The Land of Sky and Wind @StandingRock
“Where are the graves? Where are the sacred circles? We can dig around them to build this pipeline.” So say the Dakota pipeline builders.
Is this how any white man would treat Gettysburg? When a people’s history has taken place on the land, whole areas of land are sacred, not just particular spots.
Racism is among the greatest sins. Greed and addiction to our crude oil, of course. Greed by the billionaires and businesses that will benefit from a pipeline; local government, including some tribal councils that, so we hear, receive large payments for not opposing it. But racism is the chief sin here. If water protectors were armed white people defending homestead rights this wouldn’t be an issue. The EPA supported the city of Bismarck, ND that this pipeline was too dangerous to run just north of that city, as it had been originally planned to do. So what was too dangerous for mostly whites is now acceptable for endangering native peoples.
Today 500+ clergy from 20 faith traditions will walk to the #StandingRock camp near the pipeline site near the Missouri River to pray and stand in solidarity. Yet this place, this time, this issue is just the top of the iceberg. We have much to truly see and see how our brothers and sisters see things, especially those in the minority whose culture and history is vastly different than ours.
We cannot dig around the graves, we cannot decide for another people with hundreds of years of history what parts of the land are important for them. We must listen to the stories of the generations of people who have called this “the land of sky and wind.” We must hear how hundreds of years of fighting and reconciliation among the tribes have made this their home.
Today we clergy stand and listen, as representatives of a “holy tribe.” As some of the people in white culture who still uphold sacred stories. That’s why we are here.
7:30 Mass
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 – 1:00 sacred walk, prayer, listening, standing, dancing and drumming sacred stories
