Dear Future President,

As president, I hope you can preserve and protect the Native American land. In reservations around the U.S., treaties and acts are being violated by oil and other companies. This destroys the little portion of land the government has given the Native Americans. We need let Native Americans have more of a say in what happens to their land and listen to their opinions and decisions, for they are the ones who truly should have the power to decide.

If others do not abide the Native American treaties, the sacred, holy land could potentially be severely damaged. The construction and building of pipelines and other sites take up and ruin the reservation. They threaten the Native Americans' way of life and take away their voice in decisions they should have a say in. Because the Native Americans have been moved into reservations, they lost ancient burial grounds that cannot be replaced. This is a reason to why they need a choice in what happens to their own land. Decisions cannot be just made by the companies. As president, I hope you will help give the Native Americans a voice.

An example of the violation of  Native American treaties is the recent North Dakota oil pipeline. This pipeline has the potential of contaminating the river it crosses, the Missouri River. This river is the water source for millions. If it were to be polluted, many people will lose their main source of water. Without water, people will need to pay more money for bottles and gallons of water from stores. The contamination of the river would also result in the death of surrounding wildlife, which also ruins the reservation. There needs to be strict laws forbidding the destruction of sacred land because it is all the Natives' have.

The North Dakota pipeline could be devastating because it breaks many treaties and acts the government has with the Native Americans. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act states that it was created to “provide greater protection for Native American burial sites and more careful control over the removal of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and items of cultural patrimony on Federal and tribal lands.” The pipeline “plows” through a burial site on the reservation, which is a violation of the the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The Native Americans need more control over their land to prevent such disaster, such as the pipeline. If a pipeline breaks an act, something must be done about it.

Protecting the land given to the Native Americans is important. They need more control over their land and they need more of a say in what happens to it. The outright abuse of the acts created to preserve the holy land (as demonstrated by the North Dakota pipeline) is an atrocity that the nation and the president should recognize and react to.

Sincerely,

Bria D.