Standing Rock: Greed, Oil and the Lakota's Struggle for Justice by Bikem Ekberzade

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216mm x 143mm x 22mm

Pages: 232

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Standing Rock


Greed, Oil and the Lakota's Struggle for Justice
By Bikem Ekberzade Zed Books LtdCopyright -¬ 2018 Bikem Ekberzade
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78699-283-3


Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, vii,
PROLOGUE, ix,
Before we begin ..., 1,
ONE The resistance, 11,
TWO Seventh Generation, 45,
THREE The black snake, 99,
FOUR Showdown at Standing Rock, 139,
Epilogue, 177,
Author's Note, 185,
NOTES, 189,
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 207,
INDEX, 211,

CHAPTER 1
The resistance

Upon suffering beyond suffering; the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of seven generations when all the colours of mankind will gather under the sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things, and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am that place within me, we shall be as one.
(Prophecy of Oglala Chief Crazy Horse)

At the Prairie Knights Casino
'So. My name is LaDonna Bravebull Allard. My real name is Tamakawastewin, Her Good Earth Woman. I am an enrolled member of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. I am Ihunktonwan Pabaksa and Sisseton Dakota on my father's side. I am Hunkpapa, Sihasapa and Oglala Lakota on my mother's side. So, my father is Frank Bravebull, whose father was John Bravebull, whose father was Claudius Bravebull, whose father was Si-tanka Ohitika, whose father is Aspula. On my father's side. Let's see; there is my father, his mother Agnes, and Agnes' mother was Holy Generation Woman, who is married to Tatanka Ohitika. Holy Generation's mother was Pretty Door, and her father was Wind on His Forehead. And on my mother's side there is my mother, Valerie Lovejoy. My grandmother Alice's mother was Agnes Dog: Agnes Dog's father was Dog, and her mother was Pte Ska Win, White Buffalo Woman, and she was the daughter of Red Thunder, and Red Thunder was the son of Bear Face, and Bear Face was the son of Iron Horn, who was son of Makoche. Red Thunder had six brothers: Iron Horn, Shaved Head, Bear Face, Little Bear and Rain in the Face. And all these are my relatives.'
We were gathered around a small table inside the restaurant section of the Prairie Knights Casino, some 16 miles north of Fort Yates in Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. LaDonna, greeting the locals filtering in as she sat proudly upright, facing the entrance to the dining hall, continued to recite her long lineage as per my request without flinching. Beyond us in the main hall the mostly empty gambling area was lit by the colourful lights of the slot machines. Behind our table stood the extensive open buffet, and although it was well past lunch time, people were still moving in and out of the place with their plates full.
It had been difficult securing an interview with her. Following several emails, Facebook messages, phone calls, texts, and me reminding her of the dates I would be in North Dakota through every medium afforded by technology, here we finally were: LaDonna, a graceful woman with big, beautiful eyes that silently spoke of times past; her adorable grandson, Joshua; myself; and another journalist, who was writing for a Polish newspaper and had already started with her questions by the time I got there.
After she was done listing her ancestors' names, a