Angeleena Parra: Pipeline another example of U.S. trying to exterminate native peoples

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a modern-day version of the United States genocidal policies against Native American peoples. Though disguised as an attempt to bring jobs, a source of energy and economic growth, it actually brings harm to the environment and to the reservations dependent on the water supply it crosses.

Some may say genocide is a strong word, but the United States has a inconsistent track record in this area. The Indian Removal Act forcibly pushed out indigenous people from their native lands in recognized states to west of the Mississippi River. The Dakota Access Pipeline will be doing the same thing. By risking their water supply, many natives will leave the reservation thus again forcing them out of the land that the U.S. government “granted” them.

In addition, the police brutality that occurs at DAPL protests is another example of the merciless treatment Native Americans have faced under U.S. government control. Such actions only reinforce the acts of fear which could and has resulted in actions that fall under sociology’s conflict theory – when a group of people feel oppressed by a government/state they will rise against.

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Angeleena Parra: Pipeline another example of U.S. trying to exterminate native peoples."