Magazine: Ponca Spiritual Camp opposes Keystone Pipeline

Faith Spotted Eagle, an elder of the Ihanktonwan Dakota/Nakota tribe and one of the camp's organizers, testified in a State Department hearing on April 18 that TransCanada and the U.S. government have neglected their duty to consult with them as sovereign peoples on matters that affect their traditional land, as outlined by the EPA.

For her and for many other native elders, though, this pipeline project is part of a longer history of colonialism, broken treaties, and resource extraction on indigenous land. It's about sacredness of that particular route—"for the dead, the ceremonial sites, and tribal lifeways." Both ranchers and natives say that the pipeline threatens the land in which they base their deeply rooted cultural and spiritual identities.

Naturally, the land was the focus of the spiritual camp. Residents from all along the proposed pipeline route sang songs, told stories about what the land meant to them, and talked about why they were so determined to protect it. They set up the tipi, shared meals, and kept watch over the sacred fire so that it burned continuously through the night. Some brought their children and grandchildren.

For many of the non-natives who sat around the fire, it was the first time they'd interacted with the tribes. Jane Kleeb, executive director of Bold Nebraska, an organization that opposes the pipeline and which co-sponsored the camp, says she is certain that Keystone catalyzed the growing alliance between the two groups. "It would have never happened if TransCanada hadn't come knocking on our doors."

Mekasi Horinek, a Ponca who brought his two youngest sons to the camp, grew up on the reservation in Oklahoma where his ancestors were relocated. "Living on the res, it's usually us against them," he said. "You kind of grow up with that mentality."