Lakota Sioux - The Bravest Americans
Now let's think this through: five days have elapsed and if any
major First Nations spokesperson or group or tribal council is standing
against the Lakotah secession, they remain unheard. This is extremely
auspicious inofitself. I don't think I am off base when I say that
there are responsible individuals and groups amongst First Nations
tribes and that, therefore, were this not something everyone concerned
really wanted to work then we would have heard something by now. I
have personally sent messages to John Trudell and Honor the Earth and this was two days ago. Still nothing.
To
my knowledge, each and every of the accumulating mound of objections
from many online (any from native leadership remain an exception) cite
Russel Means' personal problems as reason to ignore this and,
consistently, what is deliberately ignored by these unverifiable
sources is that there are three others that will have to be discredited
to debunk all of this and, to tell you the truth, now that we can see
than nearly everyone (with the exception of some heads of state and
some of the world's best known news services) is silent on this all
then any sudden proclamation of invalidity would indicate, in all
likelihood, that someone sensed a turning of the tide.
Doesn't
anyone remember how the French revolution started? We have become such
spectators in our very lives that when called to action the people all
stand and wait to see if anyone else will answer. Is anyone
answering? Word out of Lakotah country seems mixed as well and if
nothing else, this stands to be remembered as a few people with
chutzpah standing up and challenging the people to take what was theirs
and the sheeple answering, "Baa-aaahhh!"
Still, I have hope. After all, each minute that ticks by further validates all of this.
Lakota Sioux - The Bravest Americans
Sat, December 22, 2007 - 10:00 AM
And So It Begins
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
SOURCE
The following was copied from this website:
Steven,
Yeah, I've been in touch with some Oglala/Lakota Sioux Indians on
the Rez who claim to be "in the loop." They aren't happy with this
media exposure 'cause it threatens the "status quo" within the official
leadership structure of the Lakota Sioux Nation.
The US government have been playing these rival factions against
each other for decades. They play rough and the dangers are REAL.
It's imperative that the International community / press monitor
this situation closely. These poor folks have no protection and most of
them are dirt poor. Say a prayer for them and spread the word.
''We will prove to every American that America is becoming one big
Indian reservation,'' said Mr. Means, who contends that non-Indians
face the same danger of losing their land and their rights that Indians
have faced for centuries.
''I challenge every American to make a list of what they feel their
individual rights are, and then, item by item, find out how much
government is interfering with those rights,'' he said. ''I have been
trying to throw off the yoke of government interference in our lives
since I joined the American Indian Movement.''
- Russell Means, Oglala/Lakota Sioux Indian
Lakota will be WAY Better than Dakota
Lakota Tribes: Stop this country, we want to get off!
Strongheart Warrior Society: Withdrawl from the treaty is protection