Since early this past Spring, hundreds of different groups of indigenous Americans and countless civilian demonstrators have flocked to Standing Rock Indian Reservation to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline’s scheduled construction poses a direct threat to the safety of Standing Rock’s lone water supply, the Missouri River. Protests have escalated in size and severity over the course of the year, with tensions between law enforcement and demonstrators escalating to extreme and increasingly physical levels. The movement’s rallying cry #StandWithStandingRock has slowly but surely captured the nation’s attention, urging solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe–and, in a more general sense, indigenous people as a whole–in their fight to protect their community’s water supply.
As the #NoDAPL movement pushes forward, countless artists have used their platform to urge the public to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, from Neil Young, to Dave Matthews, to Kamasi Washington, to Oteil Burbridge. Today, a very special #StandWithStandingRock Benefit has been announced for December 12th at Brooklyn Bowl, from which all proceeds will go to support the ground efforts of the Standing Rock community.
The show will be headlined by Immortal Technique, with help from TV on the Radio‘s Kyp Malone, Holly Miranda & Invisible Familiars, The Skins, Constant Flow, Diane Birch, and Cole Ramstad. The event will also appropriately feature a number of indigenous performances, including the Redhawk Dancers, Pua Ali’ilima o Nuioka, Shinnecock Youth Council, Youngblood Singers, Ori Manaea, Robert Borrero, Kalpulli Huehuetlahtolli Aztec, and Standing Rock International Indigenous Youth Council, with a special DJ set by St. Lucia.
You can purchase tickets for the #StandWithStandingRock benefit, and find more information here.