Magpie Messenger Issue 5: The legacy of water protectors continues in the fight against data centers

Nearly ten years ago, a small group of Indigenous youth gathered in Standing Rock to protest the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline. They saw it for what it was: a threat to sacred cultural sights, to Mother Earth, and to the water that sustains us all. Soon, they grew from dozens to hundreds to thousands of other activists, organizers, and allies. With the world watching, they sent out a clarion call: Mni Wiconi. Water is Life.

Joseph White Eyes, a member of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, was able to be at the Standing Rock encampment from its inception until the end, when militarized police forces tore down the camp. Joseph was also one of the runners who ran from Standing Rock to Omaha to deliver the first petition to shut down DAPL, before running to Washington, D.C. to deliver the same message to the Army Corps of Engineers.

“I consider myself a water protector out of necessity,” says Joseph, a staff member here on Honor’s Sovereignty and Self-Determination team. “We went there because we wanted clean water. We had seen our land was going to be desecrated. And everything we went there for we saw played out. We saw our ancestors' graves dug up. We saw our medicines destroyed.”

The same thing is happening now, Joseph says. That’s why he’s helping to organize front-line actions against the new data centers threatening our land and water. 

Across Turtle Island, tech companies are trying to build their AI fortunes by building massive data centers on or near Indigenous lands. These data centers are unnecessary and wasteful, sucking up massive amounts of energy and clean water for corporate profit. 

“The amount of potable water these data centers are taking in is very similar to what we were protecting at Standing Rock,” Joseph tells me. “We need clean water to drink, we need water for our ceremonies. We use water for each and every thing.”

There’s a direct through-line from Standing Rock to what we’re up against now. The fights look different, but our work is the same: protect the water.

The language we use to talk about these issues is also part of Standing Rock’s legacy. The groups on the ground fighting DAPL not only stood their ground but they mainstreamed the terms “Water Protector” and “Land Defender.” 

“That was a narrative success,” explains Krystal Two Bulls, our executive director. “What it represented to a lot of people was this awakening. It catalyzed so many other struggles in this country. People came and converged on Standing Rock and they were politicized and activated.”

Water is life. Mni Wiconi. It’s powerful because it’s true.

“People forget that you can go without food for much longer than you can go without water,” Krystal says. “Our bodies are 60-70% water. When we say water is life, it’s not just a corny phrase. It’s literal.”

Water also connects us to the land around us. Streams and tributaries and rivers look like the veins in our bodies, and the land we live on can’t thrive without water to sustain its myriad forms of life. 

That’s why Honor the Earth is again raising the call to all water protectors: help us in this fight. Whether it’s coal mining, gas pipelines, nuclear reactors, or data centers, these extractive projects all threaten the most sacred thing we have on Mother Earth.

“Around the world, our drinking water sources are already getting smaller,” Joseph says. “Polluting these waters is just a slap in the face.”

Joseph also reminds us that we can’t romanticize this type of work. Indigenous Peoples are called to protect the water because there simply is no other choice.

“We’re spiritual, but these fights that come at us as Native people are always out of necessity,” he says. “For us, we always have to play catch up when these different forms of colonialism come at us.”

“Anytime there’s an opportunity for Indigenous Communities to protect that water, we have to,” Krystal says. “Not just for us, but on behalf of our future. Or we don’t have a future.” 

“A lot of our ancestors in our communities prophesied that the final wars will be fought over water,” she adds. “We’re transitioning into that moment. These industries continue to act like water is disposable and unlimited. But it’s not.”