On Friday, around 300 people, many from Denver’s American Indian community, gathered in Sunken Garden Park near West High School in solidarity with the Rise With Standing Rock Native Nations March on Washington, D.C.
After a few words and prayers, the crowd marched from the park to the state Capitol, chanting “Mni Wiconi – Water is Life” and “You can’t drink oil, keep it in the soil” accompanied by the singing and drumming.
The gathering grew to more than 500 people as speakers addressed the crowd.
“We need to wake up and we need to start standing, fighting every atrocity that is happening to the earth, to Unci Maka [Grandmother Earth], to our people, to the water,” said march organizer Molly Ryan-Kills Enemy. “It is my responsibility as a woman and as a mother to continue standing up and fighting for my children, my nieces and nephews, and my people.”
Denver photographer Daniel Sauvé captured these scenes of the march.