Declaring Freedom

December 28th, 2007

It’s Friday, it’s late in the day … I’ve spent hours sifting through the Bhutto assassination reports and analysis of American options and I can’t get it into shape for today; it’s huge, it’s dangerous and it’s fraught with nuclear peril.

We don’t even know how she died — there was no autopsy and she’s been buried; at first she was shot … then she didn’t succumb to gunfire, she died by shrapnel … then, according to the Pakistani government, she died of a fractured skull. We’ll probably never know.

At first, the reports had Al Qaeda doing it … now it’s the Taliban. In Pakistan it could be anybody and their brother-in-law; what part of “viperous” don’t we understand about that sullen mix of zealots? McCain has said it could be worse — that prior to Musharraf, it was a “failed state.” Really!

What is it NOW? [I know, I know ... our Good Friend.]

In any case, it was brutish fundamentalism at the trigger, as usual. Reports have the country in chaos and … most obviously … any hope for democracy died with their candidate [at least in the upcoming election, that will go on as planned.]

So, instead of the dire news of the moment, I will post on another topic dear to me [I minored in what was then called AmInd Studies in college] and a wildly interesting proposition, if you stop and think about it awhile. The Lakota Sioux want their autonomy back, and they want their little bits of land … located in Very Red country … declared independent.

While the question of what other Sioux bands might be interested in this movement is up for grabs, the Lakota is comprised of 7 bands — 7 more are members of the Dakota and Nakota sub-tribes, scattered across the upper Midwest. It’s still unclear who is with Russell Means and who is not.

Anyone who read “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” knows how native Americans were treated by this government; that was not an isolated incident, it was policy. And anyone who saw Dances With Wolves got a clear picture of the kind of culture our nation could not tolerate. Since the mid-1800’s, these people have been captive to a governmental steamroller and sustained as sub-citizens. Any progress they’ve made in the last years has been through their cultivation of casino’s, and profit is dispersed through tribal councils that may do well for their people … or very decisively may not.

Another movie I appreciated was called “The Education of Little Tree,” about a child taken by the Indian Agency in the depression years of the last century — even then we couldn’t let them be. Earl Hamner Jr. of Walton’s fame wrote the screenplay from a Forrest Carter novel, and it was a well-acted and moving account of native American values run to the [under]ground.

Empirism … you know … begins at home.

The first article below reminds us of the siege in Pine Ridge during the 70’s, when the Sioux demanded redress for broken treaties — and how quickly it went wrong. I trust we have grown some since then — perhaps our OWN freedom needs will allow us to recognize true American brothers when we see them, and support their declaration of independence.

There’s not much out there on this topic — too small a shot heard round the world, likely, to capture the imagination of those thinking larger more complex thoughts, like “mushroom cloud.”

But the Hopi tell us that the Time is Now — that we are the one’s we’ve waited for!

The Lakota heard the call … now it’s our turn.

Jude

Lakota Sioux - The Bravest Americans
“Tribe” — And So It Begins
Kathryn A. Graham, Cyrano, Thomas Paine
12/25/07

In an incredible irony, the very people that the United States have most oppressed throughout our history may hold the key to freedom for all of us.

Few Americans remember the siege at Wounded Knee in the mid-1970s, but perhaps they should. Members of the AIM, or the American Indian Movement, occupied parts of Pine Ridge in protest over the brutal killings of two of their own, the disgustingly mild prosecutions for those murders, and the beating of the mother of one of those two when she attempted to seek justice from the U.S. government. The AIM were seeking their rights under U.S. law and for the U.S. government to honor treaties with the American Indian that had been ignored for more than a century. It was a lawful - and a peaceful until attacked - protest.

In response, the FBI fired almost 200,000 rounds at the protesters (the protesters did fire weapons in their own defense, but only over their attackers’ heads) in an illegal show of force that betrayed every ideal of real freedom. The siege at Wounded Knee lasted 71 days. This was Waco decades before Waco, largely ignored by the U.S. population due to media indifference and the fact that the victims were not white Americans.

Later, the defense team for Russell Means and Dennis Banks was infiltrated by a government informant, which led to perjured testimony and a very angry judge who stated that the government was more interested in convictions than in justice. South Dakota Judge Nichols was quoted as saying, “It’s hard for me to believe that the FBI, which I have revered for so long, has stooped so low,” and dismissed all charges against the defendants.

Apparently, all those years ago, at least a portion of our justice system still operated as it was designed to do.

Leonard Peltier was not so lucky. He was tried in North Dakota, and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison. He remains there today, even though evidence recovered after the siege clearly showed that the two FBI deaths were attributable to friendly fire. During his years in prison, through his art and letters, Peltier has continued to work for oppressed people everywhere.

Russell Means has remained free, and he has not been idle in the intervening decades. A committed libertarian, he has written several books, run for office on the Libertarian ticket, and continued to pursue a film career that has made him a household face and name. Apart from that, he has bided his time, waiting for just the right moment in history.

That moment has come. In September of this year, the United Nations passed a non-binding Resolution on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Naturally, Canada, the United States and Australia refused to sign, but this resolution paved the way for a move that has been waiting in the wings, so to speak, since the 1970s.

On Wednesday of this week, Russell Means led a delegation of the Lakota Sioux people to the U.S. State Department and the embassies of Bolivia, Chile, South Africa and Venezuela, declaring their secession from the United States of America.

Means stated, “We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us.” The lands of the Lakota Sioux encompass portions of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. In the coming weeks, they will take their diplomatic mission overseas to seek further support.

Means also stated that anyone willing to renounce their U.S. citizenship would live on Lakota land tax free, and that the Lakota would issue their own passports and driving licenses. Since a large group of libertarians have recently moved to Wyoming, this opens up some interesting possibilities for a free society growing up in our midst.

The coming road will not be an easy one. I cannot see the U.S. neo-conservatives leaving this alone. I imagine that there will be another bloody and vicious siege taking place on Lakota land, but I also believe that Means has timed his move correctly. If this happens as I fear it will, the neo-conservatives will be the clear authors of their own destruction. The American people have had enough!

You go, Russell!! You are the bravest and best of us, and the sanest and best of America stands with you in the trials you will face over the coming months and years.

Kathryn A. Graham, author of Flight From Eden and America Hijacked!

Chief Big Foot Riders Return To Wounded Knee, “We Want To Be Free”
13 Day Ride Began Under Bonds of U.S. Treaty, Ends On December 29th With Free Nation
21ST Annual Ride Returns To New Life for Free Lakota People
December 27, 2007

WOUNDED KNEE, Lakota (formerly South Dakota) - Thirteen days and 287 miles ago, 44 people mounted horses and began the Memorial Chief Big Foot Ride in honor of Si Tanka (Chief Big Foot) and his unarmed band of Mniconjou and Hunkpapa refuges who were slaughtered by U.S. Calvary in 1890 at Wounded Knee.

But while these 44 riders began their journey under the shadow of U.S. Treaty, their numbers will swell to over 100 and end under the protection of a free and sovereign Lakota Nation.

The ride began on December 15th in Standing Rock, the anniversary of Sitting Bull’s death, and has traveled through fierce snowstorm and cold, the same conditions faced by the 357 mostly women, children and elder men at Wounded Knee Creek 127 years ago.

“The purpose of the ride is to ride the spirit trail of Chief Big Foot,” said Tegihya Kte also known as Garry Rowland, leader of the riders and recent delegate of the Lakota Freedom effort in Washington D.C.. “The Tree of Life died in Wounded Knee in 1890, and the ride was begun to mend the Sacred Hoop.”

Riders ranging in age from 10 to 65 travel the footsteps of their Ancestors, along the way offering prayer for the women, children, the Elders, and the conditions the Lakota people are forced to live under today. For the children, the ride is also a powerful introduction to the sacred relationship between the Lakota and the horse and the courage their Ancestors took during their 13 day walk from the site of Sitting Bull’s assassination to Wounded Knee.

“My sons and now my grandsons have participated in the ride,” shared Tegihya Kte. “They ride for our future and the self-determination of our people.”

The self-determination of the Lakota now takes on powerful meeting as the Lakota Freedom Delegation traveled to Washington D.C. and withdrew the Lakota from their treaties with the United States Government. The ride becomes an outward expression of sovereign Lakota rights and spirituality.

Tegihya Kte said, “We don’t want the government telling us what to do, we want to be free.”

Lakota Freedom delegate and Cante Tenza leader Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane Martin Sr.) agreed, “The Lakota withdrawal in Washington D.C. brings real protection for our people today, exactly the real protection Big Foot sought for his people then.”

We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have withdrawn from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law.

For more information, please visit our new website at www.lakotafreedom.com.

LAKOTA Secession: No Longer Tolerating Broken Promises!
Barbara Peterson, American Chronicle
December 27, 2007

On December 24, 2007, I received a media release from the Lakota Nation. Here is an excerpt:

Lakota Freedom delegate and Oglala Lakota Cante Tenza - Strongheart Warrior Society leader Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane Martin Sr.) issued the following statement after discussion with the Strongheart Grandmothers:

The whole Lakota declaration of withdrawal from the treaty is vested on the power of the Lakota people and our children.

When we undertook the process of announcing the withdrawal, the capacity was far greater than most people anticipated about an individual. But throughout our history, the people have never excluded anyone within our own lifeway and when it becomes a listener’s view that its about one individual, one individual does not represent the Nation itself, the Nation represents the individual, and that is Lakota.

The withdrawal is for the people, the Elders, mothers, fathers, and the children.

Throughout our history and through the enforcement of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Congress said they would oversee the provisions of 1868 (Fort Laramie Treaty), but they failed to do so. Some minor provisions were kept, but overall the treaty was not honored. Because if the treaty was honored, we would not have this colonial catastrophe of alcoholism, drug abuse and poverty and we wouldn’t have the overall high incarceration rate of the male and female in the prison populations. This leads to our children being taking away by Social Services, which puts our children out of balance from learning the traditional lifeway.

When the children can reconnect with who they are, they come back to the process of knowing what is Lakota in the true point of view. In this true point of view, Lakota is about being free and left alone, so we can govern and save our own with the teachings of the Animal Nations.

(Reprinted with permission from Naomi Archer, Communications Liaison)

The struggle is for the freedom of a people who have been systematically slaughtered, subjugated, and extorted since America’s beginnings. They are now declaring that they will take it no longer. The Lakota hit rock bottom, and are coming up fighting.

Shortly after receiving the media release, I interviewed Canupa Gluha Mani, who was instrumental in initiating this movement. Canupa Gluha Mani is an individual who believes that “a nation is never at its best when elders and children are not included.” He spoke to me in Lakota, which translated is: “In the future, when you stand, your people, do not forget about them.” We spoke about how America has forgotten about its elders and children, just as it has forgotten about the native population it subjugated and tried to destroy. The Lakota nation has not forgotten. Canupa Gluha Mani’s grandfather used to say, ” When you remove a people from the forest, the people of the forest become unknown. What becomes unknown, you want to destroy.” This profound truth has guided Canupa Gluha Mani throughout his life, and directs his path towards truth and fulfillment for his nation. This truth has also given him a unique understanding regarding why his people are “the only human race not allowed to sit on the council of nations. That is genocide.” The American Indian has been subjected to a systematic pogrom of genocide ever since the white man set foot in America.

Canupa Gluha Mani spoke about how the United States government has not kept its promises to the Indian people. “If you give an oath, stand in it” (Canupa Gluha Mani). These broken promises are the impetus for secession from the U.S. The treaties were not honored. Promises were broken.

He also spoke about healing, and how this withdrawal from the United States is actually a step towards healing. This healing is not for the Lakota tribe only, but for all nations, and he told me that he hopes that this movement will be a blueprint for other Indian nations to follow.

We spoke about Turtle Island:

The legend of Turtle Island as Told by WalkingBear:

Long ago when animals talked and people did not, all people lived on Turtle Island. Each, while different was the same.

The Creator came to Turtle Island and said to the people: You are to divide into groups and go off in different directions. Each group will go through the cycles of time apart from the others.

There will come a time when you will come back together, form the sacred circle and share what you’ve learned while apart, and there will be a time of cooperation, peace and prosperity.

The group that went off to the East became known as the red race and the medicine wheel is painted red on that side. This group was given care of Mother Earth and all the animals and plants found there.

The group that went off to the South became known as the yellow race and the medicine wheel is painted yellow at the bottom. This group was given care of the air and all the birds found there.

The group that went off to the West became known as the black race and the medicine wheel is painted black on that side. This group was given care of the waters and the seas and all life found there.

The group that went off to the North became known as the white race, and the medicine wheel is painted white at the top. This group was given care of fire, which in time became mathematics and science.

Each group was given the additional responsibility of remembering in their hearts that all men are brothers, that there is but one race.

While going through the cycles of time apart, the people learned to speak each in their own way, and in so doing they almost forgot that they had once all been alike. Many came to think of each other as strangers.

We’ve learned much while apart and as the Creator promised, we are sharing what we’ve learned. In so doing, we’re coming back together. We’re remembering who we are.

Those who would keep us apart have yet to learn that neither heat nor light is lost from sharing the camp fire. That when all people join the sacred circle we will have returned to Turtle Island and there will be Peace and Prosperity. As our Lakota Brothers say: “Mitakuye Oyasin” (We are all relatives).

“Now that we are through from the treaties, Turtle Island has become one big Indian reservation, which includes everyone that is living here” (Canupa Glupa Mani).

The Lakota people have taken a big step towards healing their nation, as well as the entire American nation. I stand in awe of this brave people who are doing what most just talk about. Canupa Glupa Mani ended our conversation with this note: “We will speak again.” Keep pushing forward, my brother. I am with you in the return to Turtle Island.

“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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