Red Nation, Rising

(1) bisons from videobuzz on Vimeo.


Tatanka Oyate,
Buffalo Nation,
you came to stand with your warrior
brothers and sisters at Standing Rock.
You felt the energy of the braves
blowing across the land,
calling for help from all that lives,
as they stand to protect
the land and living water,
the spirit land of their ancestors.
But the land of the Lakota, the treaties,
are as nothing, when it comes to oil;
only the black god matters.

The living water waits,
the line of protectors standing
between it and the guns and tanks,
the hit-men of corporate interests,
puppets pulled by invisible strings
that lead to the death
of everything.
Corporations neither know nor care
about land and water,
or future generations.
It has but one creed: money.

The tanks roll in;
the line of intimidation
stands firm.

But then the buffalo come,
in their hundreds,
in their power,
galloping across the horizon
in response to the call of the people,
who care for the living land we all share.
This power can never be equaled,
or extinguished.
It is a power of the heart,
of justice,
of the way humans are meant
to live on this land,
as guests,
not plunderers.

The Red Nation is rising
under the tree of life
at the edge of the living waters,
saluting the "light within (each other's) eyes
where the whole universe dwells."*

Brown Buffalo,
your beauty moves me, as I stand
with the warriors of Standing Rock.
My heart lifts at the sight of you.
Ah, ho.


* spoken to Sitting Bull by Oglala Lakota Sioux Crazy Horse four days before he was killed by US soldiers who were trying to imprison him. You might have to watch the buffalo  over at Vimeo, as I dont know how to make the video smaller. This stand is a definitive one. It is time for all peoples to rise against corporate destruction, to protect the land and waters that are left.