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Standing Rock Sioux Prepare for A Fight Through the Winter

Courtesy Jennifer Weston
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is setting up a winter camp.

In September, Living Lab spoke with Standing Rock Sioux tribe member Jennifer Weston about the tribe’s protest of the construction the Dakota Access oil pipeline. The tribe opposes the pipeline because they say it threatens drinking water and sacred sites. (Weston has a Cape Cod connection as the language department director for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.)

 
We now have an updated conversation with Jennifer Weston. Since we last spoke, many more protesters have been arrested, including at least 141 on October 27. Charges included criminal trespass and engaging in a riot. In an interview with Weston on November 4, she says many of those arrested were not given access to food for more than 10 hours and forced to remain barefoot on a concrete floor.   
She says that the protesters, or “water protectors” as they are known in the tribe, are preparing to remain at the site through the winter. 

“The sacred stone camp, which is on private tribal land on Standing Rock, has begun constructing winterized structures,” she said. “They’ve been purchasing yurts and teepees with liners, folks have come to build longhouses; they’re building a permanent kitchen structure.”
 
Weston says tribal leaders have been inspired by the young people of the tribe who were the catalysts for beginning the protest. 
 
“This is not an action we can step back from,” she said. 
 
WCAI has requested an interview with Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline. We have not yet received a response. 
 

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