The People vs. Property: Why is property more protected than people?
“Life, Liberty, and Property”
In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke described the “inalienable” natural rights that need to be guaranteed to the people. Locke was adamant in advocating for the ability of people to make their own choices in life, as long as it does not interfere with the life, liberty, and property, of others. Thomas Jefferson would later change ‘property’ to the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence.
Then… what is property? According to Locke, property is more than just land, property is the “ownership of one’s self, which included a right to personal well-being”. Then why are the American government and the police force putting public and private property above the well-being of its people?
#NoDAPL
In 2016, Indigenous protesters gathered at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota to oppose the construction of an oil pipeline. The pipeline would run through the Sioux tribe's land the American government promised them in the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868.
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers greenlit the construction of a pipeline through Sioux reservation land, effectively violating Article II of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. Article II states, “[Black Hill Reservation] shall be… set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named… the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons… shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article”.
Article I states that anyone who harms Indigenous persons on reservation land is subject to arrest and punishment under federal law. The cruel irony in this is that Indigenous protesters were arrested, abused, and attacked by state police and private mercenaries for protesting and protecting their land. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Energy Transfer Partner company were never held accountable for their lack of environmental impact research. Their carelessness would have directly contaminated the drinking water of not only the Sioux tribe but all peoples along the Missouri river.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Energy Transfer Partners, state police, and the private mercenaries hired should all be arrested and held accountable under Article I of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. Despite treaty legalities, none of them were punished. Why? In a capitalist state like America, property that guarantees profit is viewed as more sacred than human life.
‘A life is sacred. Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being.’ [Then] why were the rioters ‘so violent with property then? Because property represents the white power structure, which they were attacking and trying to destroy.’ (Malm, 2021).
It is apparent that the American imagination of property has vastly strayed from the original politicians and thinkers of America. We live in an age where the government and its military police force would rather beat its own people than protect their well-being. Over property. Property of the oil companies that would profit off of the destruction of sacred land. Property of the police who are more worried about shielding themselves from the imagined harm of unarmed protesters. Property that directly interferes with the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (property) of others.
