When journalist Erin Schrode arrived to the Bakken she assumed she would be covering the protest for a number of media outlets. After a few days, Schrode went from telling stories to becoming a major one, one that went viral across social media, viewed by millions and picked up my many news outlets. More on that in a moment.
First, a bit of some background on Schrode and what brought her to North Dakota.
“I started my environmentalism when I was 13-years-old,” The Marin County (CA) resident said. “I have had a chance to work on a number of issues from environmental to social justice issues to lobbying legislators to boots on the ground activism.
Since then Schrode has worked with a number of media outlets, from ABC News to Glamour to Cosmo.
After following the story in the news for a few months, Schrode saw a post on the Standing Rock/ Dakota Lakota Nation’s social media pages asking for numbers support with the Dakota Pipeline Protest. Schrode felt compelled to come to North Dakota and help out.
“They needed numbers, masses, solidarity. I literally was in Standing Rock two days later,” Schrode said. “There’s despicable human rights violation happening here. It’s a travesty.”
Schrode and Josh Fox, friend and film maker, arrived to the protest camp and quickly realized this was a complex issue. There are many fights converging with the DAPL protest.
“The transport of crude oil around the unearthing of burial sites, around construction of sacred objects, around water. It’s not just about one pipeline or one nation,” Schrode said. “To protect the watershed for generations to come and right now 17 million people from the Dakotas all the way to the Gulf.”
Schrode and Fox began interviewing people upon arrival. According to Schrode, the emotion and passion emitting from the people interviewed was authentic and raw. The forceful and aggressive tactics by the authorities have left scars with the people, both physical and emotional.
“We interviewed a 32-year-old woman from Standing Rock and that was absolutely unbelievable, to use the word in its true form,” Schrode said. “To hear from her lips the experiences of being arrest, ripped out of a prayer circle, thrown into dog kennels, seeing people beaten, seeing elders taken from sweat lodges, being hit with an open end of an assault rifle.”
Schrode couldn’t believe this level of conflict was happening at the protest. What Schrode had observed was peaceful, civil protesters.
“We were humbled to be able to share the stories of the Standing Rock people,” Schrode said. “Josh’s piece on Flores (the 32-year-old woman) has over 23 million views, which is an amazing portrait and I also wrote a piece on her for Glamour Magazine.”
Schrode continued collecting stories and content for media and news outlets. Then the peaceful protest took a hard turn.
“Some of the water protectors were trying to cross a small river to hold a prayer circle on their sacred grounds on the other side,” Schrode said. “And in doing so were met with a full line of militarized police. Armed with assault rifles and with more cans of pepper spray and mace than I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Schrode stayed on the shore interviewing some protesters when the two philosophical sides met.
“ I was on the near shore interviewing a man when suddenly I felt a devastating blow to my lower back,” Schrode said. “I whipped my head around and saw there was two police boats very very close to the shore and they had fired a rubber bullet.”
Schrode said she doubled over in pain from getting shot with a rubber bullet.
“It was a very startling moment to realize I had just been shot by the police,” Schrode said. “But this is not about me. Yes they shot an innocent female white reporter, that fact is not lost on me”
Schrode reiterated this was a non violent action with no aggression by the protesters. The entire ordeal was recorded and later posted on social media.
“I watched myself get shot on camera which is an experience I wish on no one. I went into hysterics” Schrode said.
Schrode said the reason she posted the incident on social media was to squelch online harassment towards her regarding some media outlets reporting she was shot by the authorities. The media speculation was she provoked the incident, which was false. Many media outlets and social media posts have retracted their original position since the video footage was posted online.
“I inadvertently filmed myself when the police fired at me with a rubber bullet,” Schrode said. “And that was something I chose to put out, not to call my more attention to myself, but to highlight this indiscriminate use of excessive force.”
Schrode does realize she is now a part of the story, a part of the Bakken history that is being played out right before our eyes.
“It’s dangerous out there,” Schrode said. “There’s absolutely no cause for any such violence, any such hostile response to the prayerful people. I am grateful no one has been killed.”
Schrode said this is a fight the people are committed to. They are winterizing their camp, schooling children, organizing supplies and mentally preparing for below zero conditions.
“The bravery of the water protectors, the power of the non violent action, the people literally putting their lives on the line to defend the sacred grounds, to defend the future, to protect our climate is inspiring,” Schrode said.
To view Schrode’s video, please click here
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