Posted on 12/20/2007 5:36:13 AM PST by Sopater
WASHINGTON — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.
"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,'' long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means said.
A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the U.S., some of them more than 150 years old.
The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.
Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said.
The treaties signed with the U.S. were merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The Lakota had no treaty with the Kiowa, it was an act of conquest.
However, the US Government promised the Lakota the Black Hills to the Lakota "until the sun no longer rises in the east" as part of a treaty of peace with the Lakota.
The ink was barely dry when gold was discovered in the Black Hills and troops sent there to keep the peace did not uphold the treaty, but defended those who were in violation of the treaty on land sacred to the Lakota. That violation has been ongoing, and Kevin Costner has (had) a casino in Deadwood while the Lakota are in the badlands and scrub of Pine Ridge.
Also Trails and Grasslands.org Pine Ridge Reservation. WHile I am in agreement that the US has reneged its ttreaty obligations to the Lakota and almost from day one, I am at a loss to postulate adequate compensation for that violation.
I seriously doubt that, given the state of affairs on many Reservations, a disbursal of money which will get caught in the swirl of tribal politics will do a great deal to alleviate the problems of more than a few residents. Overall, nothing will be substantially improved in a lasting way. What is broken is deeper than that, and the Lakota, individually, and as a people have to find their solution to their problems. You cannot give someone a functional lifestyle any more than you can give them an education. They have to grasp those and want them enough to get them when the opportunity is presented.
Presenting opportunity to the unwanting or unwilling is often a waste of time and resources. Until the fomenters of racial bias stop doing their people the disservice of regarding education, a functional lifestyle, and financial success as "being white", as if it were wrong for the Lakota, or any other people to be successful in a different paradigm, there will be little improvement.
When the Lakota (and the rest of the Sioux) were kicked out of the lake country by other tribes, they acquired horses and became one of the most potent warrior tribes on the plains.
...and now? They whine like women and wait for scraps from the casino tables, when they could be arming themselves with an education and counting coup in the world of business, science, medicine, the arts, music, and literature. To their credit the warrior paradigm is still found in those who serve in the Military. For the others, instead of embracing a new opportunity to excel, they have decided to refuse it for being too "white"...unlike the horses brought here long ago by the white man.
No, Grant's Peace Policy was completely oriented toward assimilation. At the end of the Civil War the west was on fire. During the war troops had been withdrawn east to fight the South. The Indians took the opportunity to attack Whites. This led to retaliation by Whites which led to retaliation by Indians. Chivington's attack at Sand Creek ignited a two year rampage of murder and rape and theft that engulfed the Great Plains and the mountain west.
The country was tired of war, short of money and short of troops. Reconstruction and occupation of the South was the primary focus. Instead of trying to militarily defeat the Indians, Grant sent his "peace commanders" west and focused on a process of assimilation.
To do this he first had to stop the depredations. It was determined to assemble the tribes on areas exclusively reserved for them, temporarily support them and teach them agriculture and trade. Against howls of protest he took authority away from the military and gave it to religious organizations. This was the impetuous for the Medicine Lodge Treaty et.al.
The Peace Policy was contentious from the beginning. Settlers continued to suffer raids and demanded military intervention. The Indians splintered, some honoring the treaties, some openly violating them and some taking advantage of the sanctuaries they offered to raid, rape and murder and then retreat into peaceful populations. The reservations were often underfunded and much of what was available was stolen by the agents.
Several attempts were made to break the power of the tribes by treating Indians as individuals and these generally ended in disaster. Individual allotments were made of farm sized plots. Lack of promised farm impliments and support doomed most. Others were sold at rock bottom prices to fuel drunken sprees. There were few successes to point to.
The Peace Policy finally collapsed into open warfare. Most were already on reservations but those who were not were forced there by brute military power. With this change in emphasis from domestication to subjugation the attempts at assimilation seemed to lose direction and purpose. They fell into a long period of hopeless fatalism.
“Please tell me about what your great grandfather did to help himself to take control over his life. What was his experience? What time frame was he in?”
To make a long story short, he lived from around 1900 to 1975 and was a full blood Cherokee who was as independent as they come. He didn’t trust nor depend on the government for anything. His family also fought for the South during the Civil War.
In short, him and my Great Grandma (who died at 104 two years ago.) ran a successful General Store outside of Chattanooga, TN. They made quite a good living at it.
No, the State Department will surrender. The UN is probably already on board with Means.
Well what about a currency exchange?
They (the Native Americans) are over 100 tribes in the USA alone and include tribes from the outer islands as well as Alaska, and other indigenous peoples from around the world. go to www.redearth.org.
As soon as the welfare checks stop, this will end :-)
Doesn’t change my viewpoint, but thanks for sharing that.
I can tell your blond with brown roots.
My coffee cup named Muhammad is now named Crazy Horse.
Natural Brunett, I don’t need anything other than what I am. Youon the other hand...
are dismissed as the fool you so clearly are.
Merry christmas, best of luck to you, you need it!
The "something" that needs to be done is to finally do NOTHING. The government has obviously "helped" enough already. Treat Indians like productive American citizens and they, for the most part, will become that. There is nothing in Indian genetics that makes them drunks or dependent. It's the way the USG has treated them, guiltily treating them as outcasts and targets of self-loathing by Manhattan liberals who would trash America at cocktail parties held on "stolen" land rather than give Indians the dignity and respect they deserve.
Liberals love creating victims. Everyone is a victim of something, but conservatives decide to be victims of nothing.
Perhaps a better example would be Lesotho and South Africa.
Human physiologies differ widely. I suspect this is just a taste of what the decriminalization of other drugs could have on the larger society. Proponents of legalizing illegal drugs seem to think because they personally seem to handle whatever illicit drug, then everybody must be able to. As we see with the indians, alcohol has a very different effect on them than it does to say Europeans.
“There is nothing in Indian genetics that makes them drunks or dependent.”
While I agree with most of what you wrote, you need to know something about Indian genetics. Most native americans lack enzymes that detox alcohol from their system. This means they get intoxicated easily and stay that way for a long time. So, they are genetically predisposed to alcoholism. I believe they also have a problem with refined sugar. Diabetes is a major killer among native americans.
Sorry if this has already been posted, but if those states are no longer part of the country, doesn’t that give the Republicans control of the Senate?
Yes one side has reignited the war whether we choose to engage them in it or not.
Same as when Saddam Hussein restarted the Gulf War by breaking the 1991 treaties.
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