Seattle mother and son head off to protest at Standing Rock

“For a lot of Americans the image they carry in their imagination of Indian peoples is teepees, war bonnets, and Sitting Bull at Wounded Knee and Custer’s last stand – these are those people. This is that place,” said Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes, describing the scene of the Dakota Access Pipeline protest.

“Once again, here we are. They’re getting chased off a piece of land that’s in the path of a pipeline.”

Mapes was at Standing Rock last week covering the ongoing demonstration by the Standing Rock Sioux with other tribes and Native peoples.

Curator and filmmaker Tracy Rector said our world is at a tipping point in regard to social justice, politics and environmental health.

She is headed to Standing Rock next week to join the ongoing protest against DAPL, and she’s bringing her 15-year-old son along.

“I want my son to experience firsthand how he can affect change, how he can be a voice, how he can be a witness,” Rector said, speaking to Bill Radke on KUOW’s The Record.

She said she’s cognizant of the risks after seeing images of rubber bullets and audio grenades that have been used against the protesters, but she feels that they will be a positive presence.

“What’s at stake for me is more than my present reality or immediate community or even this time period,” she said. “What’s at stake is our future.

“This is much more than this one pipeline.”

Rector said DAPL is about the oil industry and corporate domination over politics, law and health. She hopes the attention the pipeline is generating will get people thinking about alternative ways of living – even if that means toeing a legal line with civil disobedience.

“It’s easy to get mired in the legalities of the fine details, but I think what really matters is the impact of these decisions happening on a daily basis without regard to human life, environmental health and the future of the Earth,” she said.

She said she wants her two boys to look back and see her as someone who fought for their future.