Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement ed. by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon

Abstract

Reviewed by: Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement ed. by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon Dawson Barrett STANDING WITH STANDING ROCK: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement. Edited by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2019. In Standing with Standing Rock, Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon, along with dozens of other contributors, present a historical flashpoint—a movement that is intergenerational, that inextricably pairs Indigenous sovereignty with the non-human environment, and that inspires and attracts people across borders and from different backgrounds. In effect, Estes and Dhillon ask why the Water Protectors' stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline (#NoDAPL) resonated so strongly with Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike, and then use the answer to challenge readers to join in the struggle to protect our world. As Lewis Grassrope states bluntly in the collection, "This means something to everybody. This is everyone's fight" (36). Standing with Standing Rock, like its subject, is a convergence. Through interviews, poems, letters, op-eds, and other essays, the many authors offer a range of perspectives on #NoDAPL—some first-hand, others from a distance. The Oceti Sakowin Camp—which brought together more than 300 Native nations and their allies—provides a focal point, but what makes this collection so provocative is how it also presents this moment as something larger and historic. At Standing Rock, Indigenous nations challenged the US government. Defenders of the natural world defied the destructive fossil fuel industry. Everyday people stood up to predatory banks. Non-violent activists confronted armies, [End Page 59] water cannons, and attack dogs. In short, #NoDAPL provides a glimpse at new possibilities for upending the current order. A logical companion to Estes' excellent Our History is the Future, this collection similarly connects #NoDAPL to a long history of Indigenous, anti-colonial resistance, while also framing today's struggle as a harbinger of a "decolonial future" (10). To that end, various pieces offer a primer on Indigenous sovereignty, treaties, and centuries of US government policies alternating between assimilation and elimination—a past that LaDonna Bravebull Allard reminds readers is "not ancient history" (46). The authors also offer a more immediate historical context, connecting #NoDAPL to contemporary struggles against gender violence, white supremacy, environmental destruction, and empire. These include direct and indirect ties to other movements for justice, such as Idle No More, Black Lives Matter, Sanctuary, Anti-fascism, Occupy Wall Street, and others. There is also an important link to the Global War on Terror, both through the mercenary forces that provided surveillance and joined heavily-armed police forces in their violent attacks on Water Protectors, and through a group of US military veterans who stood alongside Water Protectors and offered apologies for US crimes against Indigenous nations. Though it does at times give redundant information from piece to piece, Estes and Dhillon's collection flows better than many volumes that feature numerous entries and authors. Standing with Standing Rock is a real achievement. Its simultaneous depth and breadth is impressive. It has much to tell us about where we are and where we need to go. It should be useful, and appreciated, in a wide range of college courses—and beyond. Dawson Barrett Del Mar College Copyright © 2020 Mid-America American Studies Association