Navajo Shot in the Eye at Standing Rock, Denied Justice: A Federal Court will Hear the Case

Marcus Mitchell was blinded in his left eye after being shot at Standing Rock as he stood to defend sacred water. A North Dakota court denied him justice. Photo by Rudy Dcruz

Diné Shot in the Eye at Standing Rock Denied Justice: A Federal Court will Hear the Case 

By Brenda Norrell, Copyright Censored News, Dec. 3, 2025

ST PAUL, Minnesota -- Marcus Mitchell, Dine'/Navajo, was shot in the eye and blinded in his left eye, while peacefully protesting the pipeline at Backwater Bridge in Standing Rock in January of 2017. For more than eight years, justice has been denied Mitchell because of the ruling of a North Dakota court.

Now the case of police officers excessive force is going before the federal Eighth  Circuit Court of Appeals in St Paul, Minnesota. Oral arguments will be heard on Dec. 18, 2025.

Sophia Wilansky, whose arm was blown apart when she was struck with an explosive on Backwater Bridge on Nov. 21, 2016, will also have her case heard before the same federal appeals court in December.

Lawsuits Reveal Extreme Cruelty of Law Enforcement

The lawsuits filed against law enforcement for critical injuries at Standing Rock reveal the extreme cruelty of Morton County deputies and Bismarck police. When Marcus Mitchell, Navajo, was shot in the eye, as he lay bleeding on the ground, officers pounced on him, then shackled him in the hospital.

When Sophia Wilansky's arm was blown apart, and she lay bleeding on the ground, officers laughed at her. Federal officers then stole her evidence in the hospital.

A North Dakota judge denied them both justice.

In similar cases, millions of dollars have been awarded to protesters who were victims of police excessive force. For those at Standing Rock defending sacred water from the Dakota Access Pipeline, there has been no justice.

The gruesome details of the shooting at Backwater Bridge, and Mitchell's horrific arrest after being shot, now goes before the court.

Mitchell's attorneys at MacArthur Justice Center said, "The Eighth Circuit reversed the district court and held that Marcus Mitchell’s case can proceed. It made clear shooting an unarmed Mr. Mitchell in the face with a lead-filled bean-bag round as he was peacefully praying could be a Fourth Amendment violation."

The Gruesome Shooting and Arrest of Marcus Mitchell

Police officers fired 12-gauge shotguns loaded with lead-filled bean bags at Mitchell and put out his left eye as he stood in defense of the water -- the water of the Missouri River that millions depend on -- at Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock in North Dakota on Jan. 19, 2017. He was 21-years-old.

"Marcus Mitchell lay facedown on the snowy North Dakota prairie, blood pouring through the gaping wound on the left side of his face," reported the Guardian describing the horrific shooting.

Tohono O'odham Ophelia Rivas Speaks on Israeli Spy Towers in Spain

"Our Fire is Burning," Tohono O'odham Ophelia Rivas Speaks on Israeli Spy Towers in Barcelona, Spain

Ophelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, speaks at Build Peace in Spain. Photo Build Peace, Censored News

Building Peace Conference in Spain

By Ophelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, Censored News, Nov. 22, 2025

French translation by Christine Prat

https://chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=8603

SANTA COLOMA de GRAMENET, Spain -- Today I am speaking of the absence of true peace on O'odham lands, including personal peace, peace for plants and animals, peace for mountains and valleys, and peace for water and air.

The O'odham are under continuous surveillance from the U.S. government perspective of border security for protection of the american way of life.

Peltier to Alcatraz Commemoration: Stand with Palestine to Stop the Killing

Commemoration of Occupation of Alcatraz

Leonard Peltier to Alcatraz Commemoration: Stand with Palestine to Stop the Killing

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Updated Nov. 27, 2025

"We want the Palestinian people to know that we stand with them." -- Leonard Peltier

ALCATRAZ ISLAND -- Leonard Peltier told the gathering at Alcatraz today that it is time to stop the killing of babies in Palestine. Peltier, speaking in a recorded statement from his home, said he was denied a pass to attend the Commemoration of the Occupation of Alcatraz today.

Calling for an end to the killing in Palestine, he said, "This is the same thing they did to us."

Peltier said women, children, babies, and unborn babies are being killed. "Everyday they are killing them, they are murdering them."

"We have to stand up and scream," he said, with the reminder that it was Biden who started this.

'The Serpents are Trying to Return, says Kahentinetha Speaking on the Mohawk Peacemaker's Way

'The Serpents are Trying to Return, says Kahentinetha Speaking on the Mohawk Peacemaker's Way

by Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 30, 2025

MONTREAL -- 'The serpents are trying to return," said Kahnetinetha, Mohawk. The search continues for their children who were murdered in residential schools and victims of the torture experiments at McGill University's hospital.

While the slick-talking politicians are among the serpents, the Peacemaker's Way of the Great Peace shows the way to Peace.

Speaking to law students at McGill University about the failing governments in the west, the collapsing economies and increased militarization, Kahentinetha points out, "The masks are coming off."

Speaking about artificial intelligence, she said, "They want to replace us with sub-humans."

There is healing through ceremonies, she said, and speaks on the effects of fear.

"We are the oldest living democracy on the planet."

"We ask for you to stand with us," she said, of the protection and caring for Mother Earth.

"We have been victims of genocide, but we are still here."

The Mohawk Mothers and supporters on the panel describe the search for graves of Native children who were victims of the U.S. CIA's MK-Ultra torture and drug experiments at McGill University's hospital.

Watch the video of the panel presentation, one hour and 50 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKtXrzAElNQ&feature=youtu.be 

Leonard Peltier on the National Day of Mourning, 'They Want to be the Super Race and Control the World'

Leonard Peltier on the Day of Mourning 2025, at home on Turtle Mountain in North Dakota. Screenshot by Censored News

Leonard Peltier on the National Day of Mourning,  'They Want to be the Super Race and Control the World'

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Nov. 27, 2025

Watch video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul9U3ppkN3s

TURTLE MOUNTAIN CHIPPEWA NATION -- Speaking on the National Day of Mourning known as "Thanksgiving," freed political prisoner Leonard Peltier said Native people want the massacres of their people to be known.

Peltier said it is already happening again, as can be seen in the deaths of children in Palestine and the Ukraine and what they are trying to do in Iran.

"They're killing thousands and thousands of babies and young children and destroying homes.  And this is the same thing they did to us. This is why we got a day of mourning," Peltier said from his home on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nation.

"We've got to fight to expose these atrocities, it is not over. It's not over for us or it's not over for the rest of the world -- because once they get done with Iran and Palestine and Ukraine, they're going to move to another area."

"They want to be the super race. They want to control the whole world. And we can't let them do that. We won't let them do that," Peltier said in a video address to the National Day of Mourning.

In a separate written statement to the Day of Mourning, Peltier said, "Every day has been a Day of Mourning for a few centuries now."

"Every day has also been a victory. Every one of us is a battle that has been won."

"Our ancestors have survived the slaughter of those who sought to end us. The Trail of Tears. The Wounded Knee Massacre. The endless brutal attacks. The corrupt Washington policy meant to erase us."