The battle at Standing Rock

Dear Editor,

Standing Rock is the epicenter of a struggle between people in tune with the sanctity of the Earth and an extreme segment of the government corrupted by corporate power. The astounding hunger for monetized fulfillment – expressed through possession and thriftless consumption – has completely deprived these forces attached at the hip of ecological insight and respect for human dignity. This is a fight over the indigenous sovereignty of the Lakota Nation, a people deeply ingrained with an ethos of empathy and ecological understanding; it is their fight for the right to clean water and a livable planet threatened by anthropogenic climate change – which is a right that brings all people of all nations all over the world together to do battle. I will be there. I will stand in solidarity with the Lakota Nation of Standing Rock, to repel the manifest destination of extinction through colonization, and for the absolute necessity to treat people with respect and dignity, and as the great Edward Abbey declared, “I stand for what I stand on – Earth!”