Kyrie Irving to be honored by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe
Kyrie Irving is to be honored by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe this Thursday.
Irving, who has Sioux ancestry with that tribe through his mother and grandmother, the latter of which was a tribal citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux, has been an outstanding supporter of their efforts to fight potential groundwater contamination by the Keystone XL pipeline.
Irving has a Standing Rock Sioux symbol tattooed on the back of his neck, which he posted a picture of on Instagram along with a message which seemed to link their struggle with his recovery from last season's knee issues, and placed a Standing Rock Sioux patch on one model of his Kyrie 4 basketball sneakers earlier this summer.
Said tribal chairman Mike Faith of his support (per ESPN's Chris Forsberg):
"Kyrie has long known about his heritage and connection to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and was an active supporter of the NoDAPL movement ... We could not be more excited, he has made us all very proud ...To know that he has not forgotten his roots and is taking the time before he starts his basketball season to visit the People, his People, shows that Kyrie has great character and pride in his heritage."
Fighting for banners and clean water are two causes I can get behind - best of luck to Kyrie and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to achieving those ends.
