Red Fawn, politische Gefangene der Standing Rock Proteste ist nach fast vierjähriger Haft frei

Red Fawn Fallis is free! Last night, I and a few others joyfully met her at the airport in Bismarck to welcome her home. Over the past four years spent in prison, Red Fawn made a great sacrifice for all of us. Red Fawn was the person incarcerated the longest after our NoDAPL stand. She didn’t deserve that. A well-loved Oglala activist, she served as a medic at our Oceti Sakowin protest camp before being targeted by intelligence operatives and falsely imprisoned.

Red Fawn Fallis (left), Arrow Banks (center), and me in Bismarck after Red Fawn’s release. (photo 9/9/20)

As with Chase Iron Eyes, Red Fawn was singled out by law enforcement at Standing Rock — and, sadly, she wound up bearing the brunt of police and state anger over our resistance. Of course, we know the real criminals are the oil companies and those in government and law enforcement who aid and abet their destruction of Mother Earth.

I am, and have always been, proud to stand at Red Fawn’s side. Though she’s now back with her community, this cannot be called justice. While she spent years behind bars, DAPL has operated without adequate environmental review.

Some time ago, our friends at Teton Productions made this video about Red Fawn’s incarceration. She’s finally been released after 57 months in prison.

Always, the benefit of the doubt goes to white men and their industry, never to Native people who stand to protect the natural world. If we stop fighting, that pattern will never change. We must continue to protect our water, our sacred lands, and our future.

For those who continue to resist, we will be there with you and have your back. For example, we stand in solidarity with a civil lawsuit — Thunder Hawk vs. Morton County — to protect our freedom of speech at Standing Rock. We’ll also continue telling the real and full story of our resistance. Right now, our digital media team is teaching a class at Loyola University in Chicago. Each of the 25 students is helping us prepare content for our DAPL Archive, which will ultimately be the most comprehensive storehouse of DAPL-related footage available to the general public, anywhere. 

We remain ever grateful to you for your support. Together, we’re creating a repository of information useful to resisters of every stripe: educators, journalists, attorneys, anyone who wants to apply the lessons of the recent past to what comes next.

What comes next for Red Fawn is re-entry in our culture after nearly four lost years. We intend to do everything we can to support her, love her, and honor the sacrifice she has made for all of us. We know you are in this fight with us. Please join us in welcoming our sister back by resolving to keep your heart open and your commitment to justice firm. 

Wopila tanka — Thank you, always, for standing with Standing Rock.

Phyllis Young
Standing Rock Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project