Standing Rock: The Enduring Power of the Human Spirit, and Grassroots Radio

Standing Rock: The Enduring Power of the Human Spirit and Grassroots Radio

Today we honor grassroots radio as a marker in history, and the Native youths and brave women, the Water Protectors of Standing Rock

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 16, 2025

The day was August 22, 2016, and the place was Standing Rock. Govinda arrived from the west, and Michelle Cook arrived from Arizona. Govinda, in a borrowed van, and Michelle, with a ragged tent, together produced the first sounds of Standing Rock Spirit Resistance Radio.

Amazingly, the first broadcasts are still preserved, and we share three women's interviews, and the Tlingit Water Song, live from those first broadcasts. From the barrio house, with surveillance circling, I saved those live broadcasts, and shared those with radio stations around the world. They played on radio stations coast to coast, and in other countries.

Today, we honor the beginning, the enduring power of the human spirit and the enduring power of grassroots radio, with the voices of Native youths and women.

Naelyn and Baase Pike, Apache, Oak Flat https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/08/oak-flat-resistance-live-standing-rock.html

Debra White Plume, Oglala Lakota https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/09/listen-lakota-debra-white-plume-red.html 

Dr. Michelle Cook, Dine', https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/08/dine-michelle-cook-on-standing-rock.html 

Tlingit Water Song, with messages from Oceti Sakowin Camp https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/08/listen-standing-rock-resistance-radio_24.html

'Sing a Song to the Earth' Havasupai Share Healing Words, as Ute March Against Uranium Mill

Dianna Uqualla, Havasupai, and Petuuche Gilbert, Acoma Pueblo, at Ute Spiritual Walk and Protest.
Photo by Tim Peterson

Ute lead the Spiritual Walk and Protest to the Energy Fuels uranium mill. Photo Tim Peterson, Censored News

'Sing a Song for the Earth' Havasupai Share Healing Words, as Ute March Against Uranium Mill

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 9, 2025

WHITE MESA UTE, Utah -- This sickness travels by truck from the Grand Canyon uranium mine to here, and when the winds blow, this sickness blows east to Colorado. When the rains come, it spills into the San Juan River and flows down the Colorado River.

It is the uranium mill in the White Mesa Ute community.

It is a slow sickness and it means death.

"Sing a Song to the Earth," says Dianna Uqualla, Havasupai medicine woman, during  the White Mesa Ute Community Spiritual Walk and Protest on Saturday.

"Our elders always said, 'Sing a song to the Earth.'

"Everything upon this earth is living. So we always have to remember that. So anywhere and everywhere we go, you know, our elders always said, "Sing a song to the earth."

Mskwassin Agnew, Cree Dene, Arrives in Canada from Israeli Torture Prison

Mskwassin Agnew, Cree Dene, Arrives in Canada from Israeli Torture Prison

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 11, 2025

Mskwaasin Agnew, Cree Dene of Salt River First Nation, arrives in Canada, greeted by the sound of the drum, a bouquet of flowers, hugs, and the gift of a blanket, from a large crowd of family, friends and loved ones.

Upon arrival, Mskwaasin was presented with an eagle feather for her bravery and courage, an eagle feather that traveled on the sacred staff for ten years with those speaking for murdered and missing Indigenous women. 

"Palestinian people would die for their land. Our people would die for the land. We belong to the land. It's unmistakable, we would do anything for the land to stay on our land. No matter what," Mskwaasin said after being released from an Israeli torture prison, the Ktzi'ot prison in the Negev desert.

"There is still a genocide happening in Palestine, and my comrades are still in prison. We need to tell Canada to sanction Israel," said Mskwaasin, 33, a harms reduction worker, after arriving at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Saturday.

Cree Dene Woman is Free! Mskwaasin Agnew Landed in Turkey this Morning from Israeli Torture Prison

Watch video of Freedom Flotilla volunteers arriving in Istanbul airport
https://www.youtube.com/live/AjMnYOq2PxQ

Mskwaasin Agnew, Cree Dene from Salt River First Nation, arrived in Turkey today, on her way home to Canada. She was imprisoned in Israel's torture prison after being illegally arrested on the Freedom Flotilla on Wednesday, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza on the Conscience boat. She sailed beneath the Mohawk Warrior flag and Anishinaabe flag.

Cree Dene Woman is Free!

Mskwaasin Agnew Landed in Turkey this Morning from Israeli Torture Prison