Washington D.C. – Lakota Sioux Indian representatives declared sovereign nation status today (19th December 2007) in Washington D.C. following Monday’s withdrawal from all previously signed treaties with the United States Government. The withdrawal, hand delivered to Daniel Turner, Deputy Director of Public Liaison at the State Department, immediately and irrevocably ends all agreements between the Lakota Sioux Nation of Indians and the United States Government outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Treaties at Fort Laramie Wyoming.
“This is an historic day for our Lakota people,” declared Russell Means, Itacan of Lakota. “United States colonial rule is at its end!”
“Today is a historic day and our forefathers speak through us. Our Forefathers made the treaties in good faith with the sacred Canupa and with the knowledge of the Great Spirit,” shared Garry Rowland from Wounded Knee. “They never honored the treaties, that’s the reason we are here today.”
The four member Lakota delegation traveled to Washington D.C. culminating years of internal discussion among treaty representatives of the various Lakota communities. Delegation members included well known activist and actor Russell Means, Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founder Phyllis Young, Oglala Lakota Strong Heart Society leader Duane Martin Sr., and Garry Rowland, Leader Chief Big Foot Riders. Means, Rowland, Martin Sr. were all members of the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.
“In order to stop the continuous taking of our resources – people, land, water and children- we have no choice but to claim our own destiny,” said Phyllis Young, a former Indigenous representative to the United Nations and representative from Standing Rock.
Property ownership in the five state area of Lakota now takes center stage. Parts of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana have been illegally homesteaded for years despite knowledge of Lakota as predecessor sovereign [historic owner]. Lakota representatives say if the United States does not enter into immediate diplomatic negotiations, liens will be filed on real estate transactions in the five state region, clouding title over literally thousands of square miles of land and property.
Young added, “The actions of Lakota are not intended to embarrass the United States but to simply save the lives of our people”.
Following Monday’s withdrawal at the State Department, the four Lakota Itacan representatives have been meeting with foreign embassy officials in order to hasten their official return to the Family of Nations.
Lakota’s efforts are gaining traction as Bolivia, home to Indigenous President Evo Morales, shared they are “very, very interested in the Lakota case” while Venezuela received the Lakota delegation with “respect and solidarity.”
“Our meetings have been fruitful and we hope to work with these countries for better relations,” explained Garry Rowland. “As a nation, we have equal status within the national community.”
Education, energy and justice now take top priority in emerging Lakota. “Cultural immersion education is crucial as a next step to protect our language, culture and sovereignty,” said Means. “Energy independence using solar, wind, geothermal, and sugar beets enables Lakota to protect our freedom and provide electricity and heating to our people.”
The Lakota reservations are among the most impoverished areas in North America, a shameful legacy of broken treaties and apartheid policies. Lakota has the highest death rate in the United States and Lakota men have the lowest life expectancy of any nation on earth, excluding AIDS, at approximately 44 years. Lakota infant mortality rate is five times the United States average and teen suicide rates 150% more than national average . 97% of Lakota people live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers near 85%.
“After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative,” emphasized Duane Martin Sr. “The only alternative is to bring freedom into its existence by taking it back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway.”
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A message to the government
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A tip of the horns to my peripatetic Greek chum for this...
"Gordon, if you're watching... Leave. Us. Alone." Class.
I have my own message for you, Gordo...
7 comments:
Falle dyle ni efelychu Lloyd George gyda'r Iddewon a rhoi cornel o'r byd iddyn nhw.
Ynys Mon?
To the American Indians their languages express that they are the human beimgs - the rest (palefaces), well you know what they are......
Be careful with this. Much of the reporting is inaccurate. Russel Means is a well known, and in my opinion very courageous, activist. However it is very questionable who he speaks for.
He has twice run for President of his particular part of the Lakota Nation and lost both times. The Lakota have an elected leadership and this initiative has not come from them. So far some groups have remained silent and others have citicised the move.
Having had some limited contact with lakota people in the past I know that politics can be very dangerous and some people are, to my knowledge terrified as a result of the actions of Russel Means and his group despite having both respect and and sympathy for his aims.
It is a very complex situation.
cymrumark - understnad what your'e saying, but hey, I'd never heard of the Lakota until reading about this and they've shown (or, IK, some have shown) that they're not totally conquered nor colonised and they've stil got balls.
Good on them, more shame on us. They're an inspiration to this Welshman in any case.
Russell Means is just an activist who has a perchance for publicity.By new years day this will all be forgotten. The Lakota is the native word for one of the 3 nations of the "Sioux" tribe, the other 2 are known as the Nakota, and Dakota.
Visiting the reservations in South Dakota and around there were some of the most depressing places I got to during my many years in America. Very bleak landscape and desperate lives coexisting.
29th December is the 117th anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee.
There are some links on www.dailykos.com
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