CSotD: Trail of Broken Promises
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Via the Nib, Sophie Yanow contributes a substantial report from Standing Rock, where a number of Indians and their supporters have gathered to offer support to the Lakota there against a pipeline project.
Yanow's sketchbook is primarily a series of vignettes, and the segments that lay out the actual conflict are brief and without a lot of detail, but, for those looking for background, here's the actual lawsuit filed by the Standing Rock tribe.
It's a complex look at the convoluted relations between the United States government and the Lakota.
The basics are that an oil pipeline is being constructed through the Dakotas, and the tribe is disputing a segment that will go under the Missouri River, which is their only water source. Fear of a leak that would seriously damage that source is reasonable, but the legal argument would be far stronger if it were under reservation land.
As it is, the Lakota are forced to argue to some degree on the basis of broken promises and what should be, given that the treaty has long since been "adjusted" and land taken away from them.
This leaves them arguing on the basis of destruction of historically and culturally significant land, rather than on the basis of a pure violation of sovereignty, as they could if it were going under reservation land.
That's been a hard argument to press through indifferent courts in the past, but it's one worth pursuing, and, meanwhile, the confrontation represents one more of those classic dilemmas: If you don't raise hell, you get nothing. If you do raise hell, you're told they can't negotiate until you stand down.
There may have been a little too much hell raised the other day, but Yanow outlines a more sustained resistance that, from her reports, seems constructive.
What happens at this growing encampment will not likely sway the court, but it might bring other sources of support to the cause.
There isn't a lot of legal basis to the argument, "Haven't these people been screwed enough?" because that's not a legal question.
But it's a good question, and, meanwhile, the latest news is that a judge has granted a temporary stop on at least part of the project, which isn't much but it's something.
I'm not too optimistic about the chances of bringing a $3.7 billion project to a screeching and permanent halt, but I'd hate to see it go unchallenged.
Meanwhile, though Yanow doesn't lay out the issues, she does a nice job of showing you what it's like to be one of the people who has shown up to lend support.
Speaking of broken promises
Dwane Powell reposted this cartoon on Facebook yesterday, noting the death of Phyllis Schlafly, who is generally credited with halting the Equal Rights Amendment as it was on the brink of ratification in the 1970s. It's not dated, but I would guess between 1979 and 1981, when an attempt to extend the deadline was struck down.
There was an overall argument against the ERA that said it was unnecessary, that women had equal rights and didn't need them written into the Constitution. It was one of those arguments that doesn't persuade anyone on either side, but provides a reason to do nothing, which is the default action.
But the momentum was heavy and, until Schlafly and her "Stop ERA" movement came forward, the ERA seemed likely to pass.
However, she was able to rally a substantial "Silent Majority" backlash and some states voted to rescind their ratification, while others either rejected it or failed to act.
Examining Schlafly's arguments, it almost seems that those who said the ERA was unnecessary were right: Aside from the predictable, silly warnings that it would make unisex bathrooms mandatory, there was the argument that women would no longer be exempt from the draft and could be sent into combat.
She also warned that it could mean the end of alimony for housewives, and of Social Security for widows. In the current world, husbands are as entitled to either as are wives, though it sometimes requires a little pushing and shoving.
Ah well. She's probably lost in the fog of history to the extent that there won't be a lot of Pearly Gates tributes about her death.
Powell's classic piece sums it up better than any obit cartoon could anyway.
Stolen water and broken promises
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