Hundreds of people marched over a local river Sunday in protest of what could soon go under a river roughly 1,400 miles away.
A heated presidential election dominated news feeds for months, and its results prompted protests in streets across the nation and in Chattanooga last week.
But Sunday's demonstration in Chattanooga followed the lead of a wave of protests over completion of a segment of the Dakota Access oil pipeline that critics argue will disturb significant American Indian historic sites and pose a threat to a vital national water source.
Several hundred people gathered in Renaissance Park to rally and march over the Market Street Bridge to Fourth Street and back. Marchers held signs saying, "People over profit," "Oil and water don't mix," and "Water is life."
They chanted things like, "We stand with Standing Rock" and "You can't drink oil. Keep it in the soil."
The 1,172-mile, $3.8 billion project by Energy Transfer Partners that is mostly complete would carry nearly a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota's oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Illinois.
First, a water crossing would have to be completed underneath the Missouri River, near the North Dakota-South Dakota border and just outside the Standing Rock Reservation, where thousands of protesters have gathered since the summer.
Sunday's protest in Chattanooga came after similar gatherings in places like Seattle, Syracuse, N.Y., and Annapolis, Md.
Many drivers who saw the crowd in the park honked their cars' horns as they passed by on Market Street, eliciting cheers from the demonstrators.
"This brings awareness," said Ron "Two Dogs" Williams, a Chattanooga resident who traveled to the Standing Rock Reservation last month. "The whole thing is to make people aware. Because if it's not in the media and it's not in people's backyards, most people won't see it as their problem."
In North Dakota on Friday, about 40 people were arrested for allegedly vandalizing equipment within a construction easement for the project. It was just the latest clash between protesters, work crews and law enforcement since the pipeline river crossing was rerouted from Bismarck, N.D., upstream. There have also been reports of police brutality against the protesters over the last several months.
The news of the 40 arrests came as a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman said the agency would issue a decision on its next steps in the coming days. The Corps of Engineers has been conducting a federal environmental review of the land in question.
"With the escalating police violence up there, we felt that it was time to do something," said Drew Miller, an organizer of Sunday's event. "We also have several groups that are leaving from here to head towards Standing Rock. So we felt it would be a good time to go ahead and have this so we could gather donations for those groups leaving."
There were no counter protesters on Sunday in Chattanooga. Energy Transfer Partners claims the project will bring millions of dollars into local economies and create thousands of jobs. That has done little to quell opponents' concerns over water quality and the potential disturbance of culturally significant American Indian sites.
After the march, 17-year-old Byron Russell stood up in front of the gathering in Renaissance Park and spoke about his grandfather, James Russell. The 60-year-old Cherokee man was assaulted last week at Red Clay State Park in Bradley County, where he lived and worked, according to WRCB-TV, a Times Free Press news partner.
Christopher Hines has been charged with aggravated assault in the attack. Byron Russell said the incident constituted a hate crime because of racist remarks made to his grandfather during the assault.
"Today, for me, a lot of it is coming out here and marching for him," Russell said.
The 17-year-old local home-school student added, "We get so caught up in the hysteria of politics and what's going on at the White House that we forget the real issues that are happening that no one knows about.
"Standing Rock, this is something that's happening on a national level and still not that many people know about it."
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.