Lakota Sioux Declare Independence From US
This story hits home.
It may change your world.
It does mine.
The Lakota Sioux nation is well represented in Nebraska where I live. On December 18, it served notice to the US, asserting itself as a sovereign nation. They will issue their own passports and drivers license and there will be no income tax for those who renounce their US citizenship. Lakota land spans 5 states (NE, SD, ND, WY, MT).
"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," said Russell Means, a longtime Indian rights activist.
The Lakota Sioux claim that none of the treaties have been fulfilled with the US. And they continue to fare poorly because of current policies. They believe that it’s time for them to self govern.
Why these actions? Here are the reasons directly from their website:
"In the face of the colonial apartheid conditions imposed on Lakota people, the withdrawal from the U.S. Treaties is necessary. These conditions have been devastating:
- Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, lowest of any country in the World (excluding AIDS) including Haiti.
- Lakota death rate is the highest in the United States.
- The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.
- More than half the Reservation’s adults battle addiction and disease.
- The Tuberculosis rate on Lakota reservations is approx 800% higher than the U.S national average.
- Alcoholism affects 8 in 10 families.
- Median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
- 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricity.
- 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.
- 97% of our Lakota people live below the poverty line.
- Unemployment rates on our reservations is 85% or higher.
- Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar foods that kill Native people through diabetes and heart disease.
- Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average for this group.
- Our Lakota language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction.
After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative. That alternative is to bring freedom back into existence by taking it back – back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway. Canupa Gluha Mani "
Those Statistics Are WORSE Than Many 3rd World Countries!
Devastating indeed. And we’re talking about AMERICA. I think they make a compelling argument. This type of poverty should not exist in the US. The death rate speaks loudly for something being truly wrong here. Life expectancy of 44 years – that is unheard of in America. So I can see their point, that they’re fed up and not going to take it anymore. They see their only option is to take matter into their own hand and try to self govern as the current government backed plan is driving them to extinction.
However ceding from the Union is another thing – it has never been done before…not that it hasn’t been threatened.
More details on their plan will be forthcoming soon; it will be released on the anniversary of the Wounded Knee, which should be in February. I just hope this event will not be an omen of another Feb 27, 1973 event. We do not want or need any military movement on our own soil, especially not foreign troops (UN Peacekeepers). The country could not handle that right now…and it would most certainly start a wave of civil unrest.
But there is a lot of money being made in parts of the areas they claim. Part of the Lakota land is the Black Hills of South Dakota where Black Hills gold is mined, as are other ores. It’s a great area for tourism. Plus we can’t forget the casinos that went in big time after Dances With Wolves. Some of them may fall on their claim. So, we know some of those folks have a vested interest in having business continue as usual.
We’ll see. I love where I live…where my neighbors are cowboys, Indians, ranchers and farmers. I’d hate to see that change soon…or for it turn into hostile territory, like the Pine Ridge area was in the 1973 Wounded Knee incident.
You can read the official document that was presented on their site, as well as their portfolio of supporting documents. They’re also available as PDFs.
I’d be interested in knowing what you think!
cj
Tags: Health Matters, lakota-sioux, Stress
Comments (130)
Stella R Seeker
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I’d be very interested to see their plans to fix things. Can’t see how ceding from US is going to bring food, jobs, health to them.
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Larry Bordenkecher
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In response to Jason Winters comments. I have spent many weeks hunting on Lakota land. I toured and travelled much of the Lakota land, and I’ve never, in any sense of the word, felt threatened in any way. All of the Sioux I have encountered have been nothing but friendly and welcoming.
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Eric
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Perhaps an insight into why the rez is the way it is can be found in the book, “Native American Postcolonial Psychology,” by Eduardo Duran, PhD. It is true in some reservations that I have been in that there is open distain for whites; however with that being said, a little investigation uncovers reasons for such feelings, and surprisingly, they are current and valid.
Indian Health Care Service does not help with vaccinations and daily health care needs and on most reservations you essentially need a life or death crisis to be seen. All other cases are referrals, that the Indian can not pay for, has transportation to, or will be met with a cross-cultural trained staff.
A common method for keeping “Indians from being savages” is to provide alcohol, or make it easily available, that can be readily observed when you travel to a reservation, just outside of the reservation line is a liqour store owned by whites that caters to the most desperate of the population.
The alcohol, diabetes, suicide rate, tuberculosis, infant mortality rate, and other issues have deep and complex roots – learn about inter-generational PTSD, social history and stigmatization, the challenges of existing in dual culture environments where one culture is full of taboos of the other, and see if you are looking at these problems with a bias that comes from your living envoronment, religion, race, or a historical reference that is bereft of Native American input and insight.
Finally, Tsisa Gohiga Adehvga, “Merry Christmas” (n 4 the ndns – they still don’t know what kemosabe means!)
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Joe
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Frankly, when the Real Id comes out that is going to be the biggest hurtle for the movement, as well as any Americans trying to support the movement. With the laws set in place with the Real Id, not only will they not be allowed to leave the US, neither will we.
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dr. j
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Joe,
The most recent press release was dated Dec 24 and it did not indicate this was a publicity stunt or a hoax. So I’ll have to follow along with what develops. If they wanted to get my attention, they got it.
Yes, becoming a sovereign country is a big undertaking. Relations with other countries will need to be established if only for travel sakes…with the #1 country being the US due to boarder issues.
Then there is infrastructure concerns. Siouxland is close to several military establishments. I don’t think the missle silos are in their area though – but I’m not sure where in ND or WY they are claiming as theirs.
If they are serious, this is a situation to watch.
I remember Wounded Knee in the 70’s and the Kent State University shootings. Those times need not return.
As far as Jason’s comments about safety concerns for whites on the res, well, there were issues in areas with more open animosity that I am personally aware of. Pine Ridge is the example that comes closest to mind. I’ve never had a problem there though.
But some of this animosity goes both ways. I was told by a young mixed blood of his mistreatment in a nearby community…how his family members were treated worse than dogs and how he encouraged his little sister to hold her head high and to be proud of who she was…
So, yes, there has been bad blood in the region. But they don’t all hate whites. Just as anywhere in America, there are places that you just have to watch your back.
The statistics that they quote though, are alarming…very alarming indeed. Is there a reason why TB is so high? Why infant mortality is so high? Why males die so young? There HAS to be. I’d like to see the root of those issues addressed…and soon.
I’d shudder to think if what is going on there is by design.
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jason winter
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Another fact is: They have always been a sovereign nation…Now they want to become their own country..also I say fine, great for them, but make sure you get a visa to come visit your relatives on the otherside of the fence in our country, as well as pay our taxes that you never have had to do before. They are even cutting up their drivers licenses, so if they come to our country we can arrest them for driving without a license too, unless perhaps they are driving a horse.
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Joe
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Old story, and untrue as well. The Lakota’s have already issued a -real- official statements saying they have no wish to withdraw the treaties, and want to do what they have always done; work it out in words. The “deceleration” was nothing more than a zealous activists trying to speak for their nation.
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Emilie
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sorry, that was supposed to say ‘you couldn’t possibly be able to judge the group.’
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Emilie
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If a reservation is a dangerous place, then so are a lot of other places–cities, for instance. I agree that stereotyping and generalizing isn’t the way to go about talking about any group of people, including native americans. Unless you’ve met every single one of them, you couldn’t possibly be And why is it such a bad thing that they’re seceding? It’s sort of hypocritical for Americans to criticize any group for declaring independence, since the US sorta started that trend in oppressed peoples. I say, good for them, and good luck to them. But with those statistics, they’re going to need more than luck, I’d say.
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Chris Ostler
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I fully support the Lakota people in there decesion to leave the Union. It is long past overdue, the plight of the Native American is unforgiveable.
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jason winter
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I live between 3 reservations, 2 of them being Red Lake and Leech Lake…You dare not tread there at night…trust me, they are very dangerous places for white people at night, as well as for their own people because of thugs. Even the tribal council members are corrupt. For example, the tribal chairman of Leech Lake is nicknamed “chief snorting nose”. The drugs and drinking on these grounds is out of hand yet they blame the white people for it…So whose fault is it anyway really???? Every person has a choice as to how their life is and the Native Americans choose to live in hell on these reservations and blame the whites for everything that happens to them because of it. They don’t have to stay there and lead miserable lives, they can go get a job and a real life and quit whining and placing the blame on others because of their own faults.
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obidobi
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To jason winters,
I have visited reservations, and I was treated with nothing but kindness, with a little curiosity thrown into the mix. It concerns me that you generalize an entire group of people based on a limited worldview. I would be quite upset if I was lumped into a category that I might not believe in and then have no say in the categorization.
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jason winter
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I would alsolike to add that if you are white and if you were to go through their rez, chances are that if you were seen you would be harassed in some way or another, even though you have and had nothing to do with their problems…THEY HATE ALL WHITES REGARDLESS…
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jason winter
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Yes but who buys the alcohol and drugs for them??? Who can’t work because they have a disability that prevents them from working??? They are not going to prosper by becoming a nation, they will be exterminated at the first sign of hostility towards any outsider…They can’t take care of themselves now so how will they do it by segregating themselves, and they call whites racist???? They just want handouts from other countries and quite possibly the World Bank, so how do they propose to pay off those debts???
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John Smith
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Freedom!!
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magnus
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Your government is killing you get wrid of it ,go vote, let the world know via internet, give them the bad reputation they diserve by letting the world know, they may controle your press but they dont controle the internet.
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magnus
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I understand totally, who would not like to get out of this crazy union with coruption and selfishness that usa is made of.
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