• 7:30pm
  • Friends Meeting House 1825 Upland Ave, Boulder CO
  		• Deep Green Resistance and the Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center are hosting a benefit concert on Friday, September 21st at the Friends’ Meeting House at 6pm. The Earth Guardians and Common Good will be contributing musical performances, and Oak Chezar will be doing a standup comedy act at the event to raise money for the legal defense of five activists who were arrested at a protest near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation last month.

    On August 26th, Lakota women from the Pine Ridge Reservation and their
     families participated in the Women's March for Peace. They and their allies marched from Pine Ridge to the town of Whiteclay, Nebraska. The town of Whiteclay lies less than 300 feet from the border of the Pine Ridge Reservation, where the sale and consumption of alcohol is prohibited. Whiteclay has a population of 14, yet 4 liquor stores in the town sell 12,500 cans of beer each day. It has been documented that the stores sell to bootleggers, intoxicated people, minors, and trade beer for sexual favors. The impact of alcohol distribution is felt by women and children on the reservation in particular, with rates of sexual assault and domestic violence double the national average.

    The event on the 26th was also attended by members of several indigenous and non-indigenous ally organizations, including Deep Green Resistance, Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center, AIM Grassroots, Native Youth Movement, Occupy Lincoln, Un-Occupy Albuquerque, and Nebraskans for Peace. After speeches were given by Lakota leaders upon arriving in Whiteclay, five non-indigenous members of Deep Green Resistance locked their arms together using lockboxes made of PVC pipe. They managed to block the road for seven hours, and caused the predatory liquor business of Whiteclay to lose over five thousand dollars.

    Within the context of more than 500 years of genocide at the hands of European Invaders, Whiteclay is more than a criminal operation: it is a tool of genocide. One hundred and fifty years ago, it was smallpox infested blankets. Today, it is Whiteclay, Nebraska. Police at the march arrested a fourteen year old for self defense, maced a ten year old and several other bystanders, and carted the five protesters to jail while still locked together with the illegal and dangerous use of a manure-encrusted livestock trailer.

    The five are collectively facing up to six thousand dollars in fines and legal fees. Any size donation is helpful, and every cent goes toward paying the protesters fines and legal fees. They need your help in order to fight the ongoing genocide that Whiteclay is helping to perpetrate, and they are committed to standing with the Lakota until the last of Whiteclay's bars closes its doors forever.