Bar association group links environmental racism to higher pandemic rates, lead poisoning, and lasting tolls for tribal nations and communities of color
By Leonna McAfee Medill Reports The civil rights arm of the American Bar Association is calling for legal reforms to prevent pollution threats and other environmental injustices linking tribal communities and communities of color to everything from higher COVID-19 contagion to increased lead poisoning. The ABA’s Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice held a […]
Package of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline stories
Standing Rock These stories on Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline have been supported in part by SJNN and the McCormick Foundation. They have been co-published by SJNN. When Cloee Cooper, June Leffler and Pat Nabong proposed in late Sept. 2016 to go from Chicago to North Dakota to report on the ongoing movement […]
NoDAPL supporters chant ‘Mni wiconi’ and it’s not just about water
By Pat Nabong and June Leffler [Package of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline stories here] Women in black burkas have marched around the Oceti Sakowin camp in North Dakota with a banner that reads, “Muslims stand with Standing Rock.” In a ceremonial dance, Aztec dancers from South America have skipped to the beat […]
Illinois’ pipeline construction proceeds with reservations but no rancor
By Cloee Cooper [Package of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline stories here] As Native American-led protests against the Dakota Access pipeline continue, major national unions that represent pipeline workers in Illinois have come out in support of the pipeline, despite environmental concerns about the potential for rupture in and around water resources, and […]
Trump’s ascendancy intensifies #NoDAPL movement
By Pat Nabong [Package of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline stories here] Right by the Chicago River, hundreds of Native Americans and their supporters chanted, “Water is life!” Adorned with traditional headdresses, some of them lit tobacco and prayed for their water. And as the sun set, they danced under the shade of […]
Native Americans seek visibility in their vote
By Pat Nabong [Package of Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline stories here] In the run-down American Indian Center, fewer than 20 Native Americans are gathered to discuss issues that are important to them in this year’s election. Susan Power, one of the founding members of the center, looks around the room. She bellows, […]
Native Americans put aside differences at Standing Rock to fight pipeline construction
By Cloee Cooper [Continuing updates on the DAPL pipeline story here.] Donnielle Wanatee, a member of the federally recognized Sac and Fox tribe of the Mississippi and the Meskwaki nation in Iowa, made the 735-mile trek to the Standing Rock camp during the first week of October. For the mother of eight children, the Sioux […]
