Standing Rock Sioux Resist Dakota Access Pipeline; Black-Indigenous Solidarity

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and thousands of water protectors gathered in North Dakota in 2016 to block the Dakota Access Pipeline, citing threats to sacred lands and water. Black Lives Matter activists joined the encampment, articulating shared struggles against environmental racism and state violence. Police deployed water cannons in freezing temperatures, rubber bullets, and sound cannons against protesters. The Obama administration halted the project in December 2016; the Trump administration reversed this and ordered construction to proceed in January 2017. The pipeline began operating in 2017.