Starbucks Influence On American Culture

McDonald's, and Starbucks they are huge parts of the American culture that we all love today.Now think of all the Starbucks And Mcdonalds destroyed for the sake of an oil pipeline that could be eaisly redirected.All of your Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Big Macs suppliers are gone what would feel? Sad? Angry? Well we could assume that you would be sad and angry that a huge part of our American culture was destroyed. The sadness of a beautiful culture being destroyed is what the American Indians of the Standing Rock Reservation are feeling for their sacred grounds are getting destroyed, bulldozed, for the sake of an oil pipeline. But what’s really at stake? The beauty and sacredness of the Standing Rock Reservation will never be the same due to the negligence of their culture by the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The creek where the Dakota Access Pipeline is to be run under, holds a historical significance to the American Indians.

What happened there to make it worth protecting? In South Dakota 1890, the battle between U.S. military troops and the Lakota Sioux Indians took place at Wounded Knee Creek, in which resulted in the deaths of perhaps 300 Sioux men, women,and children. The massacre at Wounded Knee was the last major battle of the Indian wars of the late 19th century. The lake that the Dakota Access Pipeline is supposed to drill under is the burial grounds of the 300 men, women, and children of the Sioux Indian tribe who were savagely murdered by the U.S. military. This is culturally at stake because, just as the twin tower memorial is culturally important to America, the Wounded Knee Creek is a piece of Native American history that is never to be forgotten, and is important that we protect it, but to the people of Dakota Access Pipeline it is just another piece of land, just another

creek.
“Sacred places containing ancient burial sites, places of prayer and other significant cultural artifacts of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were destroyed by Energy Transfer Partners”, Tribal Chairman David Archambault II (9/04/16). This happened on Saturday September 3rd, leaving the tribe in shock. The Energy Transfer partners caused a sense of culture distress for the destroyed pieces of Native American history. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman David Archambault II also said that. “These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground.” (9/04/16) The anguish of the Tribal Chairman is truly evident in his statement. How would you feel if someone dug up the graves of your ancestors? The lost places of prayer, and other significant cultural artifacts could never be replaced. So again what’s at stake? As said by the Chairman the artifacts, the history, and the culture of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe could never be replaced once destroyed like what happened on September 3rd of 2016.