Native Americans march to White House against Dakota pipeline

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of activists rallied outside the White House on Friday and even erected a teepee in front of President Trump’s new Washington hotel in a rapidly fading bid by Native Americans to stop construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

Participants say the protests against the pipeline have been successful even if it gets built because they’ve called attention to the issue of Native American sovereignty.

The final, disputed section of the pipeline would pass below a reservoir that provides drinking water to the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux reservations.

The tribes and their supporters say the $3.8 billion pipeline threatens their religious rights and water supply.

A federal judge this week declined to halt construction on the final section of the project, opening the way for oil to begin flowing through it as early as next week.

Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners would ultimately pay a price for disregarding the tribes’ religious beliefs.

“We have not lost this battle,” Goldtooth said. “Nothing will ever go right for those corporations. It’s only a matter of time before it will fall flat on its face.”

Despite rain and occasional snow, hundreds of people took part in the march, which began at the Army Corps of Engineers headquarters. The agency manages the Missouri River and last month gave Energy Transfer Partners permission to finish the project. Protesters also erected a teepee outside Trump’s hotel.

"As indigenous people, when something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us," said Cassandra Begay, 31, a member of the Navajo tribe who is half-Native American and half-Mexican. "We’re here today to send a message that we, as human beings, are indigenous to the earth. The earth is our mother. Your relationship with the mother is forever. The earth gives us our water, our air, our food, our shelter. We need to protect it."
Another demonstrator, Sheryl Romero, 39, a full-blood Native American from New Mexico, said, "It’s not about money — it’s about our lives.”

The rally revealed divisions among pipeline opponents. Dave Archambault, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, was booed and heckled by some in the crowd who called him “DAPL Dave” and accused him of being complicit with the bulldozing of a camp where thousands of protesters lived.

“We are not defeated. We are not victims,” Archambault said. “An obstacle is also an opportunity.”

Among the rallygoers were number of non-Native Americans who demonstrated in a sign of solidarity.

"This land came from our brothers and sisters who were here first," said Ardeth Platte, 81, a Catholic nun and retired high school principal from Baltimore. "This is their land, and we’ve taken so much from them. Now it behooves us to stand with them as they’re trying to protect water, land and air."