In the United States, there have been hundreds of treaties made with Native peoples and not one – not a single one – has ever been upheld. Reservations were created, and it was said: “This land will be yours for time immemorial”, but then it always shrinks and shrinks.
In 2016, there was a massive protest against the Dakota Access pipeline. The original plan was for this pipeline to run from the oil fields up in the north-west corner of North Dakota through Bismarck, the wealthy state capital, and then down to wherever it was going. But someone in Bismarck said, “That won’t do. That’s dangerous,” because they knew it’s not a question of if, but when a pipeline will leak.
