Gilio-Whitaker explores the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock in 2016 and 2017, where an oil pipeline was approved to pass through sacred ground. Construction was completed, despite the protests and anticipated threats to the region's water and environment. Using the United Nations's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and state and local approaches in California, Gilio-Whitaker argues that federal laws like the American Indian Religious Freedom Act should be extended to protect sites of cultural significance to Native Americans, such as Panhe for the Acjachemen people. She advocates decolonization and community organizing.