Rocky Mount, Va. — Pipeline Fighters who were part of the unlikely alliances that formed to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska and Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock will travel to meet landowners in Virginia and West Virginia from June 11-14, and plant sacred Ponca corn “Seeds of Resistance” on land that lies in the paths of the proposed Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast fracked gas pipelines.
The first “Seeds of Resistance” Ponca Tribe sacred red corn were planted in 2014 on the Tanderup farm in Neligh, Nebraska, which crosses both the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, and the historic Ponca Trail of Tears. This collaboration by the “Cowboy & Indian Alliance” marked the return of Ponca corn to the tribe’s ancestral homeland in Nebraska for the first time in 137 years, since their forced removal from Nebraska by the federal government. This year, the fourth annual planting of sacred Ponca corn on the Tanderup farm in Neligh took place on May 21, 2017.
Traveling to the Appalachia region for the “Seeds of Resistance” planting tour this month include Mekasi Horinek Camp, Ponca Nation member and coordinator with Bold Alliance, and Floris White Bull, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe member — both of whom lived at the Water Protector camps at Standing Rock for months while helping organize resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline.
Each event will begin with a sacred corn planting ceremony led by Mekasi Horinek Camp, the son of Casey Camp-Horinek, a long-time Native rights activist and environmentalist. After the ceremony, the group will hand plant several acres of sacred Ponca corn seed.
Today the corn plantings will be preceded by “Defend the Sacred: A Celebration of Life, Land and Water” — a day-long festival at Elmwood Park in Roanoke that will feature live music, dance, a film screening, farm-to-table food, and speakers who will raise awareness about the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast fracked gas pipeline.
“Together our families will plant sacred red corn seeds of resistance. As the corn grows it will stand strong for us, to help us protect and keep Mother Earth safe for our children, as we fight these battles against these fracked gas pipelines,” said Bold Alliance coordinator and Ponca Nation member Mekasi Camp Horinek.
Carolyn Reilly, affected landowner by the proposed MVP and Pipeline Fighter with Bold Alliance added, “Working together on the land in the humble and simple act of planting this sacred seed gives nourishment for our spirits and a harmony to our efforts. The pipeline fighters in Appalachia are uniting in efforts to defend the land and protect water; the Seeds of Resistance Tour inspires hope to press on in our fight.”
-submitted by Mark Hefflinger