South End Life: In New Children's Book, South End Author Honors the Spirit and Leaders of Standing Rock

Rae Rose spent a lot of time in South Seattle libraries to read and "to hide," she said. Rose, who is Indigenous and Asian, was a foster kid and described '90s Southeast Seattle life as not safe for her, as gangs were active throughout the neighborhood. Today, Rose is an empowered auntie in the community as she speaks in bookstores and libraries with the launch of her first book.

The Sacred Stone Camp, a children's book that hit the shelves earlier this month, is a tribute to Rose's grandaunt and granduncle, the late LaDonna Brave Bull Allard of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the late Miles Allard of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. The two leaders founded the Sacred Stone Camp, the first of several camps they hosted on their land in April 2016 on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The event ultimately drew thousands from throughout the world who came to protect the waters of the Cannonball, Missouri, and Mississippi rivers and the lands around them from construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a fossil fuel project.

The book is narrated by a young girl, Little Donna, who takes a stand with many others against the fossil fuel industry referred to as "black snake." Little Donna aims to protect her beloved Standing Rock Sioux homelands and the water sources used by millions of people in North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and other regions, including her tribe. 

In Lakota prophecy, "black snake" is referred to as something that slithers across the land of Turtle Island, the Indigenous reference to the North American continent, destroying land and poisoning water. The book refers to how the community has "seen the oil spills, the loss of habitat, and the sickness from toxic waste" from other fossil fuel projects.

Little Donna says, "We can live without the Black Snake's oil, but we cannot live without Unci Maka's (Grandmother Earth's) precious lands and waters."

Energy Transfer Partners was building the pipeline to carry at least 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Bakken Fields in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois, a fossil fuel hub where products are distributed through more pipelines to other areas of the U.S. (The company has since increased its capacity up to 750,000 barrels per day.)

The DAPL project never received permission from the tribal government to build the project on their lands. Construction of the project desecrated sacred Standing Rock Sioux sites, such as burial grounds. The tribe was also defending the area from the threat of oil spills, which could contaminate water and habitat.

The book follows Little Donna working through her fear and anxiety of participating in fighting the threat to their land.

Little Donna says, "I want to be brave but I have my secret fears. If I am honest, I feel uneasy against a threat so big."

Then a character named LaDonna, based upon Rose's actual grandaunt, says, "Most important to remember is that we stand together, always …"

Unci (pronounced UHN'-chee and meaning "grandmother") LaDonna and Lala (pronounced LAH'-lah and meaning "grandfather") Miles comfort Little Donna and guide her through the work of protecting land and water by resisting DAPL at Sacred Stone Camp and living in the spirit of community care with a large group of people. Some people set up tipis and others prepare wood for a fire, while the youth relay messages and deliver items throughout the camp.

Rose wants the book to honor the Allards, her grandaunt and granduncle, who she spent time with at Standing Rock. In the fall of 2016, Rose volunteered in both the traditional medicine tents and Western medical tents. She said there were people who set up a school for the children. Another group of people made food, some worked on communications projects, while others were on the front lines.

South of Beacon Hill, where Rose lives, sits the Native Family Learning Lodge, where Red Rock Eagle Standing Perkins is a teaching uncle. He read The Sacred Stone Camp book during storytime for children up to the age of 5. He said the children worried about the impact of the pipeline on animals.

He recounted how, after he read the book, some children painted, leaving black water in a cup from the children rinsing their brushes. A child played with an animal figurine near the cup, and it dropped into the black water. Standing Perkins heard some children exclaim, "Oh no, the black snake's gonna get it. We have to get it out of there. We have to protect it."

Standing Perkins noted he's read other books about the pipeline to the children, but this one helped make the connection between the pipeline and the animals.

Mara Panich owns Fact and Fiction Books in Missoula, Montana. The store hosted Rose for a storytime at the local library. "The kids are always excited to meet an author," said Panich. "And the parents were happy to see books that are helping the kids understand bigger issues."

Rose reflected on her Auntie LaDonna's teachings: "Everyone who came [to Standing Rock] learned to live in community again. Being there in community planted seeds: People might have opened a garden to their neighbors or started recycling. Small acts. What people learned at Standing Rock, they took home with them that would blossom in their communities, with their families, within themselves that'll create change."

Energy Transfer Partners completed constructing the pipeline in 2017. It currently operates without an easement. Since construction, there have been numerous spills along the pipeline, including five in its first year of operation. Currently, the battle to protect the water and land from DAPL is in the courts. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in October 2024 for allowing Energy Transfer Partners to operate the pipeline without an easement, a study of potential impacts, and other issues.

Rae Rose will read from "The Sacred Stone Camp"at Third Place Books, Bothell, on Oct. 18 at 11 a.m.

South End Life Bulletin Board

Dig In — Beacon Food Forest Work Party

You can participate in a local food ecosystem by going to a Beacon Food Forest Work Party on Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at South Dakota Street and 16th Avenue South. Dress appropriately for the weather and bring gloves. Bring snacks and water.

National Guard Deployment Community Education Session: How Washington Is Preparing

We Are One America is hosting a session to talk about how community organizations have been preparing for a possible National Guard deployment to Washington and how you can take action. RSVP needed for this virtual event on Oct. 21 at 5:30 p.m.

Fido Can Get Vaxed Too!

El Centro de la Raza is holding a pet vaccine clinic on Oct. 24, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. The service is offered at a sliding scale for people living unhoused or who are low-income.