“My little sister once came home from school when she was in the second grade and asked me, ‘What’s a sanctuary?’ I guess they had been reading about wildlife preserves or the Hunchback of Notre Dame or something.
And it’s funny because no one ever taught me this, and I can’t even remember thinking about it very much, but the answer came flying right out of my mouth, like it had been waiting there since time immemorial.
‘A sanctuary is a place where the door only locks from the inside.’ I looked her in the eyes as I said it, and I could see right away she understood.”
–Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir, by Kai Cheng Thom
This book is bringing me so much joy. If you like unreliable narrators, tough femmes, radical resistance of oppressive forces, lipstick, and prose that reads like rough-around-the-edges poetry, this is your new guilty pleasure. Trust me.
Last night, as the temperature in Standing Rock plunged below 30 degrees, hundreds were blasted with water cannons.
As a Native woman who has been to Standing Rock three times, and whose health now prevents me from making a fourth trip, I have my own asks. Call every number put in front of you. Jam every phone line. Look at the target list of financial institutions supporting this pipeline. Pick a bank. Shut it down, just like we did in Chicago on Saturday and people did in Philadelphia this morning. The Trump administration hasn’t even taken hold yet, and I watched over a livestream last night as my friends and people were battered with water streams that can tear skin from flesh and eyes from sockets. I watched my people hold space and scramble to save one another as drops of water froze to razor wire.
I know marginalized people around the county are organizing for their own survival right now, and sitting around tables discussing the difficult days ahead. But a strategy of protection, defense and obstruction cannot wait for the inauguration of an autocrat. It must be applied here and now.
Please show us that you see us. Please do all you can to stop this.
If you cannot travel to Standing Rock, or support or organize an action where you live, consider contacting one of these Sheriffs and police departments that have loaned out the officers who are abusing Native peoples in Standing Rock. Jam their phone lines and tell them to bring their people home. If your community is on this list, actively organize to recall the deployment.
Michigan City Police Department
Michigan City, IN
(219) 874-3221
North Dakota Highway Patrol
Offices across North Dakota
(701) 328-2455
Hammond Police Department
Hammond, IN
219-852-2900
Munster Police Department
Munster, IN
(219) 836-6600
Griffith Police Department
Griffith, IN
(219) 924-7503
Anoka County Sheriff’s Office
Andover, MN
(763) 323-5000
Washington County Sheriff’s Office
Stillwater, MN
651-430-6000
Marathon County Sheriff’s Department
Wausau, WI
(715) 261-1200
La Porte County Sheriff’s Office
La Porte, IN
(219) 326-7700
Newton County Sheriff’s Office
Kentland, IN
219-474-3331
South Dakota Highway Patrol
Pierre, SD
605-773-3105
Jasper County Sheriff
Rensselaer, Indiana
219-866-7344
Lake County Sheriff Sheriff’s Department
Crown Point, IN
219-755-3333
Laramie County Sheriff’s Department
Cheyenne, WY
307-633-4700
Wyoming Highway Patrol
Cheyenne, WY
307-777-4301
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Columbus, Ohio
614-466-2660
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
Lincoln, NE
(402) 471-7421
Supply note: With at least two hundred injured last night, Standing Rock medics are in critical need of the following items:
Milk of Magnesia
Wool socks
Wool blankets
Space blankets
Hand warmers
Trauma kits (portable)
Suturing kits
Straw bales
Supplies can be shipped to:
Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council
PO Box 1251, Bismark ND, 58502
or if you are shipping via UPS or Fed Ex, please use the address:
220 E. Rosser Ave. 1251, Bismark, ND, 58502
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