A Fire at the Center

The Indigenous Connections Team is leading a book discussion of A Fire at the Center: Solidarity, Whiteness, and Becoming a Water Protector by UU minister Karen Van Fossan.

“In 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe undertook a series of legal and water protection actions to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near their reservation. The tribe argued that they were not consulted during the process and that the pipeline, which carries crude oil throughout the Plains and into Illinois, would disturb sacred sites. By Autumn 2016, their efforts touched off a global movement that brought tens of thousands of Native American activists, religious leaders, and others to the region to support the tribe’s efforts to protect their water and their rights… Rev. Van Fossan was minister of the Bismarck-Mandan Unitarian Universalist congregation in Bismarck, North Dakota, when the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline began.” (from UU Press Release)

This book is a memoir of Rev. Van Fossan’s experiences that led her to a more genuine understanding of her own culture, herself, and what it means to become a Water Protector.