It’s not often that there’s a cause that you believe in asking for your direct help, said Will Kindler of Wilton. But that was the case with the Standing Rock Indian Reservation protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Kindler, along with Arianna Meehan of Dublin, traveled from New Hampshire to North Dakota to help in the protest to stop the pipeline from being routed through Lake Oahe, which serves as a water source for the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
The two filled up Kindler’s truck with supplies gathered or bought with donations to bring to protestors, who have been camping in the bitter cold on the pipeline route in protest.
Since the two have returned, the pipeline protesters have gotten a big win: the Army’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy said in a press release issued Sunday she based her decision on a need to explore alternate routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing. The department had previously delayed issuing the easement on Nov. 14, based on ongoing talks with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Darcy said. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”
It’s a win for protestors who have been trying to divert or stop the line going in since April, and were braving frigid temperatures as winter descended.
Kindler and Meehan got a taste of what those protestors have been dealing with during their short stint at the protest camps in November.
“I’d been hearing more and more about it and wondering what a person from New Hampshire can do,” said Meehan. “And it turns out, we could do quite a bit.”
The two did not stand on the front lines of the protest or become involved in any of the altercations with police or security, they said, partly because the organized protestors ask that anyone who does goes through a training first, and partly because they were aware of their vulnerability being so far away from home. Instead, said Meehan, their main goal was to bring in supplies and assist at the camps with tasks such as setting up winter camps for those that are staying for what they thought might be a long haul.
Since Meehan and Kindler have returned, there have been major changes in the pipeline fight – considered a big win for those that oppose it. On Sunday, the U.S. Army announced that it will not grant an easement to allow the DAPL to cross under Lake Oahe.
“It was a lot of trying to stay warm. It was very uncomfortable in some ways,” said Kindler.
And there were some frightening moments for the two, as well, said Meehan. While they were there, a grass fire broke out next to one of the camps, possibly started by bottle rockets that were being shot off earlier in the day.
“People were really frightened by that,” said Meehan. “One of the things that the protestors are requesting [is] fire extinguishers. We had someone donate some for us to bring, and she asked why they needed fire extinguishers. [It’s] because of the roadblocks. Fire trucks can’t quickly get into the camp.”
“If anything happens, it’s on the camp to handle it,” agreed Kindler.
That may have been the motivation behind an attempt by protestors to take down a roadblock on a bridge on Nov. 20. Several fires were set – which protest leaders later alleged were peaceful bonfires – and fire trucks responded, using water to put out the fires, but also as crowd control in the low temperatures, while police also fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd of about 400, leading to more than two dozen people having to be treated for injuries.
Meehan and Kindler said they did not take part in the effort to clear the bridge or the clash that occurred as a result, but they could hear the chaos and saw some of the protestors come back to the medic tent for treatment.
“It sounded like there were grenades going off, and there were choppers overhead,” said Meehan. “There were dozens of people being brought back to camp to be treated for hypothermia. To see that kind of violence by police and military against citizens is appalling.”
“I think we did the right thing that night by not going out that night, but when you come back home, you start to question if there was anything more you could have done,” said Kindler.
But there were also sights of beauty, too, said Meehan, who recalled looking across the Cannonball River to watch two Lakota men racing on horses on the flatland, backed by hills and teepees set up by protestors.
“I saw that and thought, ‘This is something I will never see again,’” said Meehan. “The feeling of being there and seeing that kind of thing was incredible.”
Now back home, the two said they hope to continue to raise awareness on the issue.
“Right now, it’s about Standing Rock and the pipeline,” said Kindler. “But it needs to be the start of a needed shift in how we treat native people.”