By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
As soon as Elena Enriquez heard about the Standing Rock in North Dakota protests from her friend Megan Sutherland back home in Bowling Green, she knew she had to join the gathering.
So for two weeks, she spent time working in the medical tent of the Rosebud camp, one of three camps of people from around the country assembled to help the Lakota Nation keep a pipeline from cutting through sacred land and threatening their primary source of water.
Elena Enriquez
She said concern about the rights of Native Americans “has been a big part of my life for my entire life.”
The concerns of Native Americans are not never considered. “It’s like they want to continue the genocide.”
She has previously worked on other reservations on helping with growing food.
Enriquez was also active in protesting the Keystone Pipeline. “This is just a continuation,” she said
“My heart told me I need to be there,” Enriquez said.
There were about 2,000 people in three camps when she arrived.
At the Rosebud Camp, which had mostly families and elders, she met Daphne Singing Tree, a healer she knew from Eugene, Oregon. She’d done an internship in herbal medicine with Singing Tree. The tent provided mostly wellness services, dealing with upper respiratory problems, and herbal first aid. The camp had a separate tent staffed by doctors from all over the country to provide first aid to those injured in confrontations with security and law enforcement.
After a few weeks there Enriquez returned to Bowling Green for a stay. While here she and Sutherland gathered more $700 worth of supplies, which Enriquez delivered to the camp. She is now in northern California working in organic farming.
Back in Bowling Green Sutherland has organized a gathering in solidarity with those at Standing Rock. It will be held Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. at the green space at the corner of Church and West Wooster streets in downtown Bowling Green.
Enriquez said that she has hope that the pipeline can be stopped. “It’s becoming such a worldwide issue,” she said.
The cause is attracting more than activists, she said.
Even those who were not aware of native issues are getting involved.
She’s hopeful the Obama Administration will intervene.
Beyond that “whoever becomes president will have to do something about it,” she said. But neither major party candidate has addressed the issue.
Enriquez hopes the Standing Rock protest will serve as a catalyst to address the many issues – drug abuse, poor education, alcoholism, and sexual violence – that plague native communities.
“It’s astounding how much this movement is coming together,” she said “It’s just beginning. This is something I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
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