Posted on 09/29/2012 5:01:47 PM PDT by Makana
President Barack Obama has an unexpected foreign policy problem – in the Western United States. The Lakota Sioux nation has seceded from the United States, according to a story on the anti-American website La Voz de Aztlan.
“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 Native American radical leader Russell Means said. The move potentially impacts the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
He(Means) has continued his push for Sioux independence in the decades since. The Lakota declared independence in 2007, as well, with Means proclaiming: “United States colonial rule is at its end!”
This time, Means detailed reasons for the secession including a long list of problems facing the Lakota, such as unemployment, healthcare and life expectancy as well use of natural resources. In a rambling video, he also added a massive number of reasons for why his new nation would be both strong and lawful – talking about everything from credit card companies to global warming as problems they aim to escape
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Before that, most of the tribal elders believed they came from what is now the James River Valley in Virginia. Others thought it was from the Finger Lakes Region of New York. In any case, the Sioux were one of the tribes doing the pushing of weaker tribes west. And our tribe suffered the same fate at the hands of the Chippewa who pushed us out of northern Minnesota as they were displaced from what is now Michigan, Wisconsin and southwestern Ontario.
Interesting stuff. Many of the tribal divisions are purely arbitrary and partly white man's invention. A good friend of mine who is Navajo tells me that they are basically the same people as the Apache-- both tribes which originally moved from the south into what is now northern New Mexico and Arizona to raid the smaller, weaker tribes which had settled that region.
The only difference is that the Navajo accepted territory and an agricultural/ranching lifestyle in return for ending their periodic raids and invasions whereas their Apache cousins clung to that lifestyle for an extra half century or so. Thus they were designated as separate tribes by the white man, not by the Native people themselves. Our Navajo friend, who is well educated, even laughs at the term "Native people" as they expect they invaded what is now the southwestern United States from what is now Mexico some centuries before to escape the cruelties of the Aztec. The idea that they are somehow supposed to feel guilty about what America has supposedly done to Latin America is lost on them for this reason.
Not so different from the Normans (originally from Norway), Saxons (supposedly native to England but originally from Germany) and Norwegians who all fought for the English throne in that pivotal autumn of 1066.
Since we (the Sioux) are close linguistic cousins to the the Mandan and the Mandan are better historians, my personal belief is that the Mandan followed a southerly route along the river valleys into the Dakotas whereas the Sioux followed a more northerly route via the Great Lakes.
It is not clear from the traditions of either tribe how long this migration took, but it is generally believed to have been compressed within a century, two centuries at the most.
By following the rivers of a region well suited to agriculture, the Mandan naturally took to agriculture just as the Sioux took to fishing and hunting by following a route through more northerly regions adapted to that lifestyle.
Before that, most of the tribal elders believed they came from what is now the James River Valley in Virginia.
That rings a bell, it's what I'd read but I could not recall the river.
Mandan earth lodges did resemble earth lodges of the southeast.
I have driven through the Ft. Belknap Reservation in Montana a couple of times. It's a sorry, lonely place from what I saw.
It is probably no small coincidence that the Powhatan were the fiercest, meanest tribe on the east coast when the Jamestown colony arrived. It also helps explain how the white man encountered weaker and weaker resistance as he pushed us further west.
That's why I tend to go with the Mandan majority tribal elder theory of origin in the James River Valley, though I don't discount the possibility that they made a detour to the Ohio Valley by way of New York's Finger Lakes Region. There are just too many Siouxian legends about the "land of many waters" which could just as easily describe western New York as it does northern Minnesota.
The Indian Reservation land should be divided up among the current residents. They would then be considered regular Americans, pay taxes on their land, no special treatment. In many cases they would be wealthy. This is long overdue.
IIRC, I read in the autobiography of Blackhawk that the Sioux lived west of the Mississippi. He said that during the Blackhawk War (1857?), the escaping Sauk and Fox were slaughtered by the Sioux as soon as they made it over to the other side of the river. I think there was a foot note that said they lived in parts of Iowa too.
A friend of mine grew up on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. She compared it to the inner-urban projects; once you are in, it's extremely hard to get out. She said the schools are a big joke, so the few kids who do go to college have a hard time of it. The adults are mostly dependent upon the government handouts and the wages that they get working in the tribal casinos. Many of the tribal elders and police are corrupt. I heard a good quote that describes this a few days ago, "They aren't for sale, but you can rent one."
Thanks for the food for thought.
While I presently live in a comparatively prosperous part of NC, I grew up Down East, one of the most ignorant, poor, and downright primitive parts of the South you’ll ever see. The horrible living conditions, poverty and corruption I’ve seen all around the country made me feel right at home. That includes Indian reservations, rural Latin America, and parts of New York City I’d rather not return to.
Always came away feeling so sorry for all those people...and newly determined not to return to such a place, myself.
Texas should be next.
You are probably familiar with it, but for those who aren’t, this is a truly great book.
http://www.troynovant.com/Franson/Keeley/War-Before-Civilization.html
“Indigenous peoples” were not only not more peaceful than their “civilized” conquerors, they were far more lethal.
I’ve always wondered what moderns think would happen when one of their “peaceful primitive societies” came into contact with a warlike primitive society.
Luckily, we don’t have to speculate. It ain’t pretty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriori_people
I have for some time been struggling with an idea, which unfortunately is presently winning. :)
The Lakota and all other nomadic “horse Indians” were by definition absolutely dirt poor when they were banging around the Plains. Nomads by definition don’t and can’t have much “stuff.”
Yet they were free and proud. The men took pride in their defense of their tribe, attacks on their enemies, and hunting to provide food for their people. The women were proud of their support to the men and raising of children.
When they were moved onto reservations, by any rational standard their life became materially richer. They certainly had a great deal more “stuff.” Yet anybody who looks at what happens recognizes a profound demoralization. While they were materially much richer, spiritually they were disintegrating.
Seems to me there are parallels here to the experiences of blacks on plantations as slaves and then as absolutely dirt-poor sharecroppers maintaining their pride and self-respect, but disintegrating morally and spiritually on welfare. Same with white Appalachians.
Seems to me we internalize a lot of our self-worth based on how others see us. Modern society is almost entirely based on economics. As more and more people in our society lose any real economic role, their personal sense of self-worth appears to deteriorate proportionally.
IOW, each year a larger part of our society is in a very real sense economically parasistic. If it were to disappear overnight, it would only improve the economy. This seems to me to produce a profound demoralization in those so marginalized, with resultant crime, drug use, etc.
As I said, I’m struggling with these ideas. Would appreciate input.
Can ya blame ‘em? Everybody wants out now. 0bama Nation sucks.
Yeah,IIRC that book first introduced me to the SW tribes’ peaceful habit of slaughtering people and eating the marrow from their bones.
Scary stuff, when one considers it carefully!
The last time I visited Mesa Verde NP the exhibits and interpretation were in the full flush of the revisionist reaction to the original and perfectly logical assumption that the cliff dwellings were defensive in nature. Lots of idiotic claims that they were some sort of passive solar installations and such. And how could the peaceful Anasazi possibly have any need for defense?
Since then they have found definitive proof of cannibalism, and quite possibly of cultural influence from the south (Mexico) leading to torture, human sacrifice in addition.
Hey, if some of the neighbors started going in for Aztec-type practices, I’d move up on a cliff myself!
1837
I guess he meant it this time . I mean REALLY meant it as he now lies in the great buffalo hunting grounds in the sky.
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