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WASHINGTON — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.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 ...
All the heated rhetoric aside, if this is indeed for real, it will be very interesting to see what happens when this reaches the Supreme Court, because the annullment of these treaties has all kinds of potential ramifications.
Have you really thought about this before speaking? Tell me how “we” can tax them if they are an independent country and the Casinos are on their land. Can we go up to Canada and tax their Casinos?
We should stop all federal largesse to ALL hostile nations, whether or not said nation is within our borders. IMHO
I hope you tell that to your Representatives in Washington.
I know they are considering giving illegals SS. Right now it is not happening because of the major press that was garnered during the amnesty due to people like yourself on FR. Hopefully it will stay that way.
Unless specifically exempted, Federal laws apply on the reservations.
Do you think they’ll let me in? Living like the Dakota did back when would be great.
Don't forget "No more rigging elections for US Senate."
(Tom Daschle, of course, is deeply saddened.)
Is it just me, or did this guy just tell all the Mexican illegals in the US that they're welcome to come live on the reservation?
Yes I have thought about it and Canada is a recognized country located in an area where we do not claim sovereignty. These idiots are located here.
It will never go to the SCOTUS. It does not ratify Treaties, which is up to the Legislative and Presidential branches of Government. Having abandoned all treaties, the Native American Nation is no longer bound by the constitution or protected by it, the territory of the SCOTUS. SCOTUS can only comment on the conformation of a treaty to our Constitution, they have no ability to enforce a treaty, or to force a treaty on any Nation.
Seriously folks, all of you who talk of sending in the Calvary and all that nonsense, are buying into a mindset that led to this predicament to begin with, and it implies a very derogatory, if not outright Racist attitude that the Native American Population is somehow less than that of the average American. What we have is a Palestine right here in America. Now, the question is: Are we going to treat with these people with the Honor and respect they DESERVE by the very definitions that make us Americans... that we say we up hold, that all men are created Equal, and treat with them as Equals? Or are we going to continue with the Bias that led to the uprooting and slaughter of thousands of innocents back in the days of Colonialism?
Don’t be fooled by the face this Movement is led by Means. He is a Native American, and now, like it or not - agree with it or not, he is one of the leaders of a Nation within our borders. As such has to be treated with respect regardless of his personal History. Regardless of the Resources the Native Americans have or don’t have, its time to treat with them with HONOR. That is something that has been completely lacking in both this discourse (I am ashamed at a vast majority of the posts I see in this thread, (you people are BETTER than that for God’s sake)), and in the discourse offered by the Federal Government in the 200 years it has had to deal officially with the American Indian Nation. What has been done to this indigenous people is both atrocious and it’s well past time to change it.
All that being said, yes I have a small amount of Native American in me, Seminole Indian, but not enough to call myself Native American I don’t think (1/16th), so I do not have a dog in this fight, other than to be appalled at the hypocrisy that I see in this thread and from the Federal Government. Honor, respect, hope for the future, hope for their culture and way of life, that’s what I see the Native Americans asking for, I think if they get it from the likes of us and from our government, they would be HAPPY to return to being and calling themselves Americans. That is just a guess, and likely a simplistic one I admit! Right now, given how they have been treated, discarded, ridiculed and shamed, I don’t blame them for wanting to throw off the mantle we have gifted them with in the name American. I dare say YOU , treated this way with all your family over generations would do the EXACT same, for the same reasons.
Either we believe in and LIVE BY the concept of “All men are created Equal” or we can expect to live by the consequences of NOT living by it. Right now we are seeing the consequences of NOT practicing, in reality, what we Preach. To ourselves, and to the world.
Good luck getting everyone to renounce their U.S. citizenship.
Well, I don’t think it’s ‘we’ who allow this situation to continue to exist.
I know of tribes which, because they are tribes, and need the approval of everyone in the tribe before they do anything, never get anything done. The money they get from their casinos sits in the banks in ordinary savings accounts drawing 1% interest, because they can never all agree on how to invest it.
Living ‘tribally’ means living ‘communally’, or in a socialist sort of ‘grand village’. Add just a dash of federal welfare to that—but not ever enough—and you will get extreme poverty and lack of industry as a result.
Break up the reservations, give every tribal member his own land, plus a cash settlement, and set the people free to be masters of their own destiny. (The Cherokee, who had this happen to them, are doing probably the best of any tribe in America—at least, before casinos arrived.)
Neither the Lakota nor any other people should be forced to be relegated to being exhibits in an ethnic exhibit for the sake of guilty white liberals.
Let me know what you find out, please. I’m curious.
“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.”
From the FowNews Story
If you were born in America, you are a native American.
Lay off the peyote.
I'm thinking though that if these treaties are no longer in effect, that there are eventually going to be all kinds of interesting legal issues that are going to arise.
Just as one possible example: what happens now if an American citizen who is wanted for a crime or is a sispected terrorist is granted asylum within the Lakota nation? The courts may have a lot to sort through in terms of what can and can't be done legally now.
That was my first thought, too. Something tells me the Little Big Horn will turn out a tad differently this time. LOL!
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