Bismarck, North Dakota
Joe Amik Syrette, at center, stands with fellow Anishinaabek Nations members Aaron Makwa Chivis and Cece Stevens shortly after they entered the Sacred Stone camp. The three are teachers at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. "The water that comes from Mother Earth is like her blood, which gives life. And a lot of our teachings is to respect all women because they have an ability to carry [a child in] water, so they have that connection. For myself to be here, it's a representation of all of the women in my life. Starting with my ancestors, to my grandmother, my mother, my wife, my sister, my daughters," Syrette said.
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When visitors turn off a narrow North Dakota highway and drive into the Sacred Stone camp where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline, they thread through an arcade of flags whipping in the North Dakota wind. Each represent one of 280 Native American tribes that have flocked here in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps since Little Bighorn.
CREDIT: Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times
30195251A
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![Bismarck, North Dakota<br />
<br />
Joe Amik Syrette, at center, stands with fellow Anishinaabek Nations members Aaron Makwa Chivis and Cece Stevens shortly after they entered the Sacred Stone camp. The three are teachers at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. "The water that comes from Mother Earth is like her blood, which gives life. And a lot of our teachings is to respect all women because they have an ability to carry [a child in] water, so they have that connection. For myself to be here, it's a representation of all of the women in my life. Starting with my ancestors, to my grandmother, my mother, my wife, my sister, my daughters," Syrette said.<br />
<br />
-- <br />
<br />
When visitors turn off a narrow North Dakota highway and drive into the Sacred Stone camp where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline, they thread through an arcade of flags whipping in the North Dakota wind. Each represent one of 280 Native American tribes that have flocked here in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps since Little Bighorn.<br />
<br />
<br />
CREDIT: Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times <br />
30195251A](https://www.alyssaschukar.com/img-get2/I00001WiOn7y5ZTU/fit=1000x750/Wednesday-2695.jpg)
