Jasilyn Charger

Jasilyn Charger (born May 20, 1996) is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and is from Eagle Butte, South Dakota, USA. Charger is a land activist, water protector, community organizer, and advocate for Native American and LGBTQ rights, and a youth founder of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. They have also protested against the Keystone Pipeline, and were arrested for their non-violent civil disobedience in November 2020.

Charger co-founded the One Mind Youth Movement, International Indigenous Youth Council, and Seventh Defenders; and is a part of the Warrior Women Project.

Charger also explained that their mother cared very little for Jasilyn and their siblings as she "paid the bills and drank." Charger was, however, able to find support through their twin sister, Jasilea. But, after their mother had called into Child Protection Services claiming Charger as a runway, they were taken to a group home while their twin sister was sent to another group home on the opposite side of the state. They didn't see their family again until they turned 18 and got released from the system. Charger and the other members of the One Minded Youth Movement focus on threats being posed to Native communities and specifically Native American youth. The group used the Our Generation, Our Choice rally as an outlet to advocate for the wellbeing of tribal youth and have their voices heard. Ladonna Brave-Bull Allard, who made space for the camp on their land, gave a speech that inspired Charger. This camp was a first step to block construction of the pipeline. About 40 runners completed the entire distance. Divergent actress and activist Shailene Woodley participated in the relay. The Dakota Access Pipeline received international attention. In an interview with Democracy Now! they stated: "If the youth can ... work with other youth from different places and not know them personally and do this run ….and stand together in this fight, the elders, the adults, can do that, too"

Charger locked themself to a pump station in November 2020. They were charged with trespassing, a class 1 misdemeanor. and faced up to a year in prison for an act of non-violent civil disobedience.

In December 2020, Charger was a featured speaker in the Indigenous Womxn Fighting Pipelines webinar, presented by the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The Keystone Pipeline was officially cancelled on June 9, 2021.

Recognition Teen Vogue’s Water Warriors - April 2017

MIT News MIT Media Lab’s Disobedience Award - Honorable Mention - July 2017

How Stuff Works (History): Five times young people changed the world - 2018

The Guardian: The Frederick Douglass 200 - February 2019

Rolling Stone: Children of the Climate Crisis - March 2020

Ms. Magazine Book Review: How we go home - a collection of twelve oral histories by Indigenous people from across Canada and the United States. - Nov 2020

Personal life Charger has publicly come out as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. They particularly identify as two-spirit. They have also been open about being bisexual.