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WASHINGTON — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.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 ...
http://www.allblackhills.com/area_info/lakota_sioux.php
Currently approximately 60,000 Native Americans call South Dakota home. There are a total of nine (9) Tribal Governments. The most prominent of the various tribes in the area are the Lakota Sioux. North and South Dakota were named after these indigenous people. continue
Gather up the asphalt roads leading to the casinos...
They where allowed to live on this land as part of a treaty. If there is no longer a treaty then they are not entitled to the land.
“””More serious than it seems at first.”””
I believe you are correct. Probably will not reach critical mass until after the POTUS election.....unless someone makes it part of her platform.
Sorry, too late. Your 90 day return period has expired.
The only reason it hasn’t been successfully pursued, IMHO, is that there has been a passage of time, and the Lakota people had no resources to fight the political pressure the courts would be under if they ruled in favor of them.
In tribes in which there are casinos, such as in Minnesota, there is little if any, welfare paid, because the profits are distributed among the tribe members.
I knew a tribe member that was serving time in prison that was still earning his $30,000.00 per year as a tribe member.
The reservations without casinos suffer mightily and are extremely poverty stricken, having been left with no productive land on which to live.
While I agree there are some radical elements in the tribe, including Russell Means, before one criticizes the attitude, it would be good to see the living conditions on some of the reservations. Many people live in the run-down facilities, and there are no jobs for those who want them. There is a liquor store just across the line out of one reservation that supplies alcohol and thus promotes the rampant alcoholism. There are poor medical facilities and schools, and most of all, no hope for the future.
IMHO, the poverty on the Lakota lands is an issue that needs to be addressed — it is a difficult problem with no easy solutions, but it is a travesty how we allow this to exist.
It would be more helpful than any of you know to offer help to these tribes, in a spirit of friendship.
We should walk the red road together.
Excellent! Now warriors from the Navajo Nation -who are proud to be Americans -can invade them (swa-eet!).
Then greenbacks are no long legal tender in “your country”. So US dollars no good in the casinos, right?
OK. But not another dime of federal money, then.
Though when Mexicans try the same, it’s no longer that funny.
>>>>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.<<<
I bet this has a heavy influence on this move.
Having driven through Pine Ridge a number of times, I agree with your statement-that Res is a third world country..
Calling Ward Churchhill.
NO more us government welfare checks, education, job training or health care.
No Social Security either. That will save a bit.
Those darn casinos are teaching us the “noble indians” are just as greedy, money motivated, selfish, self centered, crooked, and troublesome as they accused us white guys of being all these years........
russell means is best friends with ward churchill.
I and a friend were driving through an area of North Dakota some years back coming back from a hunting trip when we found ourselves in the middle of trash all over the highway, junk thrown in the ditches, wind blown garbage everywhere, and then we drove by a dumping area totally overfilled with all kinds of trash. It woke me up. Nobody on the reservation cared about how they were treating “mother earth”.
“Ask Puerto Rico what they think of Al Sharpton’s protests, and the resulting loss of jobs and revenue.”
Yeah, he can ask me.
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