I AM STANDING WITH
STANDING ROCK
.
The thread
that ties me to the Dakota pipeline is historically thin and weak. It starts in the summer of 1861. The Arkansas Mounted Rifles recruited my
great-grandfather’s brother, Wiley Clark Eppler a farmer and saddle maker, at
gunpoint. Arkansas, ramping up its
military in preparation for the Civil War, needed to” tack up” many additional horses. While working on his farm, that summer,
Confederate “recruiters” compelled Wiley to ride off with them, without even allowing
him to return home for his coat. That
winter, while attacking a band of pro-Union Cherokee, Wiley took a musket ball
in the chest that punctured his lung and fractured two or three of his ribs. It is hard to see Wiley as a victim sense his
unit left no trace of Chief Opothleyahola’s band…men, women, or children. Wiley did survive, but now one hundred
fifty-five years later, his great-grandnephew, in my small way is offering
support to the Sioux of South Dakota at Standing Rock.
.
The Standing
Rock issue began when concerns over an oil pipeline contaminating the water
supply of the North Dakota capital of Bismarck caused its redirection through Standing
Rock. A leak along there would ruin the
tribal nation’s aquifers and rivers. In
the words of a local assistant principal, “... it would be a death
sentence."
.
My great
granduncle’s foe, represented by the Cherokee Nation’s Principal Chief, Bill
John Baker, made the following declaration in August.
.
“The
Cherokee Nation stands in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in its
effort to halt the development of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and I applaud our
Tribal Council for showing the support of the legislative body of the Cherokee
Nation as well. The Standing Rock people
have an inherent right to protect their homelands, their historic and sacred
sites, their natural resources, their drinking water and their families from
this potentially dangerous pipeline.”
.
Chief
Baker updated his commitment in a statement in response to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, November 15, 2016.
.
“The camp is
prepared for a long winter and ready to peacefully protect the water that
sustains many communities. I remain
hopeful that the Army Corp of Engineers will render a decision that will take
into account tribal concerns. We pray
that the well-being of the community will be prioritized ahead of profit and
corporate interests.”
.
As for me, I
am a sailor, and no activist, yet I cannot help being sympathetic to the
injustice imposed, again, on these ancient indigenous people. That is why, in solidarity with them my wife,
two sons, my daughter-in-laws, and grandchild helped Café Gratitude serve free
Thanksgiving meals in a fundraiser to support their resistance. My lack of sympathy for Wiley’s injury, in
light of the murderous offense of his unit, causes me to wonder about how my
progeny will judge the causes I support. What causes do I stand for today might
generations tomorrow judge valueless, or even harmful in the future?
.
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| Thanksgiving at Cafe Gratitude |
Like other
Western families, unavoidable changes have disrupted the Eppler family unity
over the ages. Changes come not just
from family relationships, but also from advances in technology, science, economics,
theology, politics, philosophy, or culture.
However, that does not kept us from fully committing life, limb, and property
to causes that later are judge unworthy of devotion. The commitments held with such confidence today
are often the ones we opposed twenty or thirty years later. Nonetheless,
disruptive change propels families and the human race onward, whether toward a
better future or a bitter end.
.
The classic
view of change claims there are certain elements that persist eternally unchanged,
with few notable exceptions. The opposing
view is that the foundation of reality rests on eternal and universal change. By standing with the Standing Rock people
rather than my ancestors, I maybe yielding to the irresistible forces of universal
change or standing for an enduring unchangeable principle.
.
Whatever the
case, with the 2016 election we have all been given a heavy dose of those two conflicting
points of view. The USA is split between
the classic view of change and a process view of change. The classic view is that our national
greatness is an enduring condition that must be sheltered and occasionally
restored. The process view is ours is a growing
greatness, which becomes ever greater with change. The election results tilt us toward the
classic view.
.
Dominated by
the politics of restoring USA greatness, the Standing Rock Resistance has
little, if any chance of success. I am
proud to stand with those at Standing Rock even though in doing so it shows
disrespect for the wounds of my great granduncle. Unfortunately, the Standing Rock cause demise
will contribute another blow to indigenous populations in the name of the
fantasy of Yesterday’s greatness. The
question is, are we restoring greatness or restraining growing greatness?