Donate To Build The #NoKXL Unlikely Alliance Barn and Earthlodge
A huge crop art image protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline covers an 80 acre corn field outstide of Neligh, Nebraska on April 12, 2014. The image, which lies on the proposed pipeline route that crosses the Ponca Trail of Tears, was created by the farmers, ranchers and Native American tribes of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance in collaboration with artist John Quigley. (Photo by Lou Dematteis)
We’re building another barn!
For a while, I’ve been talking to the leaders of the #NoKXL Cowboy and Indian Alliance – and together, we decided to memorialize our unlikely alliance with two structures: a barn on the Tanderup land and an Indigenous structure (like an earthlodge) on a tribal site.
Our ultimate goal is to establish vibrant cultural hubs for meetings, trainings, gatherings, and cultural events that promote unity and action, and where we can celebrate and experience joy in our wins and in our organizing.
We need your help to build these structures. Will you pitch in $10 or more? As a thank you, we’re displaying donors’ names on a unique structure inside the completed barn.
Chip in to Build the Barn + Earthlodge
The site on the Tanderup farm is deeply meaningful to Pipeline Fighters and Water Protectors. It’s where:
- We held the first spirit camp to pray and develop plans to stop the pipeline together.
- The iconic Harvest the Hope concert with Willie Nelson and Neil Young drew over 8,000 Pipeline Fighters and Water Protectors.
- We planted Ponca Sacred Corn for 10 years as medicine for the land. The very land that members of the Ponca Nation were forcefully removed from, and where their corn had not touched its home soil for over 130 years.
- We planted a circle of trees in honor of various Pipeline Fighters and Water Protectors, which the barn’s front door would open up to.
- We blessed the tipi that we gifted to President Obama for our Reject and Protect events.
We are working with tribal leaders to identify a culturally significant location for the Indigenous structure.
It’s important that the Cowboy and Indian Alliance is acknowledged and celebrated. Farmer, rancher, and tribal elements will be woven into both structures through art, an edible garden, and structural factors such as which way the barn faces.
Altogether, these projects will cost $600,000 to build. Bold has secured $475,000 to make them happen.
We’re counting on Pipeline Fighters and Water Protectors to help raise the remaining $125,000 for these projects.
Thank you for celebrating our unlikely alliances,
Jane Kleeb and the Bold team