Chairman Dave Archambault II
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Building 1 North Standing Rock Ave
Fort Yates, ND 58530
August 17, 2016
Dear Chairman Archambault,
I am writing to express the support of the American Indian Studies Center (AISC) at UCLA for the historic struggle of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the Dakota Access Pipeline. This pipeline was approved by the Army Corp of Engineers without proper consultation, as required by federal law. The pipeline will endanger a key water resource for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe- the Missouri River – and disturb burial grounds and sacred sites on the tribe’s ancestral Treaty lands.
The UCLA AISC stands with you and all the tribal citizens and activists assembled at the Sacred Stone Camp who are heroically holding the line to stop the pipeline construction. Your fight is the fight of all Native peoples struggling against the imposition of neoliberal development projects that threaten our lives and lifeways.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything further we can do to support you in protesting and resisting this pipeline.
With respect,
Shannon Speed (Chickasaw)
Director, UCLA American Indian Studies Center
Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Anthropology
Posted August 17, 2016, 10:34 AM PST
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