And it's not just Native people coming together — people from all over the world have come to stand in solidarity with #NoDAPL protesters.

Keene says part of the reason for the strong solidarity among Native tribes across the country is because the dispute over the the pipeline is part of a long-standing fight to have the sovereignty of their nations respected by the US government.

“To me, this is really about the fundamental connection between us as native peoples and our homelands," Keene says. "So for the community of Standing Rock and all of the other Lakota Sioux communities ... These lands that the pipeline is cutting through right now are their homeland from time immemorial.. The land right now that the pipeline is building through on the river crossing has documented burial sites, has documented sacred sites, and so it’s just a blatant disregard for that connection to the land and that connection to place and space."