Panel: border changes don’t dissolve treaties

DAPL more than a domestic issue

Understanding the root cause of violence against peaceful water protectors was the main topic of a panel discussion at Woodbury Art Museum Jan. 17.

According to panel member Dustin Jansen, assistant professor of American Indian studies at UVU, one key component is understanding sovereignty of Native tribes.

“When the U.S. came in, they made treaties with people living here. Now, you don’t just make treaties with a group of people. You make treaties with a recognized political government entity,” said Jansen.

He referred to the treaties signed at Fort Laramie in 1851 and 1868, which drew the borders for the Sioux tribe, where the DAPL is planned to pass through. Attention is being brought to these documents, because the 1868 treaty drew borders which covered less space than the 1851 treaty. The technicality is one argument for the legality of DAPL passing through ancient burial grounds.

“But it’s land that we never ceded. And according to the 1851 treaty, even if [borders were changed in the] 1868 treaty, that doesn’t dissolve previous treaties,” said Jansen. He argued that according to the U.S. constitution, treaties are the “highest law in the land,” which means Natives have every right to fight for their land and water.

According to Jansen, DAPL cutting through sacred lands was a matter of appeasing white residents of Bismarck. The pipeline was originally planned to cross the river several miles north of the city, but concerns about a spill contaminating their drinking water caused the construction to be moved downstream. Now the Sioux people are facing assault with rubber bullets and harassment from illegally low flying planes and helicopters for the same issue the Bismarck residents were concerned about.

“They shoot us in the legs, they shoot us in the face, but it doesn’t matter, because, these Indians, they still get back up,” said panel member Butch Russell, who worked as part of the security team at Standing Rock five times over the last six months. Russell, who who also serves as the spiritual leader for the Peaceful Advocates for Native Dialogue and Organizing Support, recalled experiences of seeing bones of his ancestors coming out of the ground and countless acts of violence; he also focused on the beauty of different cultures coming together to defend the sacred.
“The biggest takeaway for me is the importance of having an understanding that the environment and what we receive as far as economic goods, like petroleum, come at a high cost,” said UVU senior Dustin Joe, a business and environmental science major. “Somebody’s eventually gonna feel the repercussions from that process.”