The North Dakota Pipeline, and Why You Should Be Aware Of It

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

In English class today my teacher said "you all know about the iPhone 7 right?"

Everyone said yeah.

"But do you know what's going on in North Dakota?"

I immediately spoke up and said:

"Yes they're building oil pipelines across native American reservations. They broke the treaties they have with them and even destroyed a sacred burial ground. Hundreds and thousands of Native Americans are peacefully protesting yet the owner of the company set out guards with pepper spray and attack dogs. Not only is peaceful protest apart of our first amendment 'the freedom of speech, press and protest' (yea I know that isn't the entire thing) but the guards who hurt these people aren't getting in any trouble either. All they want is clean water."

Only me and one other person knew what was going on in a class of 30+ people.

This really shows how everyone will complain and bitch about the new iPhone 7 not having a jack for earphones yet no one pays attention to or cares about these Native American tribes.

I mean, one pipeline has already broken and they're not even done building it yet. Not to mention the fact they're creating fake articles saying how the protesters are stopping the company from "creating 25K jobs in construction" etc.

Its so sad to see how everyone knows about this new phone while no one knows about a real problem in our country.

But God Bless America right?

#NorthDakotaPipeline

#iphone7

[Righttobeararms83]

Im sorry to tell you this (maybe you know already) but people dont know because the mainstream media tv news, newspapers, google, YouTube and anywhere else most people get national or world news is corporately owned and censored by those corporate owners so that nothing that will effect negatively their financial intrests or political views, that last meme about the football player not standing for the national anthem demonstrates what i mean. This would go right to the Senate and the Whitehouse with politicians being aware completely of it, only if it was revealed nationally and looked like Obama might be embarrassed would it be stopped.

[RainbowFanGirl]

I'll copy and paste what I said on your question.😛 I feel like an idiot for not learning about this sooner, but you know? People only report shit that doesn't really matter, so not many people will know about the tyranny that's going on there... God Bless America indeed...

"First we took Native American's land, then we pushed them into reservations, and now we want to take that away from them too. We've just treated them horribly throughout history."

[EllieLexis513]

I heard about this but I'm surprised by the lack of information about it. Usually, there's just a lack of people talking about it, but a quick Google search will get you what you want. But in this case, there's like... nothing. And when you find an article, there's very little detail. It's a shame. It's so obvious that this nation is more about cover ups than coverage when it comes to media and important stories. Sad.

[Red_Arrow]

Okay. Time to settle down and inject some truth into the fantasy.

The pipeline is being constructed NEAR a reservation. It does not cross or even touch a reservation. So that fact alone makes this a whole different story. Nobody is breaking treaties or laws.

The pipeline was approved and is being built near the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. It is on land that once was hunted on by that tribe, and some of their ancestors are buried on land not in the reservation, so they are concerned about that. Also, the pipeline will cross under the Missouri River, and the tribe is worried about environmental damage if there is a break, especially at the river.

All good concerns, but since earlier agreements gave the reservation to the tribe, but all land outside of it is not theirs, they have no legal claim to it.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

They destroyed sacred ground for the Natives (their ground which is equal to a christian church and graveyard)
But ok

[Red_Arrow]

There were burials in the general area, but no burial ground has been identified.

[Saoirse_Nua]

Great question - Absolutely bizarre - News coverage sometimes astounds me and even the important stuff like your story - You have to wade through the biased news outlets and you are not sure what version is nearest the truth - A fact emerges and is spun almost immediately then put on a source site that you either love/hate so whether you read fact on a site you either love/hate will determine if you accept it or not.

[helloitsmethere]

I didn't even know about it until you wrote a Take on it, and I feel incredibly stupid because I didn't know about it before you did... we should be focusing on THESE issues.
Also, isn't that illegal?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Isn't what illegal?

[helloitsmethere]

Invading the Native reserves? Weren't there treaties signed?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Yea, they broke hundreds of treaties by doing this.

[helloitsmethere]

They should be locked up...

[martyfellow]

Yes, he media mostly controls what people think is important and what reaction you 'should' have to what your hear or see on the media.. we need to start over and create our own media.

[QuestionMan]

You gotta give the Natives credit for protesting peacefully.
They ended up getting government attention and having the project halted.

BLM are you listening? THIS IS HOW YOU PROTEST

[meatballs21]

#IdleNoMore

[Mario21]

Finally a Mytake again!

For some reason Native Americans always lose. Even tho it's obvious that there's still racism going around, we need to make people more aware and less discriminative. Just levee them alone! They were here before Americans smh lol

[Relentless_Hippie]

You mean they're the original American.

[Righttobeararms83]

I dont think its racism involved, I think its big business. The same big business that builds massive overhead electrical pylons over residential area and denies its whats causing the kids brain tumours and cancers or when small towns have their water supply poisioned with lead and other toxic chemicals. The media is owned by corporations and they fill the airways, internet and papers full of stories that aren't newsworthy such as the I-phone or Trump's latest bullshit so the public are blind to the real issues.

[Fathoms77]

Hey, we did it to ourselves. We opted to worship at the altar of everything that's new and shiny in the tech world and let's face it, we are absolutely addicted to - and hence, reliant upon - our stupid smartphones (talk about an oxymoron). :P

There are LOTS of stories more important than the iPhone 7 this week. Hundreds. But if you let the masses in a techno-addicted culture dictate what's popular, these will always be the results.

[CHARismatic110]

I knew about it. But it all goes back to what I said about media. The media is the ultimate puppet master.

[0112358]

I am not very knowledgable regarding specific native treaties involved.

I know a little more about environmental opposition to pipelines in general, most of which is ridiculous and results in less safe methods of shipping oil. Ie oil by rail.

[NatashaJ]

But is seems like westerners just don't want to look at fuck up situations in the news unless its funny. But then again you always have people who wouldn't care about certain things I know there a lot of people who say Native Americans or aboriginals take advantage this and that and blah blah blah. You can't make people care.

[adrianalima0]

Yes. Us Natives have been screwed over since day 1. Nothing new. I'm glad this is getting the coverage it's getting. More people should know.

[Phoenix98]

Yeah it pisses me off not only because I have native American blood in me but because of the ignorance of so many people. This shouldn't be allowed to happen.

[neoagent1]

That is a very very sad observation. Current events was part of social studies in school as far as I remember.

[ginny_weasley]

It shocks me more people aren't pissed that they ran over a Native American cemetery. If Arlington National cemetery or Gettysburg cemetery was bulldozed tomorrow, people would lose their minds.

[TripleAce]

Yea interestingly but not surprisingly, a cell phone effects almost everyone in a personalized way. It touches home. Even though in North Dakota its people lives in question it doesn't directly effect the world, so in a sense it seems that wireless headphones and the power of comapanies far exceed the lives of people

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Okay we can all just drink oil instead of water :)

[TripleAce]

Im with you here. Dont get me wrong

Im just explaining why its this way

[akadatank44]

There will always be a trade off in life hun. Especially with politics and all that shit. There is no one perfect solution. Thats why problems like these occur. Its the word we live in.

[dulcestar]

Yes because of the media; theu dintbwant the American people what's going on instead they'll run amateur stories like Kaepernick not standimg for the national anthem. I'm glad the Native Americans and others are taking a stand to this.

[capturemyheartnow]

Government should find a way and change the direction of the Gas pipeline so that it does not pass the the land of Native Americans.

[front2back]

First rule of American History:
The Natives ALWAYS lose.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

@redeyemindtricks maybe you have something to say on this?

[Nice_Guy_Last]

Sad but true.

[helloitsmethere]

This is fucked up, yet true at the same time :(

[front2back]

What is there really to say to it?
We've created over 200+ treaties with natives over the course of our history. We've broken every single one of them. They can fight all they want against the pipeline, history has shown it is all futile.

Not trying to be insulting, just being real.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

So we should all just sit back with our thumbs up our asses and not do anything right

[front2back]

Not what I'm implying. Go ahead and see if we can stop it from happening.
What I'm saying is this shouldn't come as a surprise and the future isn't exactly optimistic.

It's not just native american's either, big companies (and some times the government) have screwed over thousands of people due to domain and always gave BS excuses like it would bring jobs or the like. So far from what I've seen, unless you've got millions and/or are in a position of political power, you just can't stop this shit from happening.