Defend Camp Coldwater! Support the B'Dote Defenders!

From our friends requesting support at 3pm Friday in south Minneapolis:


On Tuesday September 2nd, Members of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council
Fires) of the Dakota Oyate reoccupied Coldwater Spring and the surrounding
land. The Coldwater Spring site is an abandoned property of the defunct
Bureau of Mines. As Dakota people who consider the spring as essential to
our spiritual lifeway and the surrounding land as a part of our homeland
of Bdote, we believe that we will be better stewards of the land than
either the United States or the State of Minnesota has been. This is
evidenced in the fact that the site is littered with dilapidated
structures and the soil is polluted from the former Bureau of Mines.

We launched the reclamation of this sacred site with four days of
ceremonies to celebrate the seasonal transition from summer to fall. While
we did not ask for a permit for the four days, the property manager Robert
Hanson has given us one. Despite our permit and the ceremonies that are
happening on site, we have experienced heavy surveillance by Homeland
Security, Hennepin County Sheriffs, and riot-police from various police
agencies.

The four-day permit is due to expire tomorrow, September 5th at 3:00 pm.
We will be holding a press conference on September 5th at 2:00 pm at
Coldwater Spring. We invite all people to come at this time and show
support for the Dakota people and our rights to both land and life.

As Dakota people, we have both a legal and a moral right to the spring and
the surrounding land. We are calling on the Department of the Interior to
fully restore Dakota rights to the land and to conduct a clean-up of the
site, including removing dilapidated structures and restoring the land to
its previously pristine condition.

We intend to make use of the site as was meant for Dakota and other Native
Nations. We intend to conduct ceremonies as have been previously done at
this sacred site. We intend to establish a youth camp and a space for
cultural teaching, including transmission of the Dakota language. And we
intend to establish gardens to distribute traditional foods to our elders
once a clean-up of the site has occurred.

Directions to Camp Coldwater: From Highway 55, turn east at 54th Street
and then turn right (south) on the frontage road. Proceed one block to the
Bureau of Mines front gate. Go through the gate and continue heading south
one more block.