2016

Standing with Standing Rock

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced recently that it would not be approving a permit required to continue construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, Becky Plumage had a special reason to celebrate.

She was one of four Brown School students who traveled in October to the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation in North Dakota, where protesters had been camping in an effort to stop plans to tunnel under the nearby Missouri River.

“It was really exciting,” Plumage said of the announcement. But, like other opponents of the pipeline, she’s nervous about what the incoming administration of Donald Trump will mean for the pipeline.

“I’m feeling very uneasy about the new president,” she said. “It’s not over yet, but it’s good news.”

Plumage is a second-year MSW student from Pierre, S.D., and a member of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes. She decided to visit the protest site after hearing conflicting reports about what was going on there. She was also struck by the unity of different tribes who sent representatives to join the protest.

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