A day at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation begins before dawn, when large mechanical blades begin to beat noisily through the cold air, says Ricardo Cate'. The oil company seeking to build the Dakota Access Pipeline harasses protesters with a single-engine airplane and helicopter.
Cate', 52, a member of Santo Domingo Pueblo, a Marine Corps veteran and a cartoonist for The New Mexican, sleeps alongside others from New Mexico tribes in a makeshift cabin made with wood, blue tarps and tin roof panels.
He and the thousand other protesters in tepees and tents begin to stir as the plane and helicopter circle overhead. In another hour, at 5:30 a.m., the Keeper of the Fire will make the formal morning call.
"Wake up. Get up. You are here for one reason," the Keeper of the Fire says through a loudspeaker that echoes across the North Dakota plains.
Cate', whose one-panel comic Without Reservations and paintings of the cartoons have gained popularity in recent years, has been asked to speak around the nation about his work and life in Indian Country. He also appeared in a recent Daily Show sketch about the Standing Rock protests.
He is now on his fourth visit to the reservation since the pipeline protest began in the spring. In a series of interviews with The New Mexican, he described a day in the life at the Standing Rock camp.
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