[asset-pullquotes[{"quote": "\"You're standing on my ancestors\" - Corey Ashley, Diné (Navajo)", "style": "wide"}]]KUOW’s RadioActive youth producer Rachel Lam was on the front lines at Standing Rock, North Dakota last week, where thousands of people are protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline. The Army Corps of Engineers says they have to leave their biggest campby Monday, December 5.
Lam, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, says she went because she "felt compelled to witness the largest gathering of Native nations in history rallying for treaty and human rights."
She watched demonstrators, who call themselves water protectors, try to pray at Lakota burial sites blocked by law enforcement officers.
Lam asked some of the 'water protectors' - Cheyenne, Gros-Ventre, Athabaskan, Diné, Shoshone, Spokane, Blackfeet, Lakota, Paiute, Choctow and non-Native people - what they want to say to law enforcement. Listen to what they said:
[asset-images[{"caption": "Rachel Lam, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, poses with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma flag in Standing Rock, North Dakota.", "fid": "131993", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201612/RachelCherokeeFlag.jpg", "attribution": "Credit Courtesy of Rachel Lam"}]]RadioActive Youth Media is KUOW's program for youth age 16 to 20ish. Listen to RadioActive stories, subscribe to the RadioActive podcast and stay in touch on Facebook and Twitter.