ACLU Supporter, do you remember Standing Rock?

In 2016, thousands of people across the globe joined in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline – a project that would destroy ancestral burial grounds and poison the water supply for the Sioux population in North Dakota. That work continues to this day, as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fights for tribal sovereignty and water rights in court.

Since this historic mobilization, anti-protest laws have been passed in states around the country, specifically criminalizing resistance to fossil fuel projects.

The government can't continue targeting free speech rights and trying to silence Indigenous-led movements and environmental defenders. This Indigenous Peoples' Day, read up on the fight for clean water, sacred lands, and tribal sovereignty.

ACLU Supporter, like the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Indigenous communities across the country have been subjected to laws that infringe on their right to vote, speak and protest freely, live free from discrimination and criminalization, and more.

Indigenous Peoples' Day is a day to celebrate Native cultures and recognize fights like these for justice and autonomy that Native Americans still face.

Since the '90s, universities, localities, and states have formally replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' or Native Americans' Day, though the fight to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day began much earlier – led by Native American and Indigenous people.

We'll always fight for a government that invests in, respects, and uplifts the rights of Indigenous people. Today, and every day, we continue to stand with Standing Rock, and will fight to make sure that Indigenous activism is never silenced by our government.

Together,

The ACLU Team