My friends,
The dreaded day is upon us. Today, January 20th, 2017, many of us may be tempted to mourn the swearing in of one Donald J. Trump as our next president. But the time for mourning has passed. Today, my compatriots, we must take action. Today we will subvert President Trump’s favorite form of public communication. We will flood his Twitter feeds with a message of resistance, and we will not let him enjoy his parade.
As a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and as local counsel for the Lakota People’s Law Project—with many years of experience handling the various issues surrounding my people—I am dismayed by the potentially disastrous outcome likely to occur in the Dakotas if we do not bring heavy pressure to bear on Mr. Trump as he begins his tenure. Though we won an early battle when President Obama delayed the Dakota Access Pipeline’s march through sacred lands, the fight against the snake has only just begun.
Here are some hard truths:
1. President Trump has publicly stated that he wants to see the pipeline completed, and he has stacked his cabinet full of oil company executives.
2. The Pipeline’s parent company, Energy Transfer Partners, has said they fully intend to complete construction without rerouting the pipeline away from my peoples’ sacred lands.
3. Close to 1,000 souls still camp near the construction site, fully prepared to peacefully protest. The entire area remains militarized, and the latest violent confrontation resulted in a hail of rubber bullets and a host of new injuries to our water protectors.
We know Mr. Trump lacks both the qualifications and the temperament to handle the rigors of the presidency. Witness his constant, juvenile Twitter rants as a means of communication with the general public. Mr. Trump, however, for all his faults, is not dumb. He recognizes the power of social media, even if he uses it completely inappropriately given his position with regard to world affairs.
Well, if Twitter is his chosen battleground, we accept the challenge. Let’s occupy his feeds on inauguration day. Even as he tries to crow to his followers from his new bully pulpit, let’s flood them with our message of resistance. Here’s what we’re going to say:
@RealDonaldTrump @Potus Prez should protect Sacred Water, not bow down to Big Oil #nodapl #waterislife #resistJ20 lakotalaw.org/j20
We invite you to add your voice to our chorus of dissent! Please take a minute to visit www.LakotaLaw.org/... and tweet the president. He doesn’t like the real reporting from the mainstream media and wants to use social media to spread hate and lies to his followers. Let’s, then, take over his chosen form of communication and make them face the truth! Together, let us show both the president and his supporters that a real, vocal resistance exists. We are not going away, and we are not letting him control the terms of the debate through alternative channels of communication. We, too, know how to use social media!
I thank you most humbly for your time, your concern, and your action. Wopila! Everything around us is a gift, and the most precious gift is a warm and generous heart.
Chase Iron Eyes
Lakota People’s Law Project