Standing Rock Needs Your Attendance and Your Help: But Here’s How to Do it Right

You’ve watched the ongoing struggle at Standing Rock between the oil police and and peaceful water protectors. You’ve seen the hundreds arrested, hundreds more doused in near-freezing water. You’ve seen eyes gone bleary from pepper spray, you’ve seen the elders near hypothermia, and the arm of a young woman shattered by a “non-lethal” grenade.

You’ve decided that enough is enough, and that you need to step up and join the fight.

So now what?

Well if you are looking to simply help out from the comfort of your home, you can donate to Sophia Wilansky’s fund, the young woman who’s arm might have to be removed thanks to the oil police’s non-lethal tactics. You can also donate to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Dakota Access Pipeline Donation Fund, or to the Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund.

Additionally, you can lobby your elected officials to pay attention to and call for an end to the Dakota Access Pipeline. By protecting the company, police are aiding the criminal and oppressing peaceful protests who merely want the government to enforce existing laws and treaties.

Numbers to call:

North Dakota governor Jack Dalrymple at 701-328-2200

Morton County Sheriff’s Department at 701-667-3330

White House public comment line at 202-456-1111

Army Corps of Engineers at 202-761-5903

Finally, if you feel that you would be most helpful on the ground at Standing Rock, becoming a water protector and demanding that the corporation stand down, there’s a few things you need to know.

In a blog post on Medium, two water protectors Malia Hulleman and Johnny Misheff share what it’s really like to be on the ground at NoDAPL. Hulleman and Misheff have a few tips for incoming protesters:

1. Don’t show up broke. They’ve got enough to worry about without adding your economic issues on the pile. Figure up how much money you think you’ll need for how long you plan to stay and then double it. Raise money, set up a GoFundMe, or just save your own money – don’t arrive empty handed.
2. Don’t show up without supplies. It’s cold in North Dakota. Like, really cold. You need a sub-zero sleeping bag and hand warmers and all sorts of things in order to keep you out of the medical tent for hypothermia. You saw what protectors faced Sunday evening with freezing temperatures and near-freezing water cannons – bring what you must to ensure you would survive an assault like that. Also don’t arrive without necessary medication.
3. Leave your combative rabble-rousing at home. NoDAPL is at its heart a peaceful movement. If you are coming to Standing Rock to have it out with the police, don’t come. You are a visitor, but whatever hostile relations you foster will not go when you do.
4. This isn’t a party – don’t treat it as such. Don’t plan on doing drugs or drinking alcohol while here. Don’t behave in a way that would endanger you or threaten the message we are advocating for.

Basically, be ready to do what is needed of you and leave your preconceptions at home. If you can do all of the above, please join the NoDAPL protest and show the federal government and the corporations that water is vital, and the people will not be silenced.