Portside

The Trump Administration’s aggressive efforts to turn public lands over to the oil and gas industries threatens New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, the epicenter of Puebloan civilization from 850 to 1250 AD. UNESCO termed the ancient urban ceremonial center “unlike anything constructed before or since.” The accelerated oil and gas development threatens the Native American connection to this sacred place and all our attempts to understand the mysteries of its way of life.

Cloaking its efforts in the language of civil rights, a right-wing think tank has launched a coordinated attack against the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed to protect Native American children from their forced removal from their families and tribes. The Goldwater Institute’s stated goal is to have the Supreme Court strike down the ICWA. But, tribal members say these efforts are also intended to undermine the legal foundation of Native American self-determination.

The Standing Rock activists have lit a fire on the prairie in the heart of America as a symbol of their resistance. In its ashes there is the potential for a more just future.

In response to President Donald Trump's executive order to advance construction of the stalled Dakota Access Pipeline, tribal opponents say they will fight a restart of the project in court. While President Trump issued an executive order Tuesday intended to advance construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, restarting the stalled project may not be simple.

An open letter to Obama, penned by US attorney involved in the case against the Native American activist, is a stunning development in his bid for freedom. A senior US attorney who was involved in the prosecution of Native American activist Leonard Peltier has requested that Barack Obama grant clemency, with a rare plea that has energized the campaign to free the high-profile indigenous prisoner.

Why did so many veterans take up the cause of the Native Americans and environmentalists at Standing Rock? My own reasons are rooted in western Pennsylvania’s coal country, where I grew up.

This decision is everything we had asked for: a non-granting of the easement, initiating an Environmental Impact Study, and suggestive of a reroute, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II said. 'We got it! Energy Transfer Partners will face an uphill battle in trying to dismantle the process initiated by this decision.' And, if the camp stays where it is currently located, people are risking their lives. The current weather is severe, making travel impossible.

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