I bear witness: Reflections from Standing Rock

Guest commentary by Susan Phillips 

We give you thanks, Eternal G-d,
for you nourish and sustain all living things by the gift of water.

It dawned on me at the DisGrace anti-racism conference held in October at Montreat, that I needed to get in the car and go to Cannonball, North Dakota, with my friend Paula Fernandez for the simple reason that she asked me to go. It was time to go to the Standing Rock Lakota Sioux Reservation. Paula is a leader and educator in the Menominee Nation and beyond. She has challenged me often on my Menominee pronunciations, how I use my privilege and with rich opportunities to learn more, like going to Standing Rock. We took three of our kids and headed west on Oct 19. I was called to bear witness.

I bear witness to…

• Security folks welcoming us at the Standing Rock Camp gate and reminding us that no alcohol, drugs or weapons are permitted.
• The sacred fire, tended around the clock by fire-keepers with prayers, where we found coffee, announcements, invitations to volunteer, a donation site for clothing and new friends.
• Twice-daily camp meetings and various other organizational gatherings.
• The assertions of camp disorganization that are incorrect. The quintessential evidence of community care was the port-o-potties: clean smelling, plenty of toilet paper and hand sanitizer!

I bear witness to…

• Jewish seminary students building a sukkah for Sukkot and describing the biblical and cultural significance of water to a people who lived in deserts and understand the faithful strength in the midst of oppression.
• A Wisconsin friend at the Two-Spirits campsite set up by Native LGBTQ people.
• Two members of camp security gently escorting out a man who had been drinking.
• The camp school where we hung out with kids and teachers while learning words in each other’s indigenous languages.
• Helping four Muscogee/Choctaw/Cherokee women from a church in Oklahoma set up their tent in the dark at Sacred Stone Camp.

You led Israel out of slavery, through the waters of the sea,
into the freedom of the promised land.

By morning light, a new friend led us to a water ceremony on the river. We listened, we prayed, we watched as the sun rose. Men made a path for the women on the hillside as one woman lead the ceremony. At a respectful moment, Paula approached the elder and offered her a Menominee story and gift. The story was a vision from history of a day when Mother Earth would be torn open and the waters fouled by people who did not respect creation nor our relationship with all creatures. The wisdom story encourages hearers that the land will be healed when people of all colors come together. Here at Standing Rock, people have come from all over the world to stand with the Water Protectors and bear witness to peaceful, prayerful people defending drinking water for every person, plant and creature downstream. Paula also encouraged the protectors with news of the Menominee people and friends protecting the Wolf River from the Crandon mine. The elder poured water from the Wolf River into the Missouri River and we recognized our connections with all our relatives.

I bear witness to…

• The morning camp meeting, where Johnny explained the community agreements that shape life in the camp. Moving around the circle, each person had a turn to speak, share concerns, ask questions or offer updates.
• Tribal leaders, allies and regular folk who believe “water is life.”
• Connections. As a Presbyterian pastor and a member of Winnebago Presbytery, I shared the news that the Synod of Lakes and Prairies and our denomination stood with Standing Rock. Johnny asked if I could make connections with area churches and help share the perspective of the water protectors with them. If you have those connections, please be in touch with me.

I bear witness to…

• 

  Daily direct action training, required by anyone choosing to go to the front line.

• Principles of direct action, from which I learned that this gathering of the nations is sacred time and the camps are sacred space.
• Respect for one another, for land and water, for elders and children, which are the way of life here.
• Thousands of meals served every day.
• Conventional and traditional medical clinics, plus nurses and EMTs.

I bear witness to…

• Our thirst for oil and our absolute necessity for water.
• Our options to choose renewable energies.
• Our need to learn our history and redress injustices.
• Our faith, as Presbyterians, in our Creator who calls us to sustain creation.
• Passionate visions of our youth for justice and sustainability.
• The truth that #WaterIsLife. Without it, we die.

I bear witness to…

• A DAPL helicopter and airplane flying low over relatives’ songs and prayers all day.
• The story of Standing Rock kids who ran 2,000 miles to D.C. to deliver petitions to the Army Corps of Engineers this summer.
• Water Protectors’ vulnerable choice to meet power with empty hands.
• Our Native neighbors’ courage to stand defenseless while being sprayed with mace, their strength to stand non-violently while shot with “less than lethal” weapons.
• My own fear for the Water Protectors as violence against them escalates.
• The power of prayer as a source of strength for those who face weapons with peace, feathers, pipes, songs, dance, drums, tents, words and global solidarity.

Pour out your Spirit upon us and upon this water, that this font may be your womb of new birth. May all who pass through these waters be delivered from death to life, from bondage to freedom, from sin to righteousness.

I give thanks for bearing witness to vulnerable, faithful, peaceful, prayerful neighbors defending the sacred and protecting the water. I give thanks for all our relatives.

SUSAN PHILLIPS is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Shawano, Wisconsin.

For more information, here is a Standing Rock Syllabus developed by the NYC Stands with Standing Rock Collective.