Janee Deck-Contemporary Connection: "Tracks & The Dakota Pipeline"

The Los Angeles Times: “Thousands Turn Out in Downtown L.A. to Protest Trump's Orders on Keystone, Dakota Pipelines”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dapl-protest-los-angeles-20170205-story.html

Important Quotes from article:

“Thousands of people converged on downtown Los Angeles on Sunday to protest the proposed $3.8-billion Dakota Access Pipeline, which activists across the country say threatens the water supply and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota.”

“The Dakota Access project more recently became a national rallying point not only for environmental groups but for Native American tribes who said it threatened grounds they hold sacred. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has set up a camp to protest the pipeline, and the battle over it has become violent at times, with protesters clashing with police”

What do these quotes mean and how do they connect with our class and the novel, Tracks?:

For a long time now, Native American Tribes have struggled with the selfish actions and behaviors of the American Government. These actions can date to 1830, during the government’s “Indian Removal Act,” which was also known as the “Trail of Tears,” a painful “relocation” of multiple Indian tribes. In the novel Tracks, the government is allotting the land, paying the Native Americans for their land and they are basically “wiping” the Native Americans away. The narrator, Nanapush in “Tracks” made a telling point, when he said, “Money burns like tinder, flows off like water, and as for the government, the wind is steadier (Pg. 33).” This is an example from the Native American's perspective, of how the government is unreliable to the different tribes; they are selfish and do not appreciate or care for the Indigenous people of America.

The Native Americans have had their cultures and traditions taken away, which has caused many conflicts and emotional turmoil for them. This article, shows another of too many examples of the government acting in an egocentric manner. The Dakota Pipeline has said to have threats with the water supply within the sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Once again, sadly, the government seems to care mostly about themselves, and their economy of making money, rather than the world’s environment and also its people and their rights. I hope the people of America and the government can soon take account for their actions and become more aware and educated on the people and cultures surrounding them.