Peace + Justice

PEACE & JUSTICE  |  INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP  |  CLIMATE ACTION

Brought Together by Keystone Pipeline Fight, “Cowboys and Indians” Heal Old Wounds

As natives and ranchers work together to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, they're also learning to understand each other's history, culture, and relationship with the land.

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by Kristin Moe

posted Apr 24, 2014

Faith Spotted Eagle and Tom Genung perform a water ceremony together at the "Reject and Protect" demonstration against the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington, D.C. Photo by Kristin Moe.

Protests and demonstrations happen almost every day in Washington, D.C., but this one was unusual. On April 22, a circle of tipis went up between the Capitol building and the Washington Monument. Nebraska ranchers offered gifts of food, tobacco, and cloth to elders from the Piscataway tribe, who welcomed the visitors to their traditional land. Then the group got on horseback—the indigenous contingent in traditional beads and feathers, the ranchers in cowboy hats and bandanas—and rode through downtown demanding that President Barack Obama reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline, if approved, will be built on land guaranteed to the Lakota people in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.

That action—the first event in a five-day gathering on the National Mall—was the largest mobilization yet from a group called the Cowboy Indian Alliance, an unlikely coalition of farmers, ranchers, and members of Native American tribes from across the Great Plains, all united by their opposition to Keystone XL.

That unity flies in the face of centuries of conflict between indigenous people and settlers, but participants from both sides hope this is a sign that old wounds are beginning to heal. They hope that the pipeline, which has caused them both much distress, will be a catalyst for reconciliation.