Morton County Sheriff’s office

We are a peaceful people who have fought and died for the right to pray and be present in the protection of our lands. Yesterday, people who were gathered in peaceful prayer near the construction site near St. Anthony to protect Unci Maka – our Grandmother earth – were subject to arrest by the Morton County Sheriff’s office. Officers called to the prayer circle arrived in armored vehicles, armed with guns and terrorized elders, women, and children as they attempted to comply with law enforcement. In 1890, the United States gunned down hundreds of unarmed Lakota people in what is remembered as the Battle of Wounded Knee. I am fearful that if North Dakota law enforcement does not deescalate their tactics that we will be forced to witness a repetition of that massacre. We strongly urge the state of North Dakota to reconsider any efforts to use violence to discourage native protectors of water from actively exercising their First Amendment rights. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/09/30/rush-cheyenne-river-sioux-tribal-chairman-releases-a-statement-on-dakota-access-pipeline-arrests/