Grassroots live radio broadcasting from Native American water protectors in Standing Rock Camp
By Brenda Norrell
Photos by Michelle Cook, Dine'
CANNON BALL, North Dakota -- The grassroots live radio station, Standing Rock's Spirit Resistance Radio began broadcasting live on Monday morning, after a satellite was installed on Sunday. Thousands of Native Americans have gathered to protect the Missouri River from an underwater crude oil pipeline, Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatens their water supply.
Before the satellite was installed, Govinda Dalton of Earthcycles, producer, was driving the audios out of camp. The audios were then posted on Censored News, due to the lack of Internet service in camp.
A delegation of Apache and Dine’ (Navajo) youths were among those interviewed on Spirit Resistance Radio. Naelyn Pike, Apache, described how Arizona Sen. John McCain sold out the Apaches by giving Resolution Copper their sacred place of Oak Flat in Arizona. McCain put the land exchange in the defense spending bill to avoid public detection and outrcry at the time.
Spirit Resistance Radio interviewed Lakota elders and youths, along with young entrepreneurs from Rosebud who are beekeepers selling their honey, and those whose lives are being transformed by being at the camp.
“It is no longer a camp, it is a village,” said Govinda Dalton, producer, who has been broadcasting Indigenous news and struggles as a volunteer for more than a decade on Earthcycles.
Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, and attorneys have been interviewed on Spirit Resistance Radio.
The issues range from the Rights of Nature, with roots in Bolivia and Ecuador, to a series recorded around the campfire at night. This includes Lakota elders speaking on healing the trauma of boarding schools with ceremonies.
Tlingit water and medicine songs are included in the radio programs, which began with an interview with Waniya Locke, Lakota mother and teacher. Michelle Cook, Dine’, on the legal team, describes her personal journey here.
Native American water defenders speak passionately on protecting the Missouri River for future generations.
Radio stations across the country are now requesting to rebroadcast the shows. The first was in Tampa, Florida.
Two Worlds Indigenous Radio, on WMNF community radio station in Tampa iis broadcasting Standing Rock Spirit Resistance Radio. Mekasi Camp Horinek's interview, describing the first days of the blockade by Camp of the Sacred Stones, was the first.
Truckloads of hundreds of pounds of buffalo meal and and pallets of drinking water are now arriving at the camp, with trucks arriving from the Crow Nation, Cheyenne Arapaho Nation, and Cherokee Nation.
Photos by Michelle Cook, Dine': Radmilla Cook, Dine', cooks over an open fire in camp. Photo 2: Govinda Dalton, producer, with Tom Goldtooth, Indgienous Environmental Network, with new satellite installed on Sunday. The station is now live.