DAPL contractors also apparently started brush fires around Standing Rock encampments and when Water Protectors called 911, Morton county officials failed to respond. Fortunately people at the scene were able to put out the fires on their own (click here)
Reports of concealed snipers in the surrounding hillsides have also been confirmed by Native activists who have had their drones shot down by them (www.youtube.com/watch?v=guUQ5zEjP9k). What is more, many Water Protectors have fallen ill with respiratory tract inflammations due to crop-dusters spraying encampments after nightfall (click here).
On November 20th, Water Protectors were again assaulted by a para-militarized police as they attempted to clear a blocked road needed for access by Water Protectors and the local community. Hundreds were injured when you turned water canons against Natives and their allies. (click here). As a result, many Water Protectors suffered from hypothermia and frostbite in the freezing temperatures of wintertime in North Dakota. Water Protectors reported that your men deliberately aimed rubber bullets at their heads causing severe eye injuries, concussions, and cardiac arrests. What is worse, Sophia Wilansky had her arm all but blown off by a concussion grenade. Not only did you deny that your department had launched it at her, but you tried to shift blame to activists themselves by suggesting that a propane canister was responsible for her injury (click here).
According to The Guardian's database at The Counted, over 977 Americans have been killed by the police so far this year. Last year over 1,000 were killed. Though the Black Lives Matter movement has shed light on police violence in Black communities, statistics show that there is another racial demographic even more susceptible to police killings: Native Americans. According to reports for 2016, the killing of Native Americans by police is greater than for any other race in the U.S. (click here), (click here).
Given the fact that Morton county police have carried out their attacks on Sioux treaty lands, there is concern that you and your men are out of your authorized jurisdiction. Also of concern is your department's deployment of chemical agents against the Water Protectors, an unpleasant reminder of the historical use of biological warfare in the genocide of Native Americans.
One of the truisms of the Water Protectors is you can't drink oil. Company practices that place profits over people have destroyed the water supply of low-income communities in places like the Navajo Nation, Flint, Michigan, and Charleston, West Virginia (click here), (wvwatercrisis.com/2016/01/06/2-year-anniversary/).
For these reasons, public officials in Morton county North Dakota must be held accountable for any and all acts of environmental racism and human rights abuses committed against Native Americans. Water is a human right.
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