In solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe against the Dakota Access Pipeline, hundreds gathered at Boston Common for prayer and a rally this afternoon before marching to the Charles River.
“Due to the events happening at Standing Rock, let’s come together in a peaceful march to bring awareness and to show support to those at Standing Rock,” organizers wrote.
“The struggle has been going on for centuries. Our struggle as indigenous people has been going on since 1492 when Columbus got here,” Mahtowin Munro, one of the event organizers, told the crowd. “…We are from here. We will stand here and fight. That will never change.”
Critics of the 1,100 mile fracked-oil pipeline, currently under construction from shale fields in North Dakota to Peoria, Illinois, say it endangers a source of fresh water for the tribe and 8 million people living downstream. Opponents of the project also say pipeline construction would damage many sites that are sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux and other indigenous nations.
Photos copyright 2016 Greg Cook.
