“To be born Indigenous means to be born into a struggle against big extraction and the same colonial forces that colonized Europe before they got to our shores,” says Chase Iron Eyes.

Today, he joins us on the show along with fellow Native activists Gussie Lord and Frank Bibeau to share updates from their vital work protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), Line 3 in Minnesota, and Line 5 and the Back Forty Mine in northern Michigan.

Gussie Lord is managing attorney of Tribal Partnerships for Earthjustice, where she currently works on the Back Forty Mine. Gussie is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.

Chase Iron Eyes is lead counsel at the Lakota People’s Law Project. He is the co-founder of the Native news website LastRealIndians.com and an organizer for Native Lives Matter. Born on Standing Rock Nation, today Chase lives at Pine Ridge as an enrolled member of the Oglala Nation.

Frank Bibeau is a tribal attorney and executive director for the 1855 Treaty Authority. He currently represents the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and works with Honor the Earth, a Native-led environmental protection nonprofit organization. Frank is an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

Cover photo: “Beyond NoDAPL March on Washington, DC” by Rob87438, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0