By Peter P. Mahoney
I had the privilege recently of watching my wonderful daughter perform in a student dance concert at the Baryshnikov Theatre in NYC. After all the post-concert hugs and kisses and expressions of parental pride, I got on a plane and flew to Standing Rock, ND, with the likelihood that I could be beaten, tear-gassed, shot at with rubber bullets and sprayed with water cannons in subfreezing temperatures, all to support a group of Native Americans trying to keep their water from being poisoned by corporate greed and governmental complicity.
So why would a comfortable, somewhat complacent middle-class dad from Warren like me be willing to subject himself to such treatment?
This country was demanding change in the last election. The Democratic Party establishment did everything in its power – legal and illegal – to ensure that the candidate for progressive change would not win the nomination, so many people voted for the only "change" available. I never thought this country would so soon select a president more unfit for the job than George W. Bush, but we have done so and now we must live with the consequences. In the old movement days, this would be called heightening the contradictions.
We in this country have been dancing on the edge of the precipice for years now. The next one to two years will very likely determine whether we are able to pull back from that precipice or fall off into the chaotic unknown below. The dustbin of history is littered with the carcasses of great nations that failed to respect the ideals they were founded on, nations whose lust for power outstripped their ability to wield it. We could very well be poised to join them. It is past time for passive expressions of principles, for activism based on clicking "like" and "share" on Facebook.
For better or worse, I am a member of a group – veterans – which can, at times, focus national attention on issues by our mere presence. I had no illusions about what could be accomplished by our presence at Standing Rock, other than, perhaps, a blip of publicity for the issues there. The arrival of a couple of thousand veterans for a couple of days probably didn’t change the course of the history unfolding at Standing Rock. But I went, because I couldn’t not go.
None of the dire predictions of potential police brutality as had been visited on the Native American water protectors before our arrival happened to the vets. The cops and security forces protecting the pipeline kept their distance and the elders of the tribe asked the vets not to provoke them. The second day we were there, the Obama administration announced that they were putting a hold on the final permit for the section of the pipeline that would pass under the lake that provides all the drinking water for the Standing Rock reservation, stating the need to explore alternate routes. While this was a small – but exceedingly sweet – victory, it does little other than kick the can down the road for the next administration to deal with. The fight is not over and will probably soon get more difficult.
The third day we were there, Mother Nature kicked in with a fury – a foot and a half of snow, single-digit temperatures and 50 mph winds – reminding all us puny humans who the real boss was. After that, it was a scramble for survival against the elements.
I am proud of my fellow veterans who joined me at Standing Rock. I am proud of what we were able to accomplish and wish we could have done more. If our actions – our willingness to stand up for what's right and be unafraid in the face of massive corporate brutality and repression – can inspire others to do the same, to take action, to stand up for what's right – each in his own community, each in her own way – then perhaps we will have made a greater contribution to the effort to take back our country from the extremist minority about to plunge us all off the precipice.
The key thing we must remember is that the fight is not over, it is only beginning, but we can make a difference. If we stick together, stick up for one another and stick to our principles and then maybe – just maybe – we can stick it to those who want to put profits before people.
I will do my part; will you do yours?
Mahoney is a Vietnam veteran who lives in Warren.
