Reaction to Dakota pipeline resistance escalates

(The Christian Science Monitor) Indigenous people and their supporters have been blocking construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline for months in an effort to protect their water supply as well as sacred and historical sites. 

There are ebbs and flows in tensions between law enforcement and the members and allies of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The most recent escalation over the past week culminated in the arrest of more than 125 protesters on Saturday, in a move condemned by the tribe as a disproportionate and unnecessary show of force by local law enforcement. Tribal leaders called on the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene.

So far, the Justice Department has largely stayed out of the conflict between those resisting the construction, local law enforcement officials, and the corporate interests backing the pipeline. But for so many Native Americans, the pipeline evokes historical wrongs associated with the federal government's past policies, and what they believe is an unaddressed need for the federal government to fully acknowledge that turbulent past, and help indigenous communities overcome the challenges they face today.