PHOTO: Elizabeth Hoover
I took this photo as the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and Dakota Access Pipeline security forces lobbed tear gas canisters, percussion grenades, rubber bullets, and icy water at water protectors. Clouds of tear gas are illuminated by the intense security floodlights set up along the blockage created on Backwater Bridge, separating the Oceti Sakowin camp from police, military, and security. I was present at this event as a member of the camp and as an educator with a group of Native students interested in learning about Indigenous movements for environmental protection. The violence of 11/20 brought Standing Rock to the national attention and further ignited an Indigenous movement.