By Wilda Moses

Over the week end there was a report of a great herd of wild buffalo that appeared unexpectedly at one site of confrontation along the Dakota Access Pipeline project.  Their presence adds an almost cinematic perspective that suggests history is happening now.  Through the years there have been many conspiracy theorists who warned about the dangers of militarized police being used against peaceful people standing up for their rights.  It is happening.  Representatives of the United Nations and Amnesty International have been alerted to the chaotic situation at the Standing Rock Reservation of the Sioux in North Dakota.  Heavily militarized police and National Guard are allied with the pipeline company which is pursuing a project that has seriously questionable legality and unaddressed ramifications for the indigenous people and for millions of people downstream who rely on the Missouri River.  The people have been defending their sacred sites, their land and water for months with scant attention from the media.  Their numbers are growing and perhaps the sight of thousands of buffalo will encourage them to hold their ground.  Certainly the numbers of the constabulary are growing, with their tanks, assault rifles, riot gear, rubber bullets, sound cannons, mace, pepper spray and, on occasion, vicious attack dogs.  There are also reports of infiltrators among the peaceful, prayerful, unarmed people who are directed to incite violence in order provide law enforcement with justification for their ruthlessness.  Those 147 and more people who have been arrested in Morton County have been subjected to brutality and humiliation commensurate with the degree of respect historically afforded indigenous people.  The current situation is reminiscent of the difficulties at Wounded Knee in 1973.  The injustices of that historic period persist even as Leonard Peltier languishes.  The buffalo and the tribes coexisted in harmony long before the European invasion.  To many the American buffalo is a symbol of sacred life and abundance.  To others it is a symbol of strength and unity.  It also serves as a reminder of what greed can cost us.  Buffalo narrowly escaped extinction.  How will buffalo or any living thing exist without water?

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