Water is Life
I stayed up late, painting my protest placard. Using an old yard sign from a political campaign in the distant past, I painted over both sides. Then, I carefully printed the words, “Water is Life” in periwinkle blue and added wavy lines to represent a flowing river. On the reverse side, I painted the cryptic phrase, “NoDAPL” — No Dakota Access Pipeline.
I was preparing to take a stand, to stand with Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the spunky and deeply spiritual Native American Dakota tribe in Fort Yates, N. Dak.
Located on the Missouri River just above the South Dakota line, this community of people is trying to stop construction of a thousand-mile oil pipeline running from the oil fields of western North Dakota to Illinois. The pipeline would cross the Missouri River under Lake Oahe, near their reservation, threatening drinking water and their way of life. While the citizens of Bismark, the state capitol, were able to get the pipeline rerouted away from their city due to concerns about water contamination, the sovereign nation of Standing Rock is furious that their concerns were not taken into account. They were not consulted in time to halt construction that would threaten water quality for all those living downstream on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.
My friend Mary True Bell of Lanesboro had heard the call before, and recently completed journeys out to the water protector’s encampments, not once, but three times, where she delivered a truckload of squash and helped prepare meals.
By searching the news and Facebook, I had become taken with this cause. A small community was taking a non-violent stand against international oil and banking corporations and the U.S. government, while local law enforcement reacted all out of proportion to the peaceful water protectors by deploying military water cannons, rubber bullets, attack dogs, pepper spray and continual aerial surveillance.
Mary and I drove together to Winona, where a Solidarity Action was planned. We were part of over 200 national events taking place in big cities, small towns and at U.S. Army Corps of Engineer offices across the nation.
It is not easy to choose to take a stand, to stand out, or to stand on a Mississippi River bridge and wave signs at passing cars. The last time I demonstrated was prior to President George Bush’s invasion of Iraq, when a cadre of anti-war Harmony folks stood in the snow and voiced our objection. Freedom of speech is our most fundamental right in a democracy.
It is painfully ironic as America celebrates Thanksgiving, a tradition built on gratitude to the Native Americans who fed the white immigrants and taught them how to survive in a new land, that at this very moment Native Americans in North Dakota are being shorn of their rights. The humanity of the peaceful water protectors stands in contrast to the inhumanity of the pipeline corporation and the police.
President Obama’s administration is now evaluating whether to grant to the company the easement on federal land required to drill the final section of the pipeline which crosses under the Missouri River. They are reevaluating how the federal government consults with tribes on environmental decisions, “in light of the history of the Great Sioux Nation’s dispossessions of lands, the importance of Lake Oahe to the Tribe” and the relationship between the US government and the Standing Rock Nation. “While these discussions are ongoing, construction on or under…land bordering Lake Oahe cannot occur because the Army Corps has not made a final decision on whether to grant an easement,” the Interior Department said in a statement in mid-November.
Meanwhile, Dakota Access Pipeline company insists it will proceed to complete the pipeline.
This story is far from over.
Italian Almond Cookies
Note: This is my new favorite Christmas cookie, the 2015 winner of the Star Tribune cookie contest. It is crispy and chewy, and happens to be gluten free.
Beat one egg white with a mixer or whisk until soft peaks form.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 2-1/4 cups almond flour (or almond meal,) 3/4 cup sugar and grated zest of one lemon. Stir in the beaten egg white, 1/2 teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Knead into a ball of dough (it will be slightly sticky) and then roll into a one-inch thick log. Use a sharp knife to cut 1/2 inch slices (about two dozen cookies) and form each into an egg shape. Roll cookies in a shallow bowl of powdered sugar and gently tap off excess.
Please cookies one inch apart on parchment paper-covered baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees until just slightly brown with cracks starting to form, about 15-20 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool five minutes on pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.