"But also, if you are a woman, it’s not only my duty, but also your duty to protect the Earth, to protect the land and to protect sacred resources. Water is female — it’s our obligation to treat this water with respect, to treat this land with respect, to treat our mother with due respect. And as a woman, you should understand that our rights have been overlooked and our strength has been undervalued for so long. If you want to empower yourself, we must first empower the Earth to reclaim its habitats, its waters, its plants, and its animals. We are killing everything without so much as a backwards glance, and we don't have to do that. We can change this way of life. As women, as life givers, we have the power to change the course of the future, and so I ask the women, stand and protect the sacred wherever you are.

"This isn't just a fight of one group of people here in North Dakota; it’s a fight of a global population to preserve what is left of the land that we have meticulously destroyed. I just ask that if you don’t have the means to donate and you can’t come to Standing Rock, if the cold isn't for you or you’re too scared, make phone calls, write letters, do what you can to stand for the land around you. There’s no one fighting for the Earth but us, and it’s our obligation to give to something that’s given so much to us."

What’s the most important thing young women should know about the situation as it stands right now?

“I think that people need to realize that the fight isn’t over. Media, especially mainstream media that’s here, is going to make it look like it’s a victory and it’s over and people are going to stop paying attention to what’s happening. It’s very important that people realize that this isn’t over, that we still have more work to do. And [to] put out a call for action — we want people to continue divesting from the people that support this pipeline. We want people to continue educating themselves on what’s happening here, and [about] indigenous people in general.”

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