Standoff: Standing Rock, the Bundy Movement, and the American Story of Sacred Lands

by Jacqueline Keeler

Overview

"A powerful, illuminating book."
—LOUISE ERDRICH, author of The Night Watchman

Native young people and elders pray in sweat lodges at the Océti Sakówin camp, the North Dakota landscape outside blanketed in snow. In Oregon, white men and women in army surplus and western gear, some draped in the American flag, gather in the buildings of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. The world witnessed two standoffs in 2016: the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's protest against an oil pipeline in North Dakota and the armed takeover of Oregon's Malheur Wildlife Refuge led by the Bundy family. These events unfolded in vastly different ways, from media coverage to the reactions of law enforcement. In Standoff, Jacqueline Keeler examines these episodes as two sides of the same story that created America and its deep–rooted cultural conflicts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948814270
Publisher:	Torrey House Press
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

JACQUELINE KEELER is a Dine/Ihanktonwan Dakota writer living in Portland, Oregon. She is editor of the anthology Edge of Morning: Native Voices Speak for the Bears Ears and has contributed to many publications including The Nation, Yes! magazine, and Salon.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why the Land Matters
1
Liberty and Property:
The Declaration of Independence, the Bundys, and Native Nations
2
Origin Stories, or Sovereign Citizen vs. Sovereign Nation:
The Politics of the Personal vs. Indigenous Nationhood
3
Constitutional “Originalist” vs. Paiute Nation:
Who Are the Original Owners of the Land?
4
On the Trail of Broken Treaties:
The Fort Laramie Treaties and the Suppressed Sovereignty of the Great Sioux Nation
5
Standing Rock Made the Military Occupation Visible:
Armed vs. Peaceful Protest and the Use of State Violence
6
The Role of Water Protectors at Standing Rock vs. the Militia at Malheur
7
Privatization of Public Lands vs. Sacred Lands:
Will the Land Make Us All One People?
8
Trump, Bundy Victories, and the Center of the Buffalo

Editorial Reviews

"Eye–opening and compelling…required reading for those who would call this land home."
—KIRKUS REVIEWS

"Keeler makes a compelling case…her elucidation of how the domination of the written word over oral storytelling contributes to the unequal application of justice adds fascinating context."
—MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE

"Rigorous analysis and personal storytelling invigorate Jacqueline Keeler's examination of Indigenous vs. colonial land tenure. Standoff recounts the historic legacy of treaty rights and sacred space underpinning Standing Rock's case against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and contrasts this legacy with the white entitlement as well as cultural land desecrations of the Bundy movement. Standoff is a powerful, illuminating book."
—LOUISE ERDRICH, author of The Night Watchman

"Jacqueline Keeler weaves personal experience, cultural awareness, and journalistic acumen to tell a compelling story that compares and contrasts two modern and historic Western encounters between federal land policy and the people who inhabit these lands. 'Whose land is it anyway?' Keeler ultimately asks, and finding the answer is a task that requires deep reflection from all of us who share these magnificent vistas."
—CHRIS LA TRAY, author of Becoming Little Shell

"Environmental activists, Indigenous rights activists, and allies should take note of the challenging, unjust, and at times beautiful accounts shared here, which illuminate the complexity of what it means to stand in solidarity in a colonial state."
—MARISA ELENA DUARTE, Assistant Professor, Arizona State UniversitySchool of Social Transformation

"Jacqueline Keeler, a master storyteller and reporter, crafts a knotty skein, twining together family traditions, Native and colonial histories, personal experiences, and crackerjack journalism. Standoff explores inequity and entitlement, seeking answers to what American land means to cultures with divergent values and uneven advantages."
—BETSY GAINES QUAMMEN, author of American Zion and True West

"Standoff has the potential to launch a trend of orderly and pertinent analysis of the societal, cultural and structural issues that provide the context within which today’s Indian Movement(s) operate and presents a challenge to Indian people whether we continue to play the game of accepting our 'place' in America or define who we are and what we want to be."
—SAM DELORIA, law professor emeritus, University of New Mexico

"This is the kind of book we owe to young Indigenous kids. They deserve the truth, even if it hurts, and this brave, well–sourced journalism deserves to be named for what it will go down in history as: perhaps the most in–depth look at the #NoDAPL movement, coming from where it should: your nation and from within Indian country."
—DESIREE KANE, journalist

From the Publisher

★ 2020-11-26
An eye-opening narrative of two standoffs with the U.S. government that played out very differently.

Keeler, a Dine/Ihanktonwan Dakota writer based in Portland, Oregon, chronicles “two major American standoffs that bookended 2016: white men with guns fighting for unfettered exploitation of natural resources and Native Americans fighting for treaty rights…the Bundy takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s demand for consultation over the Dakota Access Pipeline.” Recounting the standoffs, the author offers a potent study in contrast between how these two events were handled by the people involved, the media, and the government. At Standing Rock, the tribe paid $1,000 per day “for chemical toilets and dumpsters to minimize the impact of their supporters” while at Malheur, “an enthusiastic Bundy follower had comman­deered a backhoe they had found on-site and dug trenches for latrines, inadvertently digging up Paiute graves and artifacts. Human feces were found in the pit they left behind.” The author provides deep discussions of the context in which each event originated. She examines the Bundy family’s claims of “original ownership” of the land, their ideas about the powers of local authorities, and their beliefs about the broad concept of natural law, which “may seem undefined and pliable, that is, whatever Bundy may need it to be.” By contrast, Keeler looks at significant moments of Native history in America, encompassing treaties, sovereign nations, and unceded lands. Throughout this engaging tale, the author is especially good with perspective, moving smoothly among shifting viewpoints. Though these events took place four years ago, Keeler’s book is also timely. “I hope this book will provide some basis,” she writes, “to understand the 58 percent of white voters who voted for Trump in 2016 versus the broad coa­lition of Americans who did not.”

By turns compelling and frustrating, this is required reading for those who would call this land home.

Kirkus Reviews