Mother Nature gave us an awesomely bountiful day on May 21st for the fourth year of planting the Sacred Ponca Corn on Art and Helen Tanderup’s farm near the Ponca Trail of Tears and in the path of the proposed Keystone XL tarsands pipeline.
Click here to view all photos from the Ponca corn planting on Facebook.
We had a great turnout of folks, which made it more like a family reunion. The day featured Native prayer and ceremony, Corn Planting, Tree Planting, music, placing of the monument at the Medicine Wheel marking the location of the first Spirit Camp to oppose the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Our unlikely alliance of farmers, ranchers, climate advocates and Native allies gathered in celebration and to have an incredible potluck meal together. Children ran and played, and everybody had a chance to participate and visit.
Many thanks to Ponca Tribe of Nebraska Tribal Chairman Larry Wright Jr. and our other Tribal relatives for their support and participation; our hosts Helen and Art Tanderup; Bold Alliance; and all who brought an abundance of food for an incredible meal together.
A lot of the conversation on Sunday was directed at the urgent need to submit comments to the Nebraska Public Service Commissioners with people’s objections to Keystone XL. This is not a one-time deal; each and every objection needs to be expressed as often as we can.
ACTION: Submit a comment with your concerns about Keystone XL to the Nebraska Public Service Commission. (Note: Out-of-state comments to the PSC are encouraged!)
BACKGROUND: Read the full story behind the sacred Ponca corn “Seeds of Resistance” — and the return of the corn to the tribe’s ancestral homeland after 137 years, following the Ponca people’s forced removal from Nebraska by the U.S. government.
VIDEO: Watch a few clips from the Tanderup farm on Sunday, May 21:
Seeds of Resistance Tour 2017
The Cowboy and Indian Alliance that formed to defeat Keystone XL — including Ponca Nation member and Bold Oklahoma coordinator Mekasi Horinek Camp, Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup, and Bold Alliance’s Jane Kleeb — will also travel to Virginia and West Virginia for the second consecutive year in June 2017 to plant “Seeds of Resistance” on land that lies in the paths of the proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley fracked gas pipelines.
DONATE: Chip in to help Bold plant “Seeds of Resistance” to help stop KXL and other risky pipeline projects.
MEDIA COVERAGE
WATCH: 10/11 News (Lincoln): “Sacred Corn: Planting a symbolic protest to the Keystone XL Pipeline,” 5/21/17.
WATCH: KETV (Omaha): “Keystone XL pipeline opponents plant sacred corn to fight route,” 5/21/17.
“To have a foreign entity come in and take land, it’s something we empathize with,” said Ponca Tribe of Nebraska tribal chairman Larry Wright Jr. “Let our ancestors be. Let’s project this land… It’s not worth a little boost, for the possible long term side effects.”
