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Mni Wiconi: Water Is Life

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On cold flat North Dakota land
They rise in protest
The Standing Rock Sioux Nation
Burn sage and sing out
Will a pipeline steal
Across Standing Rock?
Will oil leak
Into your state’s water?
These Sioux people say no
A cruel echo of history
Police take aim
With cold water cannons
To shoot water protectors
With hypothermia
Smallpox blankets are out now
Sisters and brothers stand up
Sioux from Lake Oahe
Ojibwe from Leech Lake
Spokane and Nez Perce from the Dalles
Cherokee from the Mississippi – Father of Waters
With Black Lives Matter activists
With prayers in Spanish, English, Hebrew, Arabic, Shoshone
They join hands in a circle
Knowing all water is holy

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