I was sitting in a coffee shop in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the night it hit me: I had to go to Standing Rock to document all sides of the ongoing #NoDAPL fight. This has happened before, a film choosing me, rather than my choosing it. Also familiar was what happened just four days later, when I realized that the story I had set out to investigate wasn’t the one that needed to be told.
The first person I contacted was Pearl Daniel-Means, whose Lakota name is Iyoyanbya Izanzan Win, or “Bright Light”. That’s what Pearl has been in my life since 2012, when I had the honor of interviewing her and her husband, the American Indian activist Russell Means, shortly before his death. During the interview, Pearl was visibly grieving, and yet seemed to possess incredible strength.
When we reconnected at Standing Rock earlier this month, I was in the midst of my own grief. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what it means to be a strong woman.
By the end of my first shoot day, I had captured several compelling interviews. Only one was with a man. This is because, as it turns out, women are the backbone of the movement. The women of Standing Rock are willing to risk their lives to stop the pipeline construction that desecrated their ancient burial and prayer sites and threatens their land, water, and very existence. They exemplify what it means to be an authentically empowered woman in the matrilineal way of being. Here is what I’ve learned from them so far:
A woman’s strength is motivated by a desire to serve the greater good.
Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ means “all are my relatives” in the Lakota language. More than a phrase, it is a guiding principle for living that extends to all beings. This includes the land and waters, both of which are feminine in nature.
“Unci Maka is Mother Earth,” explained a 37-year-old mother of four. “The land is not a resource. It is an entity that you have a relationship with and you respect, like your grandmother, mother, and aunts. We have to be good stewards. We have to take care of the land. We have to feed her and offer her prayers. In return, we are blessed with good health. Everything comes full circle.”
Our enemies are also our relatives. One afternoon, I witnessed an exchange between an elder and a young cook who had cursed the pipeline executives. “We must be peaceful in action, thought, and word,” the elder chided. “You have lowered your vibration with your words. You dishonored Mother Earth and the bounty that came from her. You lowered the vibration of the opposition. Standing in peace is standing strong.”
I asked one of the organizers how, after nearly 525 years of oppression, the 300 tribal nations represented at the camp could believe that peace will prevail. “For better or worse, we are optimistic people,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Hatred serves no one. Peace serves everyone.”
At Standing Rock, service can be literal, as is the case for the women who prepare and serve food to thousands at the camp each day. Washing dishes, caring for the children, or readying the warriors for their marches may be seen through Westernized eyes as subservient. Here, these acts are performed with honor. As one of the women explained, “We have been gifted with the innate ability to care for those around us. Men must be taught how to nurture.”
A woman’s strength is executed with a balance of gentleness and fierceness.
“Women are the protectors of the water and of all life. Men are our defenders,” explained Pearl.
“We are taught to walk with gentleness,” added a young Lakota woman. “We are spiritually grounded people. We believe our ultimate weapon is prayer. And we’re peaceful, prayerful people. But it has come to a point where enough is enough.”
This, I was told, does not mean that women should emulate men.
In interview after interview, the women of Standing Rock said that we are at the end of the patriarchal era of competition, aggression, and force. As Pearl explained, we are now in a new era called the Fifth World by the indigenous peoples of North America. “It’s a refined, heightened energy. That energy resonates with the highest frequency, which is love. Compassion. Nurturing.”
One morning, a 14-year-old girl asked those sitting before the sacred fire to reflect upon the trauma that may have occurred in the lives of the pipeline security guards who attacked members of the camp with dogs and pepper spray. “Something painful must have happened to them as children. Maybe they didn’t have loving parents,” she said. “Maybe they were abused. They need kindness. I ask you to forgive them.”
When is the last time you saw the tough guy or girl in a movie depicted as kind or forgiving? In today’s world, these traits are all too often deemed “weak”. The women of Standing Rock remind us that strength can be subtle or forceful, and that both are necessary. “We act not only from the intellect, but also from the heart,” said Pearl. “This is true power.”
A woman’s strength is sustained by a sense of responsibility.
The women of Standing Rock believe that humankind’s right to existence comes with responsibilities to everything else in creation. Their vow to protect Mother Earth and all her inhabitants is their responsibility to the ancestors, and to the seven generations to come.
Many of us in the non-indigenous world don’t know the names of our great-grandparents, much less the sacrifices they made for us. Many decisions are made without any consideration for the future. How different would the world be if this were not the case?
“There are prophecies about how our generation is going to revitalize our culture and our people, and carry our people’s struggles on our backs. Not in a hard way, but in a beautiful way,” shared a 26-year-old graduate student and activist. “We have a responsibility to keep fighting. This struggle is very real. And if we don’t keep struggling, we’re going to suffer as a human race. Not just as indigenous people. All human beings are going to suffer if we don’t change the way we view the world and the way we have relationships with all life.”
Something Pearl said during our 2012 interview has stayed with me: “The hope lies with the women.” The more time I spend with the women of Standing Rock, the more I see that Pearl was right. I admire the strength of these women, who even in the face of adversity and devastation, care for themselves, their families, their communities, their nations, and the earth on which we all depend. Because of them, I have greater hope for the future.
I’m calling this forthcoming documentary END OF THE LINE: THE WOMEN OF STANDING ROCK. Theirs is the story that the world must see. I look forward to sharing more of it with you as it unfolds. For now, you can watch the trailer, keep up with our progress, and support the mission by going to:
https://igg.me/at/endoftheline
To Protecting Our Future,
Shannon
Shannon Kring is an Emmy-winning producer, UN liaison, and Honduras’ Goodwill Ambassador. She works with the US Department of State, USAID, UNEP, and many other global bodies on issues concerning women’s and indigenous issues, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and cultural preservation. www.endofthelinefilm.com
18 Responses
Great article and good luck with the documentary. I was a bit saddened to read “The hope lies with the women” Saddened for the men of Standing Rock and for every other who has listened to his heart and followed its guidance. There are many, male and female, and my hope lies with all who do so. Peace.
Hi, Piper. The men of Standing Rock proudly tell us in interview after interview that they are the protectors of the women, who are–as the natural guardians of the waters and of all life–the ones leading this charge. Everyone agrees that it takes all of us. Thanks so much for your comment.
Beautiful enlighting information. Thanks for sharing your wise inherent wisdom of love.
Thanks so much for your comment, Rosalyn.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful stories.
I have been drawn to this issue for sometime now.
Five weeks ago I found out through DNA that I’m 45%Native American. It was a huge surprise.
Then it hit me. An overwhelming nudge to travel to North Dakota and support with Stand Rock Natives.
I am leaving October 12th.
In Providence
Sister Joni Luna
Thanks so much for sharing, Sister Joni. So glad to hear you’re supporting the protectors at Standing Rock.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful stories.
I have been drawn to this issue for sometime now.
Five weeks ago I found out through DNA that I’m 45%Native American. It was a huge surprise.
Then it hit me. An overwhelming nudge to travel to North Dakota and support with Stand Rock Natives.
I am leaving October 12th.
In Providence
Sister Joni Luna
Gratitude to you and all the women at Standing Rock and Sacred Stone. You are bringing hope and inspiration to all.
Thank you, maiabythesea. Support like yours keep everyone at Standing Rock going.
Meegwetch (Thank you) for sharing. I feel too that we are in a great change and that history is being made with #nodapl, so many prophecies coming to fruition. It is a great time to be alive!!
Couldn’t agree more, Northern Thunderbird. Thanks so much for sharing and for the reminder that this IS a great time to be alive!
Very much looking forward to this film! It seems it will tell the world what we all want to hear and honors the beauty and strength of the Woman Of Standing Rock and the obvious rise of feminine energy in the universe! Thank you for the work you are doing! ?❤️
Thank you so much for your kind message.
Boozhoo Shannon I was out to Standing Rock Oct 15 full moon. Heart of the Water Turtle Moon Dancers had ceremony. We danced and prayed till midnight..I don’t know if you was there.
Hi, Migizikwe. I was there! Gorgeous ceremonial dress and such a powerful experience. Thank you so much for all the positive energy you brought to the camp.
I am honoured to have read this article and the pureness of the words within it.. In many ways it validates my own book “THE DESERVING WOMAN’ I am left feeling clear as a man on what must be done to give our amazing women the support and validation to stand up and guide us as a society.
Thank you for sharing your deepest thoughts
I will pray for your success and teachings and guidance..
Pete
Wonderful to read your story ! I am in Belgium, following up on the news, sharing it as much as possible and praying for a good and soon solution. I feel in every cel of my body, how imported it is what is happening and is jet to come, at Standing Rock. I feel history’s will be rewritten and the further is being decided as we speak… My whole being is going out to the Natives ! I wish i could be there and be at there service. And i thank you with all my heart and sould, for writing this post and making your film <3 <3 <3 Blessings and Prayers to Standing Rock and to You !!!
Please keep us, keep me updated !? xxx Debby
So glad to see this article. I am an abuela of Mexica tradition of the moon dance with the sacred obsidian pipe. When the dogs were used and my Mexica danza group arrived at Standing Rock from Minnesota, I knew we had to bring the moondance huehue, drum from the Heart of the Water/Turtle Moondance to Standing Rock. I contacted Ladonna by phone and she said yes come. We did come and offered our songs and were joined by women from Wisconsin at night and danced with our pipes that smoked later and wore our whites. We brought out Mexica flag and hung our moon dance banner. The night we were there a group of Mayan abuelas arrived too in an RV motor home and we women were able to share our obsidian pipes with the indigenous grandmothers who arrived from Colorado. We joined the women praying with the full moon and later came back home to Scottsdale, Arizona, and I went into a depression to do something. I was able to have a night service at my Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix with my minister’s support, Susan Frederick Grey, about what was happening at Standing Rock. We were able to have a conference call with my two sundance sisters and Three Fire Society members. They were able to mentor a minister from Scottsdale who was making her trip to Standing Rock as so many ministers went there to be witnesses. As I write this summary I offer prayers and support to the family of Myron Dewey who was the voice of what was happening at Standing Rock. He was recently killed at his rez in Nevada. The hero journalist needs to be remembered. The person who killed him was driving on the wrong side of the road.