The Shameful Suppression at Standing Rock Should Be Stopped

                                       Good Day World!

If it isn't the federal government violating native American rights, it's corporations like Energy Transfer Partners shoving a pipeline down their throats.

Since August, native Americans - water keepers - have been trying to stop the progress of the Dakota Access Pipeline from polluting their sacred grounds and water supply.

But North Dakota Republican, Governor Jack Dalrymple, declared war on them and misused an inconspicious law to enforce a corporate agenda.

The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) was created 20 years ago by President Bill Clinton. He signed a bill into law creating an interstate agreement for emergency management. 

It wasn't intended as a tool for corporations to use, but Gov. Dalrymple was't fazed by that little fact. He declared an emergency (Peaceful protestor alert!) and enacted EMAC provisions.

That meant a law used for empowering states to respond to massive hurricanes, and in particular, Hurricane Andrew, which caused nearly $25 billion in damages when it hit Florida and Louisiana in 1992, is being used to stop a peaceful protest.

So, local law enforcement got help from six other states - Wisconsin, Indiana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, and Nebraska - who were sent to Standing Rock armed with assault rifles, body protection, and armoured vehicles to deal with peaceful, unarmed, protestors exercising their rights.

This abuse of power happened only once before when EMAC took on Black Lives Matter protestors in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray.

The connection of political clout and greedy corporations has never been more apparent than what's happening at Standing Rock right now.

Here's a touch of dark irony; the original route for the pipeline was rerouted due to environmental concerns. So, essentially the federal government and private businesses decided to go through native American land to appease other, statistically white residents.

Compare what's happening to the native Americans peacefully protesting in North Dakota with what happened when a group of armed white men took over a federal building on a Bird Sanctuary in Oregon.

The armed white occuppiers destroyed property inside the building, and outside when they bull-dozed over native American burial grounds.

They went to trial and were all let off the hook by a sympathetic white jury. What do you think would have happened in North Dakota if the native Americans were armed there?

Not hard to figure out is it? There would have been a one-sided shoot-out with heavily armed "lawmen" and armoured vehicles, against civilians with small arms.

A massacre. 

This show of power in North Dakota is shameful. How could anyone with a conscience back greedy corporations polluting our environment and violating the rights of native Americans...once again?

Time for me to walk on down the road...