Stand With Standing RockThis short video is an antidote to the esoteric conversations surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline. While it’s easy to get mired in energy policy, economics, and land rights, video artist Bardia Zeinali puts faces to members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe suffering who are suffering brutal police intervention, and will suffer more if the pipeline contaminates their water supply. “(Water) is life,” wrote Petra Collins, who shared the video on her own Instagram account on Wednesday. “Thank you @bardiazeinali for this beautiful and heartbreaking video.”
Zeinali’s glimpse into the lives of the thousands of Standing Rock tribespeople and allies protesting the DAPL is the fortification you need to have tough conversations on the topic with your racist relatives. Thanksgiving is a holiday that purports to celebrate the first time white people broke bread in piece with the native peoples of the American continent. Now’s the time to live up to that myth.