Laura Peters

lpeters@newsleader.com

STUARTS DRAFT - Dozens of people gathered at a Stuarts Draft farm, dug into the earth and planted their resistance.

To take a stand against the Atlantic Coast pipeline, area activists held a ceremony Monday morning where they planted "Seeds of Resistance" of corn sacred to the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma on land that lies in the proposed path.

They didn’t have far to walk. The pipeline’s route could take it just 125 yards away from the Stuarts Draft Farm Market, where the ceremony took place.

"We stand on this common ground that we care about and love," said Mekasi Horinek Camp, Ponca Nation member and Bold Oklahoma coordinator.

"We decided to use this sacred corn and ask it to protect the land for us and have the creator guide us," Camp added. "Crazy Horse said, 'You don't inherit the land from our ancestors, we just borrow it from our children.' I think those are words to live by."

The corn comes from the Ponca Nation, a group of Native Americans driven off their Nebraska land on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. The ceremony comes from when Camp, Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup and Bold Nebraska's Jane Kleeb planted the corn on the land that lies in the path of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Trail of Tears.

The effort is through a unified group of multiple organizations called the Cowboy and Indian Alliance.

The corn planting ceremony was used in the effort to stop the Keystone pipeline from breaking through Tanderup's and many others' land. With the land now protected from Keystone pipeline, the corn planting and harvests continue to help propagate more Seeds of Resistance. The 3.5 acres of sacred Ponca corn planted in Nebraska were also certified by the USDA for mass consumption.

"It can be done," Tanderup said. "I know you people are strong just like the people in the heartland. Everyone said we couldn't do it, but we did."

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Since their first planting in Nebraska as a strategy of blocking the Keystone pipeline and building a Cowboy and Indian Alliance, Seeds of Resistance have since spread across the world, to Ecuador, Minnesota, Wisconsin and other communities standing up to Big Corporations, a release said.

"We can beat these pipelines with three fundamental things," Kleeb said. "One, is to stop eminent domain for private gain. There should be no reason why in America that a private corporation can take somebody's land for their private gain. Two is a climate test. And third is an unlikely alliance.

"We would never have defeated Keystone XL if it was just environmentalists working on it or just farmers or Native Americans ... all on their own, staying in their own corners," Kleeb added. "We came together and said, 'We are united.' When we did actions like planting corn together, when we stood shoulder to shoulder, we built a sense of trust and solidarity that nothing could have torn apart."

The ceremony created another alliance here in the Valley, one where those who participated are now directly linked to the land physically and spiritually.

"Two words come to mind here — community and unity," said Nancy Sorrells, of the Augusta County Alliance. "All across the country communities like ours are standing up and pushing back in the face of corporate greed and utter disrespect for our land and our people, but that's going to stop."

Lorne Stockman of Staunton works as a research director for Washington D.C.-based Oil Change International, which does research specifically on the oil and gas industry. His research helps battle natural gas pipelines throughout the country.

"They fought an amazing campaign in Nebraska and they want to come here and share their experience and share their knowledge and share their corn and their spirit," he said.

A half acre of corn will be planted in the coming days as the soil dries from the excessive rain the area has seen. Seeds will also be planted in five other locations in the path of the proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines.

"We are doing more today than just planting a few seeds of corn. Not that planting corn in the path of this disastrous pipeline isn't appropriate, because it is. We want everyone to understand the real effects of this proposed pipeline on the people in its path and on the land beneath our feet," Sorrells said. "Really none of us owns this land. We are here to respect it, protect it and make it better for future generations who will be here. The proposed pipeline takes all that away. By planting this corn we are giving back to land and to the people who are part of it. Standing together as a unified community, we can stop this pipeline."

Follow Laura Peters@peterslaura and@peterpants. You can reach her at lpeters@newsleader.com or 213-9125.