Thanksgiving Reflections
Five years ago, I spent Thanksgiving week at Standing Rock and witnessed a burgeoning culture alive in this country. I had pictured a few tents and a tepee or two. But I found hundreds of tepees, yurts, and a thousand tents spreading as far the eye could see. Upwards of 9,000 people of all colors, ages, and states had shown up in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline which was on the verge of being built to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois.
There were no cell phones, cameras, or loud voices. There was nothing for sale. Everything you might need—food, toiletries, medicine, warm clothes—was available for free at open air dispensaries.
Every morning at dawn, the indigenous Elders from a score of tribes led prayer and ceremony. In circles of hundreds, they taught us to stand peacefully in solidarity against the Dakota Access Pipeline that threatened the waterways of this country. (Although the pipeline was built and carried oil for three years, federal judges finally ordered it shut down in July of 2020.) The prayers, actions, and four-year legal battle of the indigenous nations prevailed in the end.
Their teachings oriented around four principles:
We are Indigenous-Centered. In this place, the elders, women and children were seated first, ate first, spoke first. White folks had to be patient, listen more than talk, and take a backseat.
We are Building a New Legacy. Composed of simple basics: Earth is our Mother, Ancestors are our guides—and we can access their guidance when we pray and listen—and Water is life.
Every Person is Important and Useful. Whether you pick up garbage, cook, or take political action, every act is a prayer and all acts are sacred. Here there is no hierarchy in the realm of work.
We Must Bring It Home. What happened at Standing Rock and so many other places on our despoiled earth is the result of unchecked power and greed. Ours is a moment to prevent more ruin and repair what has been damaged. Ask: What are the issues alive in your neighborhood and how is the earth, water, and air needing your help? The work before us is everywhere.
Five years ago at Standing Rock I experienced a taste of Olam HaBa—the World that is Coming. I came to lend support to an isolated battle and found an entire movement. Thousands of people from all over found renewed purpose there. I was one. Standing in solidarity with our native nations, I became part of a centuries-long struggle for indigenous sovereignty in this land. The struggle continues, and goes hand-in-hand with the fight for the health and future of our earth, which is threatened by the monetary interests of a few.
But as one young indigenous activist at Standing Rock said: As long as we stay united in prayer there is nothing we cannot accomplish.
