The Standing Rock Protest Against The Dakota Access Pipeline

Wounded Knee was a terrible event in US history. It showed how the US government didn't understand the Native Americans and treated them badly and unfairly.

The Native Americans have come across long journey of difficult times since the occupation of their land by European settlers. There are still two sides of a coin- a world of civilization and a world of underdeveloped society in this one country- USA. The paradox is that the constitution which seems to be a model of democracy to many nations of the world lacks a lot for not acting accordingly. Those organized and unorganized struggles of Native Americans were challenged by the heavily armed white majority settlers. This history is among the worst American experience because of the massacre and the violation against human right. In order to be heard, they protest, occupy land, and write books. The Native Americans have raised several

After the World War II, the Native Americans faced discrimination and they were not offered housing, employment, education, land rights, water rights, and voting. The Indian veterans then returned back home different expectations about how they were to be treated, while they had fought in Europe and the pacific they had been treated as equals during the fights, but then they returned home to find out they were still second-class citizens. Indian veterans expected to be able to vote, but when the United States attempted to deny them that right, they immediately took their cases to the court. In the state of Arizona, Frank Harrison and Harry Austin, who were in the Indian reservation attempted to register to vote, but they were not allowed to, then the Arizona supreme court made a decision the state of Arizona and the United States have violated the constitutional rights. The same incident happened in New Mexico, a teacher attempted to register the vote to obtaining the rights and was refused. Instead of walking away and accepting to be a non-citizen in the United States, he fought to obtain his voting rights. By then the court found out that New Mexico had discriminated against Indians denying them

“Native Americans have faced centuries of atrocities to their people, their land, and their culture - all under various presidents who took an oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” (Markwayne Mullin). Native Americans have been living a hard life ever since Columbus arrived in North America but, we need to change that. Native American have been living here before any of us, and we’re just living in their land. Native Americans have struggled since white people first arrived in North America. Some contemporary issues Native Americans face are their ability to prosecute crimes such as rapes against their community, as well as land rights, and the ability to be recognized by the government. It is important that we, as a country, address these issues.

Native Americans tend to experience a majority of the corruption. More often than those of which are not considered a minority. For example, Native Americans should have an inherent right to protection within the country in which they live. Construction of the North Dakota Access Pipeline that started in September of 2016, has given supreme notice to the corruption that still surrounds Native Americans today. Natives of Dakota followed the European laws that were forced upon them and in turn were punished. The Army corps of engineers permitted the project, violating the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act along the way. These were created to stop Europeans from destroying Native American historical artifacts, culture and the livelihood of the innocent. Native Americans do not have citizen protection that was promised to them time and time again by the United Sates.

The 1960’s and 70’s were a turbulent time in the United States, as many minority groups took to the streets to voice their displeasure with policies that affected them. During this time period a large movement for civil rights, including Native American’s, would seek to find their voices, as largely urbanized groups sought ways in which they could reconnect with their tribe and their cultural history. In their book, Like A Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, Paul Chaat Smith, and Robert Allen Warrior take an extensive look at the events leading up to the three of the largest civil rights movements carried out by Native Americans. Beginning with the takeover of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay by Indians of All Tribes in 1969; the authors tell in a vivid fashion of the Bay Area activism and Clyde Warrior 's National Indian Youth Council, Vine Deloria Jr.’s leadership of the National Congress of Indians, the Trail of Broken Treaties and the Bureau of Indian Affairs takeover, the Wounded Knee Occupation and the rise of the American Indian Movement.

When most people hear of Native Americans, they cannot help but think of elaborate headdresses, red skinned warriors, and lively dancing. Although these aspects of Native American culture are fascinating, more important is where they fare in our society 's past and present. Restrictive laws and acts such as the Indian Removal Act, the Indian Reorganization Act, Fort Laramie treaties, and the Trail of Tears forced Native Americans from their lands. When settlers and the American government saw the resistance of Native Americans to forced assimilation, they resorted to racial discrimination and relocation to reservations. This history of discrimination has fueled calls for the United States government to pay reparations and the return of Native Americans to their indigenous lands.

Native Americans admittedly, did surprisingly little in the initial two thirds of the period, despite the Plains Wars and other small-localized armed resistance during the nineteenth century; the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1889 effectively marked the end to such resistance. Whilst it can be argued that their efforts were at best lukewarm during the beginning, in the closing third of the period, the Native Americana ‘movement’, galvanized by the African American civil rights campaign and revolutionary zeitgeist became increasingly active and forceful in the advancement of their civil rights. Thus the

From its birth, America was a place of inequality and privilege. Since Columbus 's arrival and up until present day, Native American tribes have been victim of white men 's persecution and tyranny. This was first expressed in the 1800’s, when Native Americans were driven off their land and forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, and again during the Western American- Indian War where white Americans massacred millions of Native Americans in hatred. Today, much of the Indian Territory that was once a refuge for Native Americans has since been taken over by white men, and the major tribes that once called these reservations home are all but gone. These events show the discrimination and oppression the Native Americans faced. They were, and continue to be, pushed onto reservations,

     Above the camp flew the flag of the United States and below et was the

Introduction Imagine having a nice family dinner with your entire family. You ask “Pass the chicken, please.” a peaceful normal dinner. Then, American soldiers barge into your house, knocking down your door in the process.

Native Americans have felt distress from societal and governmental interactions for hundreds of years. American Indian protests against these pressures date back to the colonial period. Broken treaties, removal policies, acculturation, and assimilation have scarred the indigenous societies of the United States. These policies and the continued oppression of the native communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension. Governmental pressure for assimilation and their apparent aim to destroy cultures, communities, and identities through policies gave the native people a reason to fight. The unanticipated consequence was the subsequent creation of a pan-American Indian identity

Native Americans are being disrespected, harmed, and their homeland is being taken from them. Am I talking about events taken place centuries ago? No, because these unfortunate circumstances yet again are occurring right here, now, in the present. This horrid affair has a name: The Dakota Access Pipeline. This Pipeline is an oil transporting pipeline, which is funded by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, who have devised a plan for the pipeline to run through the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. However, unfortunately, this pipeline will run straight through the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, expressing their distress for the pipeline have said, that the pipeline will be “Destroying our burial sites, prayer sites, and culturally significant artifacts,” Arguments for the pipeline however have tried to counter this claim, trying to emphasize that “The pipeline wouldn 't just be an economic boon, it would also significantly decrease U.S. reliance on foreign oil”, and that the pipeline is estimated to produce “374.3 million gallons of gasoline per day.”, which could help the sinking oil economy. (Yan, 2016) However, despite the economical growth it could achieve, the Dakota Access Pipeline could have damaging environmental effects on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the areas surrounding.

Crazy Horse was brutally murdered and the Sioux surrendered (“Battle”). In 1890 the government learned that the Native Americans were doing the Ghost Dance (Cayton 265). The Ghost Dance was a ritual in which people join hands and twirled in a circle (Cayton 265). When the government saw the Ghost Dance, they thought the Native Americans were crazy and trying to rebel, so they tried to arrest Sitting Bull (Cayton 265). In this conflict that came to be known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, soldiers killed Sitting Bull, 120 men, and 230 women and children (Cayton 265). These battles pushed Native Americans onto reservations and took away their basic human rights.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a story that has been in the media for months, with a great deal of controversy surrounding it. Many have heard and seen the protests that are ongoing, in hopes to halt its construction. The most passionate opponents of this pipeline are the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, in North Dakota. While the pipeline does not cut through sacred land, it does pass under the Missouri River, a vital source of water for the tribe. This controversy is one with many sides and moreover, many misconceptions. The Dakota Access Pipeline is an ethically corrupt and potentially disastrous project that threatens the safety and wellbeing of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.