Travis LaRouche is from the Lower Brule reservation in South Dakota. Travis also was active in opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. Travis was one of the Riders on the first day of breaking through the police lines and challenging the Dakota Access Pipe Line machines and retold his experience.

Travis LaRouche:

“I was out there, everybody was praying, keeping peaceful. They brought those barriers in, told everybody move back , let them bring these barriers in because we keep tearing that fence down. For me it was like, why we giving up more ground? Why we letting them do that?

“You know what, I said, I mean prayer’s good, but in situations like this, I said prayer ain’t enough. I said they don’t understand prayer. I kinda got disgusted with it and I went back to camp here; we was the only ones here at the time. Brule camp, first ones to set up a teepee. Came back and my nephew showed up. And he got his horses and got all regalia’ed up. Come on get on, he said.

“We got up there, and kinda riding around, and they called us over to the ditch. Elders pulled us down in the ditch, they asked us if we’d do something for them; explained what they wanted done. And that’s how we greet the enemy. He explained how to greet the enemy and push them back. You guys don’t have to do it, they said, it’s dangerous, you know. Everybody was committed. I was all committed because I wanted action. So I said, I didn’t come up here to watch construction being done, I said. I’m all about prayer, but I said we need to do something, I ain’t gonna stand here and watch them. Anyway, when the elders approached us to do that and explained the ceremony and everything, we all agreed, they prayed with us and they told us that you do it in a good way, a good heart. They explained all that and we acknowledged it, they said they was gonna sing us in, and the rest is history. I had goose bumps doing it.”

Fight Back!: Describe how you moved the police back?

Travis LaRouche:“Just charging them, coming in, charging them, if you see some of those videos that’s what they was doing, and held them at bay. I was kinda surprised, we didn’t know the other people were gonna jump the fence, but it was just like a domino effect, cause and reaction, gave the people hope; that’s what it was after and that was what I was after too.

“So being a part of that was a great honor, you know, because we did it for the people. And within that action, we, we’re here today. We pushed them back, we caused the construction to stop, to cease. We got that ground back. And it was [because] of action. Yeah I just had goose bumps doing it, and I turned around and seen everybody jumping fence and running after those dozers was pretty cool. Being a warrior that’s kinda what you do – things you do for your people.

“Being part of AIM, that’s who we are, we fight for the people, I’ve always had that mentality whenever, wherever.

“I was pretty exhilarated, we got done and then they called us in the circle and the guy explained to the crowd what was just done what the elders asked us to do, how to acknowledge, greet the enemy, so he explained all that. Everybody shook your hands and seen a post, we were in New York Times, front page. The pitch [to the states] was it created more jobs in their state with $5, $10 million, if they let this go through it’d help the economy. But if you think about it, if Keystone would’ve went through, and went all the way down to Texas, these little, drops in the bucket here, each state, ten, whatever million they’re giving these states to do this, or these landowners, shit, that’s just a drop in the bucket, Koch Brothers, Canada will get trillions of dollars to get that oil where they wanna get it, so this little $10 million ain’t nothing to them.

I was just glad I did that action.”

#StandingRockSD #IndigenousPeoples #EnvironmentalJustice #StandingRockNation #DakotaAccessPipeline

Alfred Bone Shirt, a Lakota elder from the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota, traveled to Standing Rock Reservation early in August and set up camp. He, like thousands of others, came to North Dakota to unite in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipe Line. Alfred states when he got the call from his brother, who is coordinator for Grassroots AIM in Rapid City, SD, about the stand being taken at Standing Rock, he didn’t hesitate to travel. He went on KOYA 88.1 FM, the Rosebud Nation Community Radio Station, to issue a public service announcement that called on others to do the same.

Alfred Bone Shirt:

”I called for people to – I said, practically to ‘stop what you’re doing’ – this word goes out to our warriors and members of the American Indian Movement to come up and support the people in Standing Rock.’

We got ready and we headed this way. My niece and her husband, we mentioned that and they said we’re gonna come, so they hurried and got a babysitter and they got their bags and we headed out this way.

The major reason behind all this is our people – Red people – are always looked at as an impediment to progress for the white man. Everything, our resources, we’re an impediment. And I don’t like the racism; I pray against the racism. South Dakota is in denial of racism, North Dakota is in denial of racism.

It really bothers me what they say about these corporations coming in and the damage it’s going to do. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to envision – and if you listen to any type of news, you hear of oil spills across the country, catastrophes affecting a lot of areas, and it can’t be undone that easy, it’s really bad.

I know the river, the damage that could be done here, affects whites, rednecks, peaceful farmers, the clergy, down river, it’s gonna affect everybody. If I’ve never done nothing right in my life, let me come here. We come and do what we can.

In my lifetime, the only time I seen so many tribes together was Wounded Knee Two, and the International Treaty Council meeting, that first one at Mobridge, there was a lot of union there.

But prior to that I don’t think there was a representative of so many tribes on the same page, I don’t think there ever was, and this is great. Not only the American nations here are together, but like South American tribes,they’re looking this way. We sent word down to Brazil, we’re gonna send word out again, because they pretty much [know] as far as what the U.S. and corporations do, because what they do in South America, and the evil there, they can identify, they can empathize with what is occurring here. The outright blatant racism, and the civil racism, backed by big oil, backed by the government, backed by corrupt politicians, racist politicians. And here’s the end result. We’re impediments to their progress, again.

They were supposed to put it [the pipeline] above Bismarck, then they move it down here, because it don’t affect them. But see they’re narrow minded, they forgot about Mobridge, Pierre. Why they disregard their own people, I can’t understand it.

I seen the power of that spirit one other time up in Dakota Teepee Sundance. I seen that here when the horses came in [to break through the police line], and I seen the horses dance and I seen them spin and the songs were going up in a good way, the prayers were there. We said nonviolence, I seen that spirit, the same time that spirit came in again, and that was beautiful, the way they [the police] broke ranks and scattered, you know it was really beautiful to see. We were right there where the barricades were. That’s why people say, prayer is at work here, prayer is being answered, and that’s one of the most beautiful things.

When we talk about water, not just for humans, we talk about the survival for fish, other living creatures in there, and our spiritual wiwilas. I want to say, to please encourage people to keep coming. Dedicated people. We need the support, basically reinforcements. I encourage people to keep coming. I know it’s cold and luxuries in life, and it’s for hard for them to break loose from that. They need to come, continue to support and prepare for the long haul.”

#StandingRockSD #IndigenousPeoples #EnvironmentalJustice #DakotaAccessPipeline #DAPL

J. Sitting Bear is a Lakota mother and grandmother from the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota and now lives in Rapid City. She was a continuous presence in the kitchen that feeds the multitudes of protectors at the Oceti Sakowin encampment along the Cannonball River, where thousands traveled to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. J. Sitting Bear and her daughter traveled to Standing Rock near the beginning of the encampment and have worked tirelessly from early morning until night to prepare meals and to help with security since they arrived at the site.

J. Sitting Bear has lived a life of activism. At 16 years old, she was at the Wounded Knee uprising on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Now 59, she has a legacy of standing up for the rights of native people in multiple forms, including fighting against police brutality and killings of native people in South Dakota.

J. Sitting Bear:

“If there’s one thing in the world I could pay for and to have it go away, it’s this racism. Because of this racism… it’s just like, like cracking of the ice… you know the racism tears in and it all goes out in veins. And the more it goes out the worse it’s getting. And that just breaks my heart to see that. My chante (heart) is sick when I think of it, it really hurts, because those are all of our brothers and sisters out there.

“That’s why I’m here, I just want to be here for my people. Like I said, if it comes to it, I can lay down my life. I would give my blood, I would let my blood flow. If just one person you know doesn’t get hurt by these people [DAPL],or if just one part of the pipeline gets stopped, that’s worth it. It’s our people…and it’s not only just our people. People think it’s just us natives fighting. But it’s for all people – the farmers and ranchers have their cows, they live off the land by selling crops… that’s gonna affect them too. So it’s just so emotional for me to be here. When I heard of this starting, I told my daughter we gotta go, gotta go and she says, you’re going? And I said ya.

“I guess my life is going to be this until my time comes. I will continue to be at these things, these protests standing up for my people. If I have to crawl, I’ll get there. As long as I have a mouth, I can still speak. I’m here to help people, I give my all.”

#StandingRockSD #IndigenousPeoples #EnvironmentalJustice #StandingRockNation #DakotaAccessPipeline #DAPL