This article begins by explaining the recent gathering of Native Americans from all over North America in North Dakota. Rather than focusing on the cause of this gathering, an oil pipeline that will go directly through a major body of water and impact the water flow there and downriver, it pays attention to the people who have come to protest the pipeline and their motivations for doing so. Brief individual accounts are provided, ranging from Vietnam War veterans, to young boys, to middle-aged parents. These accounts explain individual reasons for protest, and most place emphasis on the importance of water for our future.
I think that this attempt to put an oil pipeline through a major water source is both a poor decision and one that takes away from the rights of Native Americans in the area. The pipeline goes through water on a Native American reservation. Native Americans have already been robbed of their continent and forced into designated areas. Even if they are no longer heavily persecuted, that does not mean that they can be taken from without consent. This pipeline will likely poison water in this area and any downstream areas, affecting Native Americans and those who are not Native American alike. This entitled attempt to put in a pipeline is similar to past attitudes towards Native Americans, from Spain's conquests to the Trail of Tears, in that it is the harming of one group for the benefit of another (in this case for the benefit of oil companies, which are often run by privileged, rich white males - sound familiar?). This event is also an example of the generally inconsiderate attitude depicted by the actions of oil companies. Not enough precautions are taken to prevent environmental disasters, and if this pipeline is not stopped, I shudder to think what else will be considered okay for large companies to do.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/12/us/12tribes.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
This is so sad. I hate how the media chooses to focus on the common people and their actions rather than the government and what it is doing to its people. Hopefully the pipeline isn't put down.
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