to bulldoze the proposed route. As the protectors respond with peaceful resistance, dignity, and unwavering determination, so too does Alison Woody in her depiction of events. If you would like to submit your writing, art or photography, on this or any other resistance actions taking place across the U.S., please see our submission page. ~ Lupe Rodarte