We at Pax Christi USA are in solidarity with the native people who are peacefully protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline and protecting their sacred land. The successful completion of this oil pipeline will mean the destruction of sacred and native burial sites and the pollution of water sources, and this pipeline is yet another blatant mistreatment of native people and their heritage. Therefore, we offer this Prayer-Study-Action to address these injustices.
Prayer
Lord, you are the God of everyone and everything. Give us the eyes to see this reality. Help us feel our connection to every human being and to the earth, and forgive us for taking your creation for granted by mistaking our right to dominion as a right to domination.
We pray for those of us who are native people and those of us who are oppressors of native people. We pray that we may all find conciliation, conversion, and community. Give us strength to be protectors of one another and the earth. Amen.
Study
Since the inception of the United States, native people have been oppressed, and there has been no reprieve. All laws of this country have their origin in stolen land, the mass-murder of native people, and the decimation of native culture. As recent as last week, people nonviolently protecting their land and protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline have been bitten by dogs, arrested by the hundreds, and incessantly pepper sprayed. When will it stop?
Time and time again, profit has been placed as priority over people. Catholic social teaching tells us that economy and progress must always be in service to the people; therefore, the Dakota Access Pipeline must be stopped.
Furthermore, this situation points to the fact that conciliation between native people and the United States must take place. The U.S. can no longer physically and economically push the first people of this land to the margins. They have suffered greatly, and no one has said sorry or tried to make things right. Let’s make one small step forward by not destroying their sacred earth and water sources with the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Action
Sign this petition with nearly 300,000 people to “stop the Dakota Access Pipeline once and for all.”
Donate to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
Organize yourself and your group to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. The protest is taking place near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannonball, North Dakota. The location is a bit obscure; local advice is to arrive in Cannonball and find the protester/protector sites from there. As of today, protectors are at the Oceti Sakowin camp.
Share this message and image on social media: The Dakota Access Pipeline is dehumanizing to our native people. It will ruin their sacred burial grounds and contaminate their water supply. #NoDAPL #WaterisLife http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/28/us/dakota-access-pipeline-protests/
