I invite you to pause for a moment and think about the most sacred place you know. Maybe it is a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque. Perhaps it is a river, a mountain, or a small altar in your home. Take a breath and reflect on how that place holds you\u2014how it grounds your spirit, offers healing, and welcomes you into relationship with others. Sacred places are where we gather in community, not only with those who stand beside us today, but with the ancestors who walked before us. Now imagine hearing that a mining company plans to tear into that sacred place\u2014to drill into the earth for graphite. Imagine knowing that the sanctity of that place could be permanently scarred, sacrificed for profit rather than protected for the generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the reality facing Indigenous Peoples near the He Sapa (Black Hills) who have worshiped at the sacred site of Pe\u2019 Sla since time immemorial. Pe\u2019 Sla is a high elevation meadow that sits among the rolling forests of the He Sapa, where wildflowers burst from the earth every summer, a herd of buffalo roams freely, and birds sing as they dance on the mountain wind. This sacred site has been used for ceremonial gatherings of the Lakota, Dakota, and other nations for thousands of years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n