Raymond Yowell: A Courageous Indigenous Leader ( Rancher vs BLM )

Indian Country Today ^ | 3/7/12 | Peter d'Errico

[george76]

The Western Shoshone have been litigating the rights to their homeland since at least 1951

...

Raymond Yowell's land, from which BLM seized his cattle, is within the ancestral territories of the Western Shoshone Nation recognized in the 1863 Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed at Ruby Valley . The Western Shoshone have never ceded or relinquished their fundamental indigenous relationship to these territories. They continue to hunt, fish, gather, graze, and live on the lands in accordance with laws and instructions given to them by the Ah-Peh (Father).

In 1995, Mr. Yowell was Chief of the Western Shoshone National Council, the traditional government of the Western Shoshone Nation. Under his leadership, the Council decided to challenge claims by the U.S. and Nye County, Nevada, that they had title to Western Shoshone lands. This litigation was conducted jointly by the Western Shoshone National Council on behalf of the Nation, and by Chief Yowell as representative of the class of Shoshone persons who assert individual relationship to the lands.

[MeshugeMikey]

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Wow. That is creepy!

[MeshugeMikey]

The ever smiling coniving defender of HIS freedom.....and ...desert tortoises....

[Oatka]

From the article [my emphasis]:

"The U.S. has endeavored for years to extinguish the territorial integrity of the Western Shoshone Nation. Yowell's persistence in challenging this is a thorn in the side of the federal government. After the ICC decision, the U.S. offered money in exchange for Western Shoshone title. When they refused to accept the money, the U.S. took the extraordinary step of accepting it on their behalf, claiming to be their 'trustee.' "

The we have THIS

And yet we have the public wondering why people take up arms.