Standing Rock and the Forgotten History of Native American Activism

For the last few months, members of North Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux tribe and allies from numerous other Native American tribes have protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a multi-billion dollar oil pipeline that would span four Western states and affect native communities and land in many ways. The community of protesters represents the largest gathering of Native Americans in more than a century, yet it has been largely ignored by the mainstream American media. (The protest's significant social media presence might make it seem to some of us as if it's receiving such attention, but outside of that bubble of insiders there has been shockingly little national coverage.)

The absence of Standing Rock from our collective conversations is troubling on its own terms, as this is a huge and compelling American story. It's also a story that links to many other significant issues: from debates over energy policy to the movement against police brutality, the history of Native American sovereignty and land rights to 21st century social media and hashtag activism.

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