Conrad Stewart, the Chair of the Natural Resources Infrastructure Committee for the Crow tribe, explains that even if their tribe wanted to mine coal on their lands there would be a 49-step process that involved the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice and the Commerce Department, all of which can take months, if not years. He estimates that just to dig a hole requires a $6,500 up-front payment for an application for a permit to drill.
In comparison, land just off the reservation requires about $125, 15 minutes, and a 5-step process for approval.
In a world run by capitalism, this means the land is "dead capital." Because it's held in trust, few people see it as a lucrative investment. Furthermore, since no individual owns it outright, it can't be used as collateral for a loan or as an investment of wealth.
In reality, reservations do not offer true sovereignty and self-determination, but paternalism. They are a fraudulent attempt to assuage the guilt of a country built on the genocide and pillaging of other peoples.
What we need to realize is that fighting for the rights of the Sioux at Standing Rock is also fighting for the rights of every person.
The dispute at Standing Rock is not only a fight over treaty rights, it's a fight over human rights for everyone in this country. And more than just a singular battle in the never-ending war between justice and exploitation, it's an allegory for the continued shift in power away from the people towards corporations.
In theory, all Native Americans deserve, at the very least, what the wildly unfair treaties promised: self-government, cultural agency and independence, and the protection of natural resources and basic services such as health care and education. In actuality, the recognition and fulfillment of these rights are up to the whims of the federal government. To this day, despite the Supreme Court ruling that the federal government is contractually bound to provide healthcare, the budget comes out of the President's Discretionary Funds. Obama's attempts to change funding to a mandatory status have been blocked year after year.
Similarly, in theory, we all deserve law enforcement that protects individuals and maintains a peaceful society. In actuality, the rights to security and safety all too often fall prey to racism, militarism, and officers on a power-kick.
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