Last night on October 22, 2016, Dallas Goldtooth reported, via Facebook Live about the 83 arrests that happened yesterday near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation where American Indian Nations are resisting the construction of a four-state oil pipeline being constructed under the Missouri River, the water source for 17 million people. My detailed news timeline on Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) v. The Water Protectors can be read here if you need it.
Goldtooth, (Mdewakanton Dakota and Diné) the Keep it in the Ground Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network is the frontline’s go-to reporter for the Water Protectors in North Dakota. I transcribed [emphasis mine] his impromptu video update:
Hey family, this is Dallas [Goldtooth], uh, you know who I am. I'm in the Bay Area in California right now at the Bioneers Conference which is large conference of people who are socially conscious and wanna protect the planet, basically, and here to just raise awareness about the fight against Dakota Access but also raise awareness about the on-going Indigenous resistance against extractive development and colonization, but that stuff doesn't matter.
I wanna give an update from what I know, 'cause I'm here. I carry a struggle that I'm not at the camp right now. And so, I've been wanting to give good, clear information as much as possible about what's happening.
And today, was one of the largest arrests, days of arrests so far, that we've seen. I wanna kina’ tell folks what happened as it was reported to me. And our organization is working to put out a press release, as soon as possible.
But, the main thing is that over 80 people, right now the confirmed amount from the sheriff, the Morgan County Sheriff's office, is that 83 people were arrested today, in a mass arrest situation.
Um, that did not need to happen, and it was a clear case of just overtly militarized law enforcement just over stepping their boundaries and instigating something that did not need to be instigated. [...]
Various people on the ground reported night-before-last on Facebook that: Four semi-trucks worth of pipe were being delivered to the burial sites that were desecrated on Labor Day. Photos show them parked ON the desecrated grave sites with trucks. Cranes, pipes, and equipment are being delivered. Helicopters are overhead. [The ‘copters are constant, keeping the camps awake at night.] At least one new blockade is set up, facilitated by the national guard, north of camp, on highway 1806, just south of Fort Rice. Bi-plane is now circling. These are all shots over the bow to incite our people to gather and force us to protect our ancestral burial sites. DAPL did this once already: The Dakota Access Pipeline guards unleash attack dogs on our American Indian water protectors. In short, on Labor Day weekend, DAPL stopped construction 25 miles away, deliberately moved heavy construction equipment to a newly reported grave site and bulldozed the surface evidence before it could be assessed by the state. Our tribes noticed and objected! They moved in without weapons urging them to stop. Can you imagine how upset our people were to see bulldozers plowing through sacred evidence that could halt this construction? DAPL was prepared for the outrage. DAPL pepper sprayed some of the Water Protectors and some were bitten by attack dogs. Yesterday’s DAPL action was a reprise of the Labor Day incitement. From an article FIVE years ago: Oil Executive: Military-Style 'Psy Ops' Experience Applied