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THE LAKOTA SIOUX: THE BRAVEST
AMERICANS
Kathryn A. Graham
27. December 2007
Black Elk ( © faculty.uml.edu )
CarolynBaker.net
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.
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