Confrontation at Standing Rock: The Future of Indigenous Resistance in the United States

By James W. Zion, Esq.

April 2017

The protest against the construction of the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, led by indigenous peoples, has drawn tens of thousands of “water protectors” from across the U.S.; in the words of author James Zion, Esq., it “is the culmination and a symbol of the long history of insults to Indian lands, rights and traditions.” Zion, a Native American law expert and member of NCCLP ‘s Board of Directors, frames this battle in the ongoing and historical activism of Native Americans, fighting to preserve Indian lands, rights and traditions against larceny for profit by large corporations, insulated from liability by government policy.