Flathead residents give holiday boost to Standing Rock protest

After collecting about $4,000 worth of donations, tepees, cold-weather clothing and other gear, Whitefish environmental educator Brett Holmquist set off Tuesday across Montana to spend Thanksgiving at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.

Holmquist, along with Flathead Valley residents Casey Masters and Wes Hays, will join hundreds of others from around the country who are working to stop the Dakota Access pipeline — a nearly-complete, $3.8 billion project that would carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois.

The final stretch would run under a Missouri River reservoir near the reservation but has faced opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has said the pipeline would threaten the reservation’s drinking water and Native American cultural sites.

While many in the on-reservation encampments have criticized what they view as a slow response by the press to devote sufficient attention to the opposition, Holmquist said he’s been following the issue since well before it entered the national spotlight.

“I’m someone who’s always trying to look for solutions and live that way in my life. I wanted to go and find out for myself what’s happening,” Holmquist said. “All the reports from eyewitnesses, alternative media, mainstream media, agency press releases, all those voices are saying different things about what’s happening on the ground, so I definitely have my own interest in going so I can speak from my own experience.”

National media have reported conflicting accounts of the still-unfolding events by law enforcement agencies and those protesting the pipeline. Recent stories have also made note of some well-intentioned newcomers to the Standing Rock protests causing more harm than good by showing up without enough supplies to be self-sufficient during their stay. Others have arrived unprepared for the onset of a harsh North Dakota winter, requiring a steady supply of cold-weather clothing.

But Holmquist isn’t arriving empty-handed. Through online fundraising, word-of-mouth donations and the help of artists and musicians in the community, he was able to pull together three tepees, multiple wood stoves and firewood, along with a stockpile of food, clothing and other cold-weather gear.

Whitefish musician Erica von Kleist, along with fellow artists Halladay Quist and Rebecca Schaffer, contributed about $900 worth of donations and supplies to the effort after a fundraising show at Bonsai Brewing Project last weekend.

Originally planning a trip to Standing Rock themselves, von Kleist said the trio of musicians decided instead to throw their support behind Holmquist after learning of his plans.

“It felt right to mobilize behind him and just have this one cause, because our money can go further,” she said.

Like Holmquist, von Kleist’s inspiration grew from a desire to change the ugly tone of political rhetoric she’s witnessed over the past year.

“There’s been this new sort of wave, this energy of activism that’s ignited in me because I don’t like seeing all the negativity and hatred and the racism that’s going on in this world right now,” she said. “What can I do to impact, rather than just going on social media and starting a discussion that seems to go nowhere?”

She added that in part, her motivation to contribute to the protesters’ cause owes to other local activists who have made the journey from the Flathead Valley. She said that Rabbi Francine Green Roston, who frequently works with the local human rights group Love Lives Here, recently joined a group of religious leaders to visit the protester camp.

“We all talk about being activists for these types of issues that pop up, and don’t actually do it,” von Kleist said. “She’s the kind of person that actually goes and stands in the cold in solidarity with people. That’s pretty inspiring to me that she had done this.”

The journey is a first for Holmquist, who planned to spend his Thanksgiving holiday at the Standing Rock Sioux camps before returning home Sunday. But he plans to continue supporting the tribes from his home in Whitefish.

“I don’t actually know where a lot of that stuff came from; it just shows up in boxes,” he said with a chuckle, referring to many of the anonymous donations he’s received in recent days. “We’re trying to put together a centralized donation location. There’s a lot of people that want to help.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.