New York Times Fails Again: Conceals Federal Appeals of Excessive Force at Standing Rock

The New York Times Fails Again
Standing Rock: 'We are Sitting Bull's People'
Dakota Access Pipeline: A Snake in the Water

"We are Tatáŋka Íyotake’s Oyate — 'Sitting Bull’s People,' therefore our fight and resistance must continue for our future generations because we cannot drink oil." -- Standing Rock Nation

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Dec. 22, 2025

The New York Times failed to report on the excessive force lawsuits filed against law enforcement by Marcus Mitchell, Dine'/Navajo, and Sophia Wilansky. Both were critically injured at Standing Rock defending the water from the Dakota Access Pipeline. Their cases were heard by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The New York Times is now known around the world for its failed reporting and bias which enabled the genocide in Palestine.

The New York Times was quick to report on the Dakota Access Pipeline's claim that it provides a critical energy need -- but failed to report that the oil is actually exported and doesn't remain in the United States.

Further, the New York Times failed to report that the federal appeals court heard two cases of the critically injured at Standing Rock in North Dakota during the resistance to the pipeline. Both Mitchel and Wilansky were denied justice by North Dakota courts.

During this long struggle for justice, a delegation of Native women testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Jamaica in 2019 on the excessive force by law enforcement at Standing Rock.

Marcus Mitchell, Dine'/Navajo, was shot and blinded in his left eye, at Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock, while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline construction in January of 2017.

Mitchell's attorney Devi Rao argued that Mitchell was targeted with excessive force by officers and was not posing a threat. Rao said officers began firing without a warning. Mitchell was standing still and was not committing serious crimes when he was fired on.

Attorney Rao told the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that Mitchell continues to suffer after being shot by officers firing 12-gauge shotguns filled with lead-filled bean bags.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case of Sophia Wilansky in St. Paul, Minnesota. Wilansky's left arm was blown apart by an explosive fired by law enforcement at Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock on the night of Nov. 20, 2016.

The MacArthur Justice Center filed the civil rights lawsuits, which names the law enforcement who fired at Mitchell and Wilansky, and those who gave the orders.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, named in the lawsuits, said in previous depositions that he relied on the National Sheriff's Association to bring in law enforcement from throughout the United States, with militarized weapons and vehicles.

Water Protectors were shot with rubber bullets, explosive canisters, lead-filled bean bags, fired on with tear gas, and beaten with batons in 2016 and 2017. Thousands came to protect the water after bulldozers plowed through a sacred Lakota burial place on Sept. 3, 2016. Security for the Dakota Access Pipeline unleashed vicious dogs that bit water protectors as bulldozers tore through the burial place.

Read the series from Mitchell and Wilansky's cases before the federal appeals court, and the Standing Rock Nation's response to the latest ruling on the pipeline, at Censored News.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/12/federal-appeals-court-heard-case-of.html