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erinschrode

Water Is Life. #StandingRock

I was just shot. Militarized police fired at me from point blank range with a rubber bullet on the front lines of Standing Rock.


My body will be okay, but I am hurting, I am incensed, I am weeping, I am scared. Peaceful, prayerful, unarmed, nonviolent people on one side of a river; militarized police with armed vehicles and assault weapons occupying treaty land on the other, where sacred burial grounds have already been destroyed. What is happening here in North Dakota is like nothing I have ever seen in my life, anywhere in the world. This is a fight to protect and defend the water for 17 million people in the watershed downstream to the Gulf, for a livable planet, for Native and human rights, for the lifeforce of us all. We are at the confluence of the movements for civil rights, for the environment, for peace, for justice. I am proud to stand in solidarity with our Native brothers and sisters – alongside the water protectors and land defenders – who put their lives on the line and are facing excessive force, pepperspray and mace, historic trauma, brutal arrest, imprisonment in dog kennels, felony charges, and callous destruction of sacred objects. This is not about me, but I am here – and will remain here – to cover and amplify truth and bravery on the ground with my colleagues Josh Fox of Josh FoxFilm, Josue Rivas of Josué Rivas Fotographer, Jordan Chariton of The Young Turks, Evan Simon of ABC News. Standing Rock represents the exploitation of a long-oppressed people, illegal land seizure, crude oil transport, media censorship, national security threat, public health crises, and more human rights violations than I can count.

It is inexcusable for the President Obama to say he will “let it play out for several more weeks." It is unjustifiable for the Attorney General to not be here. It is unconscionable for mainstream media to not cover this. It is indefensible for all politicians to not condemn what is occurring here. It is disgraceful for more people to not speak out and show up to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.


Pray for the water protectors, for justice, for our people and our world.#NoDAPL #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife



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