January 14, 2017
Greetings from the frigid plains of Oceti Sakowin. I’m at camp today and while the temperature is 23 below zero, the sun is shining and the wind is biting. The first lungful of air I took in made me cough for a minute as I looked around at […]
The civil rights complaint seeks justice against the constitutional violations perpetuated against the mostly Native American water protectors, including claims of retaliation and police brutality by law enforcement, as well suing the Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, and City of Mandan Chief of Police Jason Ziegler for maintaining policies, customs, and practices that led to grave violations of Plaintiffs’ rights secured by the U.S. Constitution.
The strength with which our movement fought—without weapons or violence toward those weak cowards wearing badges—was the stuff of historic legend.
It is the International Day of Action in Solidarity with Standing Rock and we read that over 300 actions took place around the world.
We will defend water protectors in court and help organize court support for over 470 arrestees; we will pursue the civil rights actions we are working on against cops and jails; Jamil will ensure computers and communications are as secure as possible; and Erin will lend support to the water protectors and the youth of Standing Rock, hundreds and thousands of whom are now suffering from trauma caused by violent, militarized police and the constant surveillance and harassment by cops and DAPL’s private security goons.
This morning the outrageous unprecedented militarized police presence at Standing Rock has taken a turn for the worse. Hundreds of police have surrounded the front lines camp, road blockades have popped up everywhere, and water protectors are currently surrounded by militarized darth vader like cop goons.
There have been over 135 arrests of water protectors in the last few months, many of the charges are now being filed as felonies—despite incredibly weak facts to support them and many are just blatantly unlawful and unfounded.
There is a reason that organizers of the September 9 workstoppage are also calling for an abolition of this form of modern slavery: there is no option to reform. There is no humane alternative.
Make no mistake about it, when police engage in violence against people of color, they are doing just what they were intended to do. It is not now nor has it ever been a failure of the system due to a few bad apples. If you’re black or brown or poor in this country, the police were never there to protect and serve you.
Over the past few weeks, courts across the nation have rejected a number of state laws that were recently passed with the intent to restrict access to vote. Although the sponsors of the various state laws claim that the laws are intended to “prevent voter fraud,” in truth they are aimed at preventing poor and minority voters from voting by requiring specific types of ID to vote, eliminating early voting, and implementing a number of other measures that make it harder to vote. As the presidential election nears, the courts are seeing through the “voter fraud” ruse, and repeatedly rejecting these laws.
