[Magdalen] Something we should probably all be praying about (LONG)

[Grace Cangialosi]

I absolutely agree with you, Jay, as you have probably noticed from my FB posts.
Certainly concern about the impact on water and the environment in general is very important--both in North Dakota and here in Virginia, where there is also protest against the line--but for me, at least,there's a greater moral and ethical concern.
Once again we are discounting and brutalizing Native Americans; once again we are ignoring their land rights--never mind that it was their land long before the Europeans arrived.
The actions of the so-called "security" forces are all-too reminiscent of Bull Conner and his thugs during the Civil Rights struggle. I saw a picture of a little girl who had been bitten in the face by a police dog. Clearly, so-called law enforcement is hoping to goad the people into violence, but so far that hasn't happened.
Is race an issue here? Absolutely!
Can you imagine what would happen if they tried to put a pipeline across the Gettysburg battlefield?! It would make the Civil War look like a tea party!  Yet the land in ND is every bit as sacred to them as that at Gettysburg.
I don't have any idea of how to resolve this, but somehow we've got to reign in Big Oil and the power companies. Dominion Power here in Virginia is just as bad, with their insistence on building unnecessary power plants in addition to supporting the oil pipeline.
If I had the money, I'd fly to ND and join the protest, but...  I think we need to pray for a fair and peaceful resolution.

> On Sep 6, 2016, at 9:32 AM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The so-called "mainstream media" is pretty much ignoring this story. I
> don't know whether they don't consider it important, whether they are
> afraid of offending Big Oil, or what. About the only outlets that are
> covering it are NPR and some of the progressive ones such as the Lawrence
> O'Donnell show on MSNBC and various shows that are available online. It is,
> however, getting fairly extensive publicity via Facebook and Twitter.
> 
> I'm speaking of the Native American protest of the pipeline across Indian
> land in North Dakota. This is important on a number of fronts, not only
> because it is peaceful (strictly enforced rules in the camps against
> alcohol, drugs and firearms) but because of the cooperation among tribes on
> a scale not seen before, and because of what they are  protesting. This is
> a good account of what is going on there;
> http://www.outsideonline.com/2111206/whats-happening-standing-rock
> 
> "Security forces" in the pay of the oil company attacked the protesters
> Saturday with dogs and pepper spray while police stood by watching. Several
> protesters were injured and had to be taken to hospitals. The Standing Rock
> Sioux Nation has a hearing scheduled for a restraining order against the
> oil company in Federal Appeals Court, but of course the Labor Day holiday
> got in the way of that, and meanwhile the oil company bulldozed ancestral
> graves on Indian land. Yes, you heard that...on the reservation. And the
> Corps of Engineers has admitted there is no "right of eminent domain" to
> that land.
> 
> Here in Virginia people are protesting against a pipeline that would take
> private farmland and also go through national forests and national parks,
> and pretty much for the same reasons.....pipelines have been proven unsafe.
> They break frequently and pollute the land and most importantly, the WATER.
> Sneer at Wikipedia if you want, but it's invaluable for this kind of
> thing--here's a list of pipeline accidents *just since 2000*:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents_in_the_United_States_in_the_21st_century
> 
> Nobody wants their water source polluted, and least of all in the
> water-poor areas of North Dakota and on the reservations. That's the main
> thing our Native brothers and sisters are protesting and we should ALL be
> protesting. The other is that once again, treaties are disregarded and here
> comes someone to take their land, this time a big corporation.
> 
> There are some hard questions here, people. Why do big corporations get to
> run over the rights of people to clean water and clean air and unpolluted
> land? Why are they allowed to take land that was given to people *by the
> government*, supposedly "in perpetuity"? Why are peaceful protests ignored
> by the media? Why are "private security forces" allowed to attack peaceful
> protesters?
> 
> Oh, and by the way, the protests in Virginia don't get any coverage either.
> 
> <rant mode off>
> 
> Jay, getting off the soapbox but feeling very strongly about this one thing
> today