Petalumans support Standing Rock pipeline protests

As the division between protesters, police and developers deepens in North Dakota, Petalumans are uniting to stand in solidarity with those opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,200-mile multi-state project that Native Americans fear will harm their water supply and desecrate cultural sites.|

As the division between protesters, police and developers deepens in North Dakota, Petalumans are uniting to stand in solidarity with those opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,200-mile multi-state project that Native Americans fear will harm their water supply and desecrate cultural sites.

Among the locals lending a hand is Lauren Fuhry, who raised more than $3,500 to purchase supplies, clothing and food to take with her to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The 30-year-old also collected donations of fresh produce from Petaluma’s Green String Farm and a bevy of supplies from those eager to show support.

“I’m really overwhelmed by how deeply people in Sonoma County feel connected to this movement,” said Fuhry, who works at Petaluma-based World Centric. “We’re in a very privileged place in Sonoma County and people can afford to give. I think it’s really awesome that they’re giving to a specific cause and rallying around a group and saying corporations don’t have more rights than people and that the climate matters.”

Fuhry and her friend, Anna Dow, last week made the more than 1,500-mile drive across the country to join protesters from around the nation who are taking a stand.

Traveling in a camper van, the pair arrived at the Rosebud camp in the early hours of Nov. 25, and Fuhry plans to stay through Dec. 4. From the camp, which is one of several gathering spots in the area, Fuhry described a somber scene, where she said a “shared sense of purpose” prevails despite a heavily militarized presence surrounding the site.

“The indigenous people here are showing us a better way forward,” she said in a text message. “So although it can be intimidating to approach the front line with its guns and barbed wire and tear gas, there is an overwhelming sense of shared strength, because we are already accomplishing so much together.”

Activists have spent months protesting plans to direct the four-state $3.8 billion pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, according to the Associated Press. The pipeline is mostly complete, aside from the segment that would run under the water source.

The developer, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, maintains that the pipeline will carry oil more cheaply and safely, though the self-proclaimed “water protectors” argue that it will have adverse effects.

The Obama administration in September postponed final approval of an Army Corps permit needed for tunneling under the lake, which was intended to give federal officials more opportunity to seek input from tribal leaders, Reuters reported.

Violence has occurred at protests, and more than 525 people have been arrested since August, the AP reported.

The Corps said last week that all federal lands north of the Cannonball River will be shut off to public access Dec. 5 for “safety concerns” and an emergency evacuation order was issued Monday by North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple, the AP reported.

As the protests have waged on, Anika Salguero, a 38-year-old Petaluma nutritional consultant, has supported those at the Oceti Sakowin camp, or Seven Council Fires camp, a central hub for demonstrators.

Salguero, who has visited the North Dakota camp twice since October and raised more than $17,000 to purchase and install a wellness tent and two yurts to serve as spaces for counseling and healing services, recalled the protest site.

“They wear down the people by sending helicopters and planes every day to fly over,” said Salguero, who returned to Petaluma Nov. 24 from a two week trip to the camp and is planning to continue to support the efforts. “Every time there’s an action, you never know if people are going to get hurt. There’s a lot of intensity.”

But while tensions are high and temperatures drop below freezing, there is also a great deal of hope and unity at Oceti Sakowin, Salguero said.

“It’s a really beautiful thing how much support and love people are giving,” said Salguero, who also launched a “Sonoma Supports Standing Rock” Facebook page. “It’s so heartfelt and people care so much.”

Oakland resident Ciara Crowley earlier this month established a donation drop off bin at her uncle’s Aqus Café, collecting gear from across the North Bay.

She’s sent several bins of donations, including medical supplies, food, snow gear and other assorted items with locals who are headed to protest.

“It still feels like there’s more potential,” said Ciara Crowley, who grew up in Petaluma. “I’m still looking for more ways to spread the word and gather donations. So many people really want to find a way that they can help and there are still so many people going at such a critical time.”

Aqus Café has also hosted a series of conversations and presentations about Standing Rock facilitated by Fuhry, with as many as 30 people in attendance at the most recent Nov. 21 event, John Crowley said.

Jessie Coccia, an artist at Penngrove’s Valkyrie Tattoo, is also using her talents to offer custom tattoos based on Sioux bead work patterns as well as the artwork of Oglala Sioux artist Donald Montileaux, using the proceeds to benefit the pipeline protesters.

“It’s a nod to the indigenous people in this country and in a way, it’s sort of a gesture of solidarity with them to express that you disagree with what the American government has done to disenfranchise these people,” said the 29-year-old, who has so far raised $280.

When she returns to Petaluma, Fuhry said she plans to organize another event at Aqus Café to share her experiences with fellow Petalumans and devise ways to remain involved in the future.

“I’m really hoping to go there and see what’s happening and be witness to it and bring that home,” she said. ?

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