News Release
Indigenous People of the Coastal Bend
Yesterday, Indigenous People of the Coastal Bend (IPCB), allies, and supporters from around the nation gathered to call for an end to oil industry buildout and the destruction of sacred lands and water. The protest was to bring awareness to how oil corporations, specifically Enbridge, have exploitation projects that are harming the environment and communities of the Texas coast and across the country.
“I CALL UPON YOUR SPIRITS. Take a look into your sons or daughters eyes and tell me if you see what I see. I refuse to let my culture die for profits and if you’re sitting there with chills it’s because your spirit heard the call and it’s time to rise and protect our land and culture from Enbridge.” said Deandra Sanchez, of the Karankawa Kadla tribal nation.
Enbridge plans an oil export terminal over the eastern portion of a Karankawa village site off Corpus Christi Bay in Ingleside, Texas. This expansion in the Karankawa sacred lands comes just after Enbridge pushed their Line 3 pipeline through tribal communities in northern Minnesota despite years of resistance that escalated to over 900 people arrested after mass civil disobedience, nearly 70 face felony charges, for protecting the drinking water and wild rice beds of several Anishinaabe tribal nations.
The Enbridge terminal expansion is planned to be constructed in the ancestral settlement and land of the Karankawa Kadla, where thousands of sacred Karankawa artifacts remain and they had held their ceremony and prayer for the past 2,000 years. If the expansion of the Enbridge terminal on Karankawa land and water continues, the Karankawa Kadla will lose direct access to their land and ancestral artifacts, in addition to the pollution of sacred natural waters within the region, violating several U.S. water protection laws.
“We will protect the Corpus Christi bay from Enbridge and the fossil fuel industry. We have been challenging processes since 2015 and will not back down because the Earth is telling us we have no time to waste. We will meet those who wish to harm our sacred sit the same energy our ancestors had when colonizers stepped foot on the shoreline.” said Love Sanchez, of the Karankawa tribal nation and co-founder of Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend. ”Together with family and allies, we will fight to protect the sacred, expect us.”
About Indigenous People of the Coastal Bend
Indigenous People of the Coastal Bend is an intertribal grassroots organization from Corpus Christi, Texas. Our mission is to preserve and conserve our culture and environment.
Website: www.stopenbridge.com
Instagram: @indigenous_peoples_361
IndigenousPeopleCoastalBend@gmail.com
