‘Aggies for Standing Rock’ opposes North Dakota Pipeline construction

Angela Enno Gray lit the sage between her fingers before she passed it over herself and on to the person on her right. There were about 20 Aggies in total; they sat in a circle on Old Main Hill.

They prayed and sat in solidarity with protesters who are opposing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Sioux land in Standing Rock, North Dakota. So far, nearly 160 Utah State University students have joined the cause.

Gray is the founder of the club, which is called Aggies for Standing Rock, that’s made up of students, faculty and community members.

Nahomi Jimenez, a sophomore studying global communications, said she feels joining Aggies with Standing Rock speaks to her native roots.

“I’m really involved with Aggies for Standing Rock because I see myself as an environmentalist,” she said. “But this movement is so important. I’ve never felt so spiritually inclined to anything in my life, especially when I see the pain and the hardships that people are going through.”

Cedale Armstrong, a junior studying mechanical engineering, is Navajo. He said he’s involved in Aggies for Standing Rock because he likes to believe if he went back in time, he’d be involved in movements likes this.

“Now it’s my chance to take action,” he said. “It is something I have to do as a Navajo man to help people when their homelands are being attacked. I have to protect home.”

Gray said she also feels the similar responsibility to stand up against environmental injustice not only as citizens of the United States, but also the world.

“If we hurt the water, we hurt ourselves,” she said.

People often see issues like this in the news and they think they’re too far away to be involved, Jimenez said. But despite being across the country from North Dakota, she says Aggies can unite and support those who are devoting their lives to this cause.

“It’s just been so big,” she said. “We’re just so excited that we can create this family. For me and a lot of my friends here at Utah State, we wanted to promote action from the very start so we didn’t lose that drive and that inspiration.”

Despite the distance, Aggies can show direct action with signs and voices, Jimenez said. The club is also supporting those at Standing Rock by collecting donations to help those who are living in the camps.

“We’ve been able to start a food donation to give,” Jimenez said. “But one of the biggest things that we started with was doing a public protest right here in Utah.”

The state-wide protest will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 2 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Capitol Building.

What’s going on in North Dakota?
Standing Rock is a reservation in North Dakota. The Dakota Access Pipeline is being constructed, in part, across lands that are supposed to belong to the Sioux, according to a treaty with the U.S. government.

“That treaty’s been violated,” Gray said. “Besides, if there is a leak — which happens with literally every pipeline, it’s a guarantee, not an if, it’s just when. Their only water supply will then be contaminated with oil.”

Gray said the activists in North Dakota prefer to use the word “protector” rather than “protestors.” They are there to maintain the harmony with the land.

“They are fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline to protect their water,” she said. “They’re there to protect our mother earth and the resources that sustain all of our lives.”

The protesters at Standing Rock hold prayer meetings, dances and drum groups in order to make the opposition a spiritual movement. That’s their goal, Gray said. Those people have been out there camping since April. But they’re not going anywhere soon, she said. They’re buckling down and getting ready to camp through the winter because they’re not going to leave until the Dakota Access Pipeline is stopped.

“Their goal has been from the beginning to make this a peaceful protest,” she said.

As the legend goes, Crazy Horse, an elder, told the Sioux that a black snake would come cross the land. In the wake of this black snake, there would be destruction and death. It would be the job of these Sioux people to fight against it.

“That’s what they’re doing today,” she said. “They’re fighting against it like they were told. They were also told that it would require the bringing together of different races of mankind… to stop this.”

The tribe filed an injunction because Gray alleges that a section of this oil pipeline was set to go through a burial ground. Once the Dakota Access Pipeline construction crew heard about the injunction, they went on a Saturday, before the injunction could be approved, and dug up that burial ground with bulldozers.

“It was pretty despicable,” Gray said. “The people staged a peaceful protest by walking in front of the bulldozers. They weren’t harming anyone.”

The Dakota Access Pipeline’s private security personnel, who Gray said were “ill equipped,” allowed their dogs to attack the protestors. Also, the security guards maced protesters.

When Armstrong said he saw that video footage, he choked up momentarily but then felt angry.

“For those 10 minutes it felt like my heart just dropped into my stomach,” Armstrong said.
The media has largely not covered it and those media outlets that have have covered it like a violent protest, Gray said.