More than 20 Ole Miss community members protested the Dakota Access Pipeline construction with signs that read “Natives Lives Matter,” “Stand with Standing Rock” and “People Over Pipeline”
Ole Miss alumnus Stephanie Grammar, 24, passed out pamphlets in front of the Student Union Tuesday afternoon, urging others to take action.
“I’m just here to help,” Grammar said.
The pipeline, which is planned to span more than 1,100 miles from northwestern North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, has sparked outrage from the people across the country. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who fear “a high risk that culturally and historically significant sites will be damaged or destroyed in the absence of an injunction.”
According to court documents, the Standing Rock Sioux filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Aug. 4, but it was dismissed by a federal judge.
Grammar said she thinks putting a pipeline through Sioux tribal ground would be like putting one through Arlington National Cemetery.
Organizer Maddie Jewess, a senior Chinese and international studies major, said she became motivated to help after researching the harm of harvesting oil.
Organizer Maddie Jewess, a senior Chinese and international studies major, said she became motivated to help after researching the harm of harvesting oil.
Jewess said she is concerned the oil will pollute water and negatively impact the Missouri River.
“If that were to spill, it would affect our water,” Jewess said.
There have been at several pipeline oil spills in 2016, including the Colonial Pipeline spill in Alabama, which was repaired and resumed operation Nov. 5, according to the company response site. The increase in pipeline leaks across the nation are coming from the network of older pipelines, which have become more susceptible to corrosion. The Colonial Pipeline was 53 years old.
In addition to students, community members and professors also joined in standing up for Standing Rock Sioux.
Oxford resident Michael McMurray said he wanted to show support to marginalized people and bring attention to the environmental impact of pipelines.
“I’m on the side of oppressed people,” McMurray said. “They’ll be no jobs on a dead planet.”
Journalism professor Joe Atkins, literature professor Peter Wirth and director of the environmental studies minor Ann Fisher-Wirth also held signs.
Fisher-Wirth said there should be more focus on protecting groundwater, which can be contaminated by extracting oil.
“I think we need to turn away from fossil fuels,” Fisher-Wirth said.
The number of protesters grew as more students and professors got out of class. Members of the group brought extra posters and markers for people who wanted to join them.
Joseph McQueen, a senior business management major, said he had to finish homework and go to class, but after he was done, he joined in.
McQueen’s sign read, “What will remain after greed has poisoned the water, killed the trees and burned up the oil?”
“I wish I could do more,” McQueen said.
