Standing Rock Massacre

Maybe I'm the only one who did not realize it, but while the events at Standing Rock unfolded over the last several weeks, I did not know that November is National American Indian Heritage Month.

Now referred to as "Native American Heritage Month," the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, the National Park Service, and the Smithsonian Institution, among many others, host events paying tribute to Native American culture.

The images and reports coming out of Standing Rock are horrifying. This is particularly true in a month where we celebrate Veterans Day, when such a high proportion of Native Americans have served in our armed forces, and Thanksgiving, where we commemorate the feast of friendship between the Pilgrims and the Indians, who helped them survive their first year on these shores.

Whether you support the pipeline or not, whether you think the president should intervene or not, it is yet another erosion of one of the most vital rights and protections granted us by the Constitution - the right to peaceably assemble.

On the one side, we have the protesters, or water protectors, depending on your point of view - men, women (including pregnant women), children (including one new baby, born at the camp), families, and elders - praying, singing around campfires, cooking, caring for their horses. They are dressed in traditional clothing, western wear, and everyday jeans and tee shirts.

On the other side - literally the other side - separated by concrete barricades and rolls of razor wire, are amassed police forces from six states, who have thus far used water cannons, sonic noise weapons, mace, tear gas, and concussion grenades (one of which blew a young woman's arm off). Those on that side are dressed in full riot gear and shielded helmets, wielding combat shotguns, and barely restrained attack dogs.

At one point authorities used armored personnel carriers to clear a path of teepees.  

A medic at the scene stated, "Approximately 300 injuries were identified, triaged, assessed and treated by physicians, nurses, and paramedics working in collaboration with local emergency response. At least 26 seriously injured people had to be evacuated by ambulance to three area hospitals."

When asked about the need to use water cannons on people in below freezing conditions, the Morton County, North Dakota, Police Chief responded, "It was effective, wasn't it?"

One phrase in particular struck me. The reports referred to something called "foam bullets." I thought, What are they doing, shooting Nerf guns at 'em? Also, the Morton County Sheriff, who seems to be running the show, notes that the shotguns only fire "beanbag rounds." Oh, beanbags, well how much could that hurt? It turns out they hurt quite a bit.

Foam bullets are made from chemically hardened plastic. Their technical name is Plastic Baton Rounds. Although designed as a non-lethal weapon, they have caused a number of deaths. Plastic bullets were invented in 1973 by the British security forces for use against rioters in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles."

A beanbag round, also known by its trademarked name Flexible Baton Round, consists of a small fabric “pillow” [I love these terms the government spinmeisters come up with] filled with #9 lead shot. It is fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. When fired, the bag is expelled at 230 to 300 feet per second. It is designed to deliver a blow that will cause minimum long-term trauma and no penetration, but can severely injure or kill in a wide variety of ways.

A round can hit the chest, break the ribs and send the broken ribs into the heart. A shot to the head can break the nose, crush the larynx or even break the neck or skull of the subject. A strike in the abdominal area can cause internal bleeding, or strike the solar plexus which can disrupt breathing or heartbeat. Beanbag rounds are responsible for approximately one death a year since their introduction in the U.S.

I was also curious about noise weapons. I remember back in the 80s, something about rock music being blasted at Manuel Noriega, the military dictator of Panama, to force him out of the Vatican embassy where he had taken refuge. Were the police playing Tool and Pantera for the protesters?

Sonic (and ultrasonic) weapons use sound to injure, incapacitate, or kill. Less powerful sound waves cause severe headaches, nausea, and discomfort, but high-power sound waves can disrupt or destroy the eardrums, and cause extreme pain and disorientation. Anyone within thirty feet of the device's audio path can experience permanent hearing loss.

To further exacerbate the situation, the device is entirely operator dependent, which could lead to serious abuses of power if the officer doesn't have sufficient training, or uses the weapon maliciously.

There is even a system that specifically targets teenagers. The truck-mounted or handheld magnetic acoustic device emits an ultra-high frequency blast that people under approximately 20 years of age are susceptible to and find uncomfortable. It appears that adults are insensitive to the UH pitch due to natural, age-related hearing loss.

An officer holding one of the devices commented, "The knees buckle, the brain aches, the stomach turns, and suddenly nobody feels like protesting anymore.”

On December 4th, thousands of veterans are due to "deploy" to Standing Rock in support of the protesters, just one day before the December 5th deadline issued by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, threatening to evict the protesters and demolish the camp. We've already had the Wounded Knee Massacre. Let us hope that history does not repeat itself.

http://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/