For months, a historic coalition of indigenous nations have gathered at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota to stop the construction of the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. These Water Protectors and their allies face police brutality while living without running water and electricity in temporary camps. Their mission is twofold: to protect land promised to the Great Sioux Nation in 1851 from environmental destruction and to resist the United States government's continued violation of indigenous rights.
Just last fall, the number of protesters at Standing Rock was estimated to be as high as 10,000. But after the Obama administration's decision not to authorize construction on a critical part of the pipeline, most of the camp left. Now, faced with legal losses and new threats from the Trump administration, only a couple hundred Water Protectors still remain, and the numbers are dwindling. Last week, North Dakota's governor ordered that the camp be cleared by 2 PM local time today and warned that state and federal agents would begin arresting any activists who remain.
Laura Hinman is one of the protesters still there. Before leaving for Standing Rock, the 24-year-old Kumeyaay Native and Pratt Institute graduate was living in Manhattan's Chinatown. Originally from San Diego, where the Kumeyaay tribe is based, she came to New York to study and became immersed in the fashion world. Last fall, Hinman was freelancing for Vogue and Vogue Pariseditor Carine Roitfeld at CR Fashion Book. Then, in September, she suddenly quit her job and left for Standing Rock. "When I heard [that] all these different tribes were coming together, I knew it was a sign to go," Hinman told me. "I couldn't sit in an office while people are being harassed."
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