In addition to coursework this semester, I also tried to keep up with the environmental advocacy I have been doing. Many of these activities revolved around the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. Among my activities:
- I filed a complaint with the Ohio Department of Public Safety against Frost Kennels of Louisville, Ohio, which had supplied unlicensed dogs used by a private security firm hired by Energy Transfer Partners to attack water protectors protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
- I started a petition to bring home 37 Ohio state troopers who had been sent to help police put down protests. The petition, which gathered almost 50,000 signatures, was featured in several news outlets including the Cleveland Scene, Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, EcoWatch, and WCMH-TV Channel 6, which interviewed me.
- I participated in a protest of the pipeline and sending Ohio state troopers to help police protect it. The rally drew about 100 people to the Statehouse.
- I went with a group of native American activists in Ohio to present the petition signatures to the governor’s office.
- I finally got to visit the Oceti Sakowin camp at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation myself over Thanksgiving break, for which I was interviewed by WBNS-TV Channel 10.
You can read about my trip to Standing Rock in an extended journal entry here.
You can also find out about my public records request for documents related to the deployment of Ohio state troopers to Standing Rock.