Debra White Plume ( lkt, Wioweya Najin Win, August 20, 1954 – November 10, 2020) was a

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

and

water protector Water protectors are activists, organizers, and cultural workers focused on the defense of the world's water and water systems. The ''water protector'' name, analysis and style of activism arose from Indigenous communities in North America dur ...

. She fought to protect the traditional Oglala Lakota way of life.

Biography

White Plume was born and raised on the

Pine Ridge Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Grea ...

and was a member of the

Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...

tribe. Her father was John Baptiste Reshaw, and her mother was Bernice Ione (Swallow) Stone. In 1973, she was one of the first persons to join the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police ...

Wounded Knee Occupation The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied ...

, which took place on her reservation in southwest South Dakota. White Plume founded Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way) in 1999, an advocacy group dedicated to cultural preservation and the protection of Lakota treaty rights through nonviolent direct action. She was the executive director of the group until her death. Her group also advocated for

sobriety Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels or effects from alcohol or drugs. Sobriety is also considered to be the natural state of a human being at birth. A person in a state of sobriety is considered sober. Organizations o ...

amongst Native Americans with the controversial slogan, "Sober Indian, Dangerous Indian", which she describes as the empowerment of oneself through traditional teachings with "a mind free of manipulation, and clear thinking that creates an Indian who dares to stand up for the rights of his or her people and the rights of Mother Earth". In 2011, she was arrested outside the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

during a protest over the

Keystone Pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Albert ...

project. In 2015, she was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against

Cameco Cameco Corporation (formerly Canadian Mining and Energy Corporation) is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2015, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 18 ...

to stop it from expanding its operations at

Crow Butte Crow Butte is a uranium mining operation located southeast of the city of Crawford in Dawes County, Nebraska, United States. Cameco Corporation owns and operates Crow Butte through its wholly owned subsidiary, Crow Butte Resources, Inc. History ...

. In 2016, she helped establish camps for protesters against the

Dakota Access pipeline The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) or Bakken pipeline is a underground pipeline in the United States that has the ability to transport up to 750,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil per day. It begins in the shale oil fields of the Bakken Forma ...

and played a leading role in organizing protests or nonviolent action against both the

Keystone XL The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Albert ...

and

Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on Febru ...

. She stated while at

Standing Rock The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...

: "I'm Lakota, I'm a woman, and water is the domain of the women in our nation, and so it's our privilege and our obligation to protect water. If somebody wants to label me, I guess it would be

." She died from cancer in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

on November 10, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White Plume, Debra Native American activists 1954 births 2020 deaths Deaths from cancer in South Dakota Members of the American Indian Movement American political activists Oglala people People from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota Activists from South Dakota Women civil rights activists 21st-century American women 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans