You’ve heard from me a few times already this year about the importance of coalition building to achieve a new level of effectiveness — not just in our own work, but in the work my Indigenous relatives are undertaking at tribal nations across Turtle Island. To that end, today I share with you about a trip I took to spend a few days earlier this month with people I greatly respect at the Wind River Reservation in so-called Wyoming.
The seventh largest reservation in the U.S., the Wind River Nation encompasses more than 2 million acres of incredible wildlands, and it’s home to people from both Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes. I went to visit a few friends there, including Wes Martel, who you may remember from his keynote speech at the Great Plains Water Alliance’s Winter Water and Climate Conference, featured in our 20th Dakota Water Wars chapter. I also spent time with Jason Baldes, a central figure helping to return American Buffalo to Wind River and other tribal nations. I encourage you to watch “Homecoming,” a short documentary on PBS, about his wonderful work.
Watch: Buffalo return to Wind River in “Homecoming,” a PBS short documentary featuring the voice and good work of Jason Baldes.
To you, the inextricable link between Native people and buffalo is likely no mystery. Jason speaks to this eloquently in the documentary.“To restore that animal to our communities means that we can begin to heal,” he says. “From atrocities of the past, from loss of land, from loss of culture, loss of language. It’s foundational to who we are.”
That’s just one example of good Indigenous storytelling emanating from Wind River. While there, I also discovered the great music of Christian Wallowing Bull, a talented Northern Arapaho singer-songwriter featured in the new documentary film “Lone Wolf,” which premiered in California a few days ago. I then spoke with Dave Herring, the film’s director. I hope that you’ll watch their film and be as inspired by Christian’s story as I was.
As you can see, we’re taking extra time this year to build connections with people, organizations, and tribal nations. In order to create a better society, it’s critical to advance not just our own priorities as Lakota People, but also those of all our relatives with their own traditional knowledge systems, art, and dreams. Between us, we’ve got much more in store to share with you. Stay tuned!
Wopila tanka — My continued thanks for supporting all Indigenous people, art, and culture. Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel The Lakota People’s Law Project
Lakota People’s Law Project 547 South 7th Street #149 Bismarck, ND 58504-5859
Greetings from Las Vegas, where I stopped to observe the mayhem of Super Bowl week. As my dad wrote to you a few days ago, we remain committed to changing the Kansas City Chiefs team name — and all racist characterizations of our people in the sports world. Also, I want to take a moment to say that because we are all human, and no matter how big our differences, I offer my sincere condolences to the Kansas City community in the wake of yet another instance of senseless gun violence. I pray for the day when we find better ways to listen to one another, discover common ground and understanding, and stop killing each other.
On a happier note, on my way to Vegas, I journeyed through some spectacular, sacred places. These included some of the Trail of the Ancients and traditional homelands of the Diné (Navajo) and Ute Peoples, including Monument Valley and Bears Ears National Monument — where something wonderful has occurred. I encourage you to watch my short video, recorded onsite, to hear about the recent gift of land back to Indigenous stewardship in Cottonwood Canyon.
Watch: I visited the sacred lands of the Ute and Diné Peoples to see Cottonwood Canyon and share with you about the importance of Landback efforts like the one in Cottonwood Canyon.
In many ways, the process undertaken with Cottonwood Canyon can serve as a model elsewhere across Turtle Island. A nonprofit organization bought available land and synched with a consortium of Native Peoples to preserve a beautiful place featuring rare views of spectacular rock formations and ancient dwelling sites. That’s something I dearly hope we can eventually replicate on a much larger scale with the Black Hills — but I’m also happy anytime we see the return of sacred lands to Indigenous care.
I’ll also say that the model isn’t perfect. Such transfers shouldn’t come with conditions. Isn’t the point of Native stewardship to respect our traditional knowledge systems regarding the land? So, while I appreciate the intent behind a condition of the transfer that will limit access to the site, I would also suggest that it shouldn’t be about eliminating human contact. Human beings should, in fact, have the opportunity to visit sacred places and relearn how to live in harmony with them, just as my relatives and ancestors have done for time immemorial. Even our allies can learn something here: please stop holding us to rules designed by colonizers.
In any case, a win is a win! Ultimately this gift will ensure that a special place displaying the ingenuity of our relatives’ ancestors and the vistas they loved will remain unspoiled for generations to come. And for that, I am truly grateful.
Wopila tanka — thank you for supporting landback efforts! Tokata Iron Eyes Spokesperson & Organizer The Lakota People’s Law Project
Lakota People’s Law Project 547 South 7th Street #149 Bismarck, ND 58504-5859
The Lakota People’s Law Project is part of the Romero Institute, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) law and policy center. All donations are tax-deductible.
PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 25 – As light from the morning sun began to fill the city of Portland, a group of over 100 community members gathered together on the steps of the Lovejoy Fountain Park in downtown Portland. Traditional Palestinian Keffiyehs, now a symbol for Palestinian freedom, shielded the faces of some attendees and kept them warm in the dreary weather.
The smell of sage wafted through the air leading community members to the Indigenous-led sunrise ceremony in solidarity with Palestine, as Lummi Nation citizen, Nic Niggemeyer, shared a hand drum song with the crowd.
As the clock ticked closer to 9:30 am, attendees lined up inside a City of Portland Building for the Jan. 24 Portland City Council meeting. Dozens streamed into the meeting room. Four people who signed up ahead of time, delivered remarks to city commissioners and asked them to pass a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Mayor Ted Wheeler was not in attendance, as he had a “conflict for the early part of the meeting,” according to commissioner Mingus Mapps, who presided over the meeting.
Each speaker stood in front of the council members and used their three minutes to speak about the injustices they believe are happening in Palestine and the complacency of the U.S. government and the city of Portland in the genocide of Palestinians. Members in the crowd stood up holding signs reading, “No ceasefire, no votes,” and, “Free Palestine.”
One attendee at the Jan. 24 Portland city council meeting held a sign that reads, “U.S. [money] killed another child since you started reading this. Ceasefire now.” (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
“I am here to emphasize that this global issue has deep, local repercussions and requires you to take action,” said Alexandria Saleem, a Palestinian American woman who spoke to the council. She shared that 19 members of her family have been killed in Palestine by Israeli airstrikes. “I am testifying today to urge you to support an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the entry of urgent humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
After the first four speakers, Portland commissioners moved on with little acknowledgement of the demands for a ceasefire. Attendees quickly erupted into chants of, “What about Palestine?,” “Acknowledge us,” “Blood on your hands,” and, “How many more children?” Dozens more spilled out of the room, down the hall and in the main entrance of the building holding signs and demanding a ceasefire.
The protest caused the commissioners to take a recess. None responded to the demands of their constituents.
Two individuals hold up a piece of cardboard with signs on the front and back. One reads, “End all U.S. aid to Israel now.” (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
‘Their struggle is our struggle’
Protests like these have been consistent across the globe following the Israeli besiege and bombardment of the Gaza strip after a Palestinian resistance group called, Hamas, attacked Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. From organizing marches, to using social media to spread information, to paddling in traditional Nisqually canoes to block docked military ships, Indigenous organizers from across Turtle Island have been actively speaking up and speaking out against what they all agree is a genocide currently taking place in Gaza.
“I want to be loud,” said Colleta Macy, a Warm Springs artist and activist. “I want to be radical. I want to shut it down.”
During the first week of December, Macy, a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, says she organized the first march in Warm Springs history to show support and solidarity for another country. Around 40 community members joined in as they marched to the Deschutes River to sing songs and offer prayers for Palestine.
One week later, she organized another protest in the neighboring town of Madras. On the last day of 2023, she joined hundreds of protestors while wearing her jingle dress, dancing and offering prayers for Palestine while they shut down the Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland. Last week, Macy and her daughter were invited to attend the “March in DC for Palestine,” where thousands gathered at the country’s capital to demand an end to the Israeli military action in Gaza.
On Jan. 24, Macy and members of her family joined the sunrise ceremony, offering a hand drum song, before the crowd marched to attend the Portland City Council meeting, calling for a ceasefire. Macy says as an Indigenous woman she has a responsibility to stand in solidarity with her Palestinian relatives.
Colleta Macy, citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, is an artist and activist who uses her platform to educate her community about what she calls an ongoing genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza. “Their struggle is our struggle,” Macy said. “It’s just history repeating itself. We can’t have what happened to us happen to them.” (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
Indigenous nations of Turtle Island have been dealing with colonization for over five centuries, and because of this Macy says all Indigenous people need to be standing in solidarity and demanding an end to the genocide that is being publicized for the world to see.
“Seeing that same resilience, that same strength as our people – it’s powerful,” Macy said, in reference to the resistance of Palestinian people. “It reminds me of our warriors, back centuries ago, who would dance in prayer before they would go out and face the cavalry.”
Over a century of Palestinian resistance
Most people think the conflict started on Oct. 7, but in reality the Palestinian story is more than 100 years old. The fight for Palestinian sovereignty came to a head with the passage of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which the United Kingdom expressed sympathy with the Zionist movement and support of Palestine becoming a “national home for the Jewish people.”
What follows has been over a hundred years of occupation, oppression and struggle for Palestinian sovereignty. Millions of Palestinians have been displaced and now live as refugees all over the world because of the violence of the occupation.
On May 15 every year, Palestinians around the world remember “Al Nakba,” which translates to “the catastrophe.” This is a reference to the Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people from 531 villages encompassing 78 percent of Palestine for settler occupation. This catastrophe is especially marked with memory of the many massacres by Zionist militias and attempted destruction of Palestinian society in 1948 when the State of Israel came into being.
Attendees were overtaken with emotions as one speaker, an expecting mother, shared statistics about infant and other deaths at the hands of the Israeli military. (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
Today, one of the few areas Palestinians have been relocated to is the Gaza strip, a portion of land roughly the size of the city of Las Vegas that is fenced in to control the movement of people and goods coming in and out of Gaza. Two-thirds of Palestinians before Oct. 7 were living in poverty.
“In reality, the Palestinian question…started in 1897, by the establishment of the Zionist movement,” said Michel Shehadeh, Palestinian writer and activist.
The goal of the Zionist movement claimed to be to secure a Jewish national home after the First World War — which they claim is Jersulem. However, in establishing Israel, the movement has displaced millions of Indigenous Palestinian people, who have lived in that region for millennia. Zionism has since come under scrutiny as a political ideology and settler colonial movement that has established an apartheid state.
The Reagan administration attempted to use the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 out of fear of a “communist infiltration” to deport Shehadeh. After a 20 year long legal battle that would bring their case to every level of federal court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appeals court decision declared the act unconstitutional in 2007 and they were allowed to stay in the U.S.. The group became known as the L.A. Eight.
Three years after the 2007 decision, Shehadeh and the other seven were allowed to apply for citizenship. Shehadeh went on to get married and started a family, raising two sons, in central Oregon. Today, he is retired but continues to speak out about the ongoing genocide in his homelands.
“Eighty percent of Gaza is destroyed,” said Shehadeh. “No schools, no hospitals, no infrastructure, no electricity, no water.”
Nearly 200 Palestinians are killed each day, according to Reuters. The death toll from Israeli air strikes has risen to 25,900. At least 11,500 of them were children and 7,300 were women. Thousands more are still unaccounted for, suspected to be under the rubble. Because of the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza, more than half a million people are also facing catastrophic hunger conditions in Gaza. According to the United Nations, no one is safe from starvation. The Israeli civilian death toll since Oct. 7 remains at 1,139.
“Basically, what they’re trying to do is ethnically cleanse Gaza,” Shehadeh said.
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‘We fight for whoever’s land that we are currently on’
Shehadeh also pointed to the long history of allyship between the Indigenous people of Turtle Island and Palestinian people. For him, this is rooted in both living through and resisting genocide and colonization.
“What they’re trying to do is exactly what happened to the Native Americans,” Shehadeh said. “They took the land and want to put the Palestinians in reservations and with time, ethnically cleanse the Palestinians.”
Shedadeh also sees parallels in the biased erasure and stereotyping of the Indigenous people of Turtle Island, and those Indigenous to Palestine in the media and popular films.
Shehadeh remembers watching Western movies growing up. In those movies, Indigenous people were vilified, creating an image of the “evil,” “savage” Native American person, free of any sense of humanity, as if to try and justify genocide. He says this intentional imagery is similar to the picture painted of Palestinians, particularly by mainstream media today equating all Palestinians with terrorism.
“They are vilifying the Palestinian people and dehumanizing them, so it becomes easier for the American public and the west in general, to accept killing [our] people,” Shehadeh said.
A small red pick up truck flew both a Palestinian flag and a Land Back flag with a sign on the back that reads, “No more colonial genocide.” (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
For both him and Krystal Two Bulls, executive director of Honor the Earth, this genocide is hauntingly similar to the one that colonial settlers brought upon Indigenous people across Turtle Island starting in 1492.
The same U.S. government that killed millions of Indigenous people to create what is now the United States for European settlers to occupy is providing money, weapons and diplomatic support to Israel to do the same to Palestinians. Shehadeh says that the U.S. government is enabling Israel in the genocide of Palestinian people.
Because of the similar history, Shehadeh and Two Bulls, Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne, encourage Indigenous and Palestinian people to stand together in solidarity.
Indigenous Nations and organizations issue calls for a ceasefire
That solidarity can be seen all across Native country, in national Indigenous organizations and Native Nations. Showing solidarity has meant an urgency to release public calls for support of Palestinians and a ceasefire in Gaza. For many, this also means calling out the United States government for the role it plays in what they believe is a genocide.
“Settler colonialism is at the root of the violence in Gaza,” the statement said.
“A ceasefire, an end to the U.S. funding Israel’s military, and true Palestinian land rights and liberation are the path to peace.”
Over 100 community members from Portland and neighboring cities gathered at Lovejoy Fountain Park in downtown Portland for an Indigenous-led sunrise ceremony in solidarity with Palestine. (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to decolonization, made four specific demands. First, a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Second, to allow lifesaving food, fuel and water into Gaza to support Palestinian people. Third, the deployment of refugee and recovery support. And finally, an end to U.S. aid to Israel in the form of money for weapons and military efforts. Over 100 days later, none of those demands have been met and NDN Collective continues to advocate for Palestinian people.
Across Turtle Island, a few Native Nations have also issued public statements calling for a ceasefire. On Nov. 9, Yurok Tribal Council issued one such statement.
“We have endured mass violence, displacement and attempted genocide,” the statement said. “The trauma caused by these devastating events continues to reverberate through our community. For these reasons, we are calling for a swift and equitable end to the conflict.”
A few days later, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe in California issued a similar statement. The statement, released on Nov. 12, positions the nation as standing against the Israeli occupation and invasion of Palestine. The statement points to similar genocidal tactics used by the U.S. government against the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
Last month, the Oceti Sakowin Treaty Council passed a resolution. The treaty council represents all 49 tribes within the Oceti Sakowin, according to a press release about the resolution.
“In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act as a means of claiming and expanding U.S. territory by violently removing Native Peoples from our homelands to territories not our own,” the resolution says. “This act was designed to cut relationships Native Peoples had with the land by removing us, keeping us in prisoner of war camps, destroying our homes, our medicines, our crops, our livestock, and killing any who resisted. On the other side of the world, our Palestinian Relatives in Gaza are resisting similar violence and conditions, albeit under a different timeline of settler colonization…the Oceti Sakowin Treaty Council stands in full solidarity with our Palestinian relatives and full liberation of their homeland.”
Attendees had posters, banners and tapestries all referencing Palestine and the demand for a ceasefire. Two individuals hold a black flag that reads, “No ceasefire, No votes.” (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
In the Southwest, President Buu Nygren of the Navajo Nation promised to issue a call for a ceasefire in Gaza in coming weeks, according to an article in the Navajo Times in December. No such call has been released to the public since.
Two Bulls said she hopes other Native Nations call for a ceasefire and for the U.S. government to withdraw military aid from Israel.
“[The U.S. government] always tells us that there’s no funding, and yet we can write checks to Israel to kill other people and do exactly what they did to us,” said Two Bulls. “So it’s actually really foolish of us to think that this doesn’t impact us and that it’s not our fight.”
Calling on Portland city council
As Indigenous people call for Native Nations to issue a ceasefire, there is a movement by community members in Portland demanding the Portland city council do the same. Attendees at the Jan. 24 city council meeting called for Portland to join over 40 other cities across the United States who have passed resolutions in support of a ceasefire.
Nearly five dozen community members attended the Portland city council meeting, on Jan 24. Four different individuals addressed the council, claiming the council is complacent in what they believe is an ongoing genocide in Palestine. They demanded the commissioners pass a resolution for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)
Though city council members didn’t respond to the demands of attendees during that meeting, organizers were not deterred. The crowd marched back to the steps of Lovejoy Fountain Park, taking to the streets despite the heavy downpour of rain, speakers continued to talk about the importance of this fight and standing in solidarity with Palestine.
“We call Palestine the tip of the spear because once they are liberated, all Indigenous people will be liberated,” Macy said to the crowd gathered at Lovejoy Fountain Park. “All oppressed people will be liberated. We are all Palestine. We are all Gaza.”
Global Warming: a very passive title to address a very lethal problem. Example: It is getting a little warm outside, nothing to worry about.
Climate Change: a perfect setup to generate perfect rebukes. Example: The climate is always changing. climate is just doing what climate has always done and human activity has nothing to do with it.
Climate Crisis: a very selective term. It is only a crisis for the people immediately affected. Also falls into the maligned category of ¨alarmist¨
The term I adopted: Climate Alteration: A very pointed terminology to address the impact human activity is having on the global climate. Our activities are altering climate systems on a global scale causing extreme weather events. Yes, temperatures on average across the globe are rising and this disturbance is causing extreme temperatures (hot and cold) extreme drought, extreme flooding, and extreme storms. The rise in global temperature has upset the balance. This alteration has been building up slowly as the oceans absorbed most of the extra heat. But now, plain to see for everyone paying attention to weather-related news or looking out their own windows, extreme weather is pushing organisms and plants to extinction. Our crops are being destroyed. The range of many insects, birds, and animals has shifted. Here on this thread are the thousands of articles, references, and comments that illustrate Climate Alteration. We have documented how some are being innovative in developing mitigation strategies. Some are also being manipulative and stupid and we are intelligent enough to research and decide for our communities what we need to do if our governments do not act.
As animals and plants are forced to shift their range because of extremes in weather, so do people.
By now, you’re likely well aware of the climate crisis and its significant dangers to Indigenous communities the world over. The problem is especially magnified on islands and in coastal regions, where sea level rise can wipe away traditional homelands and make climate refugees of those who have been displaced. That’s true even right here on Turtle Island, where hundreds of Native communities — in South Dakota, Alaska, Florida, Hawai’i, Washington, and Louisiana — face existential threats.
And now, the first community to supposedly be moved from harm’s way — the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation — is facing a new set of problems. Just before the new year, the tribe filed a landmark civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) against the state of Louisiana. In 2016, HUD granted Louisiana $48 million in aid to resettle the tribe. But, its complaint asserts, Louisiana failed to properly implement the grant and has ethnically and racially discriminated, violated tribal sovereignty, excluded cultural components central to a proper relocation program, and provided poor replacement housing.
The Jean Charles Chactaw Nation has always lived here, on the Isle de Jean Charles. The climate crisis and resultant rising sea levels have endangered the tribe’s homeland and forced many members to move to inadequate replacement housing in a new location. Photo credit: Chantel Comerdelle.
The Jean Charles Choctaw Nation has resided on the Isle de Jean Charles for five generations, since the ancestors of its citizens escaped the Trail of Tears in the early 1830s amid President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act. Its homelands and burial grounds are located in a region facing perpetual devastation and erosion by storms and sea level rise. Since 1955, the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation has lost over 98 percent of its lands to the encroaching ocean.
It’s also worth noting that the tribe is located in Terrebonne Parish, a region notorious for oil extraction, high pollution rates, and environmental justice violations. The Parish and over 90 percent of its property are largely controlled by non-local fossil fuel and chemical companies. The infamous “Cancer Alley” is just upstream.
Watch this short documentary detailing the tribe’s relocation.
By filing its complaint with HUD, the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation is looking to the federal agency to investigate the grant-funded resettlement program, currently run by Louisiana’s Office of Community Development (OCD). The tribe hopes HUD will order OCD to respect tribal needs and authority as the program’s implementation proceeds.
The lawsuit is also significant in that, while the tribe has state recognition from Louisiana, it does not have federal recognition, which would extend access to more grants, disaster assistance, and various legal powers — including constitutional protections and self-governance recognized by the United States. Lakota Law will keep an eye on this case and report back to you. As always, we’re grateful to you for standing in solidarity with every community of color on the frontlines of environmental justice.
Wopila tanka — thank you for your unwavering dedication! Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel The Lakota People’s Law Project
Oyate watch party at Noon Pacific Time on January 20th
I’m looking forward to a new year working together for Native sovereignty and justice with you. It’s appropriate that our first 2024 event is gathering to watch a crucial film contextualizing the movement to stop the Dakota Access pipeline. You may have heard that we’ve joined with local Santa Cruz groups and the filmmakers of “Oyate” to host our in-person screening at UC Santa Cruz on Jan. 20 at noon PST, which will also be streamed online in real time!
To quickly update you, my daughter Tokata and I will present at the event, joined by the film’s producer/director and the two other producers. Please note that the event’s venue has been moved to the Merrill Center on the UC Santa Cruz campus, and we’ll stream all the festivities from there.
We’ll send you reminders with the link for your party to join our livestream. Look out for those the day before and on the morning of this very special event, Jan. 20!
“Oyate” elevates the voices of Indigenous activists, organizers, and politicians, offering our perspectives on our complicated history and present-day circumstances and illuminating the interconnectivity among the issues facing Indigenous People today. It features excellent music, tells some of our personal stories, and delves deeply into our movement for Native and environmental justice.
In the ongoing spirit of wopila — a meaningful acknowledgment of our gratitude and a desire to share the best of ourselves with you — we offer this opportunity to come together, watch, learn, and move forward with purpose. We thank UCSC, the American Indian Resource Center, and the Resource Center for Nonviolence for making this event possible, and we hope you’ll join us on Jan. 20!
Wopila tanka — thank you for your support and attention! Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel The Lakota People’s Law Project
I did not even imagine that my trip to Standing Rock, North Dakota from Sacramento, California with a banner signed by members of the elementary school would end up on the front of the guard shack at the main entrance to the camp.
It is a story.
After watching the news of attacks on peaceful protestors and reading about the oil pipeline being rapidly approved, I felt that I must act. I designed a banner, had it printed, and scheduled a signing party at the elementary school where I taught. Everyone at William Land Elementary placed their signatures on the banner during the event on November 17, 2016.
When I arrived in Bismark, I had one mission. I needed to deliver the banner to the tribe.
I was in contact with a woman on Facebook who said she had a friend who was on her way to Standing Rock. This friend, her name was Katie, was going to meet me at the hotel but was delayed. I met her instead at the main gate in Standing Rock. I witnessed the live feed of a major action against the water protectors the night before.
Katie (not her name) had a friend (Billy) come with us to pick up supplies from the Walmart in Bismarck. I found the guy to be very untrustworthy – he shoplifted a hat in Walmart. He did not seem to have the spirit of a person participating in prayer vigils or protest of an oil pipeline. I found Katie to also be very suspect. I thought they might be agents of some sort. I found out on our drive into town that they had already been in Standing Rock and had been involved in the action the night before. They were still coughing from the tear gas.
We delivered the supplies to the various tents at camp: medical, food, and school.
On the third day at Standing Rock, I was able to formally present the banner to the tribal chief. I had purchased tobacco in Bismarck to give as a gift first. Then I handed the chief the banner and asked him to accept it from all the signatories in Sacramento. He accepted it and told me that I had permission to hang it at the front gate. There were hundreds of banners from around the world and around the country in the camp. Each had to get permission from the tribal council to be hung. I was very lucky to get to hang ours on the front gate near the main entrance. In the video it is fleetingly visible, the third banner to the left of the large EnbridgeLies banner.
Unknown water protector, Katie, and Billy with the banner.Me and Katie with the banner.
I felt I was supposed to be there. None of the staff of my school had even heard about what was happening at Standing Rock. The mainstream media was not covering what was happening. Here I was, able to deliver a signed banner all the way from California to Bismarck, North Dakota!
I found out from Katie that Billy was kicked out of camp for not complying with camp rules.
On the day I left Standing Rock, I heard that people were told to evacuate the camp. I worried about the banner and I called and asked Katie to take it down and send it to the tribal offices on the reservation. She told me that she found two guys who would deliver it because she was on her way out of the camp also.
Katie sent me this photo. But instead of delivering the banner to the reservation, they hung it in front of the guard shack! I can only speculate that they put it there temporarily and that it would be taken to the reservation later. I did not know of the ritual burning of everything in the camp as it was evacuated. I left on the 28th.
So, by the time I got back to Sacramento, imagine my shock to see images of our school banner being burned up!
William Land Elementary School in Sacramento, California is forever part of history.
An iconic photo of Big Foot left frozen from the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee of a dead and frozen Big Foot. (Photo/Public Domain)
Opinion. Today marks the 133rd anniversary of the Massacre of Wounded Knee during the wintry week between Christmas and New Years back in 1890.
Nine days before the massacre that left hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children dead, an obscure weekly newspaper in South Dakota ran an editorial about the death of the Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull. In the opinion piece, L. Frank Baum, publisher of the Saturday Pioneer, wrote:
“The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled.”
Early in the morning on Dec. 29, 1890, across the state of South Dakota at Wounded Knee Creek, the Sioux, who were captured the previous afternoon by members of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment, were surrendering their weapons. A shot was fired. The Calvary proceeded to shoot unarmed and innocent Sioux elders, women, and children. While an accurate account will never be known, it is believed between 250 and 300 Sioux were massacred that day.
Snowfall was heavy that December week. The Sioux ancestors killed that day were left on the frigid wintery plains of the reservation before a burial party came to bury them in one mass grave.
After the mass killing of Natives, Baum picked up his poisonous pen again and wrote another editorial for his Saturday Pioneer newspaper. This time, he wrote:
“The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extirmination [sic] of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth. In this lies future safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past.”
Ten years later, Braum wrote a children’s book called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Yes, that one. It was eventually made into one of the most famous movies of all time. When I was a youth, my siblings and I would make popcorn and sit and watch the movie when it was broadcast yearly. As an adult, I discovered Baum’s hatred and poisonous racism towards Native Americans. Suffice it to say, I stopped watching the film.
Now, I realize Braum did not single-handedly cause the genocide of Native Americans. But, he contributed to it with his editorials and his calls for the extermination of Native people. His family later apologized for Baum’s racist editorials.
This is why history matters. If you know your history, you know your place in this world.
In recent weeks, the Republican presidential front-runner, former president Donald Trump, has stated in his stump speech that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.” There has been pushback that Trump borrowed the line from Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric in his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf, which set the principles behind Nazi Germany’s genocide of more than six million Jews.
Trump denies reading the book. I don’t doubt his claim because he is known for not being a reader. But I’m guessing that some of his speech writers and political advisers may have — and they certainly play a role in the words that come out of candidate Trump’s mouth.
I suspect most Americans don’t subscribe to the belief that immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country.
I also believe that most Americans would agree that racism has been a true poison in our country throughout the last two centuries, though it’s not something we’ve been able to eradicate.
That’s why it’s important we remember the Massacre of Wounded Knee, as well as the rhetoric and words used to justify it. Because it’s a potent reminder of what racism has led to in this country: the death of innocent Native people whose ancestors lived on this land since time immemorial.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen – We are all related.
About the Author: “Levi \”Calm Before the Storm\” Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net.”
Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net
Wounded Knee Massacre December 29, 1890
by Renee Michel 2020 Second Life Virtual Wounded Knee Memorial
I wanted to research more about Wounded Knee and how past events led to today’s events. I find that many do not grasp history; this causes many not to understand when people protest.
In this memorial, I centered on the physical space, a reconstruction of the massacre, and what led to it. In the surrounding area, I related many of the current issues facing First Nation people.
Some questions one might ask: How did Custer lose the Battle of Little Big Horn, and what did that loss have to do with what happened at Wounded Knee? How did the discovery of gold in the Black Hills affect the lives of the Lakota? How does the presence of natural resources and mineral deposits on reservation land affect First Nation people today? What are the lingering effects of the forced assimilation on native children in boarding schools? Where is the effort to find missing indigenous women?
We tend to focus on the victims of oppression, but I would challenge anyone to research the effects of being an oppressor. How has our government evolved over the decades from rationalizing the genocide of First Nation people to granting corporations the rights to destroy the environment today, to militarized police using pepper spray and rubber bullets on unarmed peaceful protestors, to mining companies deliberately contaminating drinking water? Is there any difference? If not, when will we stop this madness? When will we heal?
It is all connected, and nothing has fundamentally changed. The educational system is no help; the school textbooks relate how the people enjoyed life at California’s missions. There is no mention of the genocide of California tribes during the California Gold Rush.
The First Nation people are still here, but they are still holding on to their cultures, languages, and way of life. An excellent question to ask is, “Do you know whose land you live on?” We will need their knowledge of this land to deal with climate change.
Aliens. Extraterrestrials. Little green men and women. Call them what you want, and question if you will. In many Native cosmological traditions, we call them Star People — and many of us have been questioning for a long time. As it turns out, the U.S. government, too, has been looking into things, setting up what began as a secret program to study Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP) in 2007. In 2017, The New York Times published articles exposing the program’s existence, but some of those who worked inside it say there’s far more the public should know.
For many years, Daniel Sheehan, who co-founded the Romero Institute and the Lakota People’s Law Project, has been working to achieve government transparency around UAP. Now, at a time when misinformation runs rampant, the health of our democracy depends on trust in institutions more than ever — and yet the federal government continues to hide much of what it knows. That’s why the Romero Institute has founded the New Paradigm Institute (NPI), a project dedicated to exposing UAP truth. If you care about this issue, I urge you to take the New Paradigm Institute’s call to action and contact Congress today to demand full disclosure regarding UAP. You can also opt in to continue hearing from NPI going forward.
Watch: Romero Institute and NPI president Danny Sheehan discusses UAP disclosure.
I acknowledge that this message may seem tangential to our usual work to achieve Indigenous and environmental justice. But Uncle Sam has let Native nations down many times, and we Lakota understand better than most the importance of holding the federal government accountable. If we are ever to build trust, establishing proper governmental oversight and full transparency is important.
I’ll also say that Lakota Law exists in part to preserve our cultural heritage and share our traditional ways of understanding the universe. So in that spirit, I’ll tell you that many of our stories contain references to the Star People and interactions with the cosmos. One of our teachings says that we come to this plane of existence through the Big Dipper (or as we call it, Matȟó Thípila — Bear Lodge), and if we live well and honorably, our souls earn the right to return through that same portal at the end of our lives.
Another tells of when Matȟó, the bear, gave chase to a group of our people who had become lost. This particular bear was enormous, and there was no way the group could outrun its massive strides. They fell to their knees to pray for divine intervention. Hearing their desperate call, Tunkasila (Creator) came to their aid! He lifted the ground beneath the people higher and higher, rising them up on a precipice nearly a thousand feet in the air, just beyond even Matȟó’s impressive reach.
Before finally giving up, the great bear clawed at every edge in search of his human meal, creating vertical ridges along the sides of the newly formed mesa. And that’s how the earthbound Matȟó Thípila (known by colonizers as Devil’s Tower in Wyoming — the setting of Spielberg’s classic “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) came to be. And the lost ones? They couldn’t get down, so some say Tunkasila rescued them a second time, sending them to the heavens to live among the ancestors — and the Star People — as the Pleiades.
We look forward to sharing more of our traditional knowledge systems in the coming seasons. Meanwhile, my gratitude to you for reading, for considering our sister program’s effort to achieve government transparency, and especially for being an active participant in our mission to win justice.
Pilámayaye — thank you! Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel The Lakota People’s Law Project
P.S. To hear more from the New Paradigm Institute as it demands full disclosure around UAP, send your message to your reps asking for the creation of a governing body to achieve full transparency from the federal government.
Lakota People’s Law Project 547 South 7th Street #149 Bismarck, ND 58504-5859
I encourage you to purchase these accurate and beautiful maps. I had several in my classroom before I retired from teaching.
A story:
Outside my classroom, I had a very large wall used to display student work. My class was studying indigenous history and I had purchased a very large map showing all the tribal nations in the U.S. I hung the map on the wall along with recent artwork and reports my students had finished.
The next week was open house and many parents visited the school to view the classrooms. I noticed an elderly man sitting in a chair in front of the map. He appeared to be crying. I walked over and asked him if he was ok. He said that he was overcome with emotion to see this map with all of the tribes. He said he never thought anyone cared to do such research.
As a teacher, I went above and beyond the very limited curriculum. I made sure to add relevant materials, books, and maps to provide a more holistic and complete view of the world. My students did many independent research projects. These maps are very educational! Add them to your teaching materials and home.
When I retired I gave the maps to a student.
These are photos where you can see a few of the maps in the background.
“A lot of people from American society don’t understand our connection, our intergenerational connection, and how deep it runs within us to the land and the Earth,” Logan said.
Logan described a thanksgiving speech, or Ganö:nyök, that the Seneca recite to recognize the natural world around them.
“We start at the Earth and we go all the way up to the sky, to the creator, and it covers everything from the water, the plants, food, medicine, trees, birds, animals, everything in the natural environment,” Logan said. “If any one of those things goes away, eventually we will perish.”
Creating sustainable energy does not mitigate the problem. I used to get into these tremendous arguments with my father about progress. To summarize my stance: I used to take the bus because I did not have a car. I suffered through strange men groping me, people smoking, waiting in the rain for late busses, limiting my shopping because I could not carry a lot of stuff. It was sometimes unbearable. I was able to buy a car and at first, it was incredible. I had freedom! I had safety! It was convenient and I could go shopping in many places and load everything in the trunk!
But then one rainy day I drove by a crowded bus stop and realized all I had done was trade some problems for other problems. I now had a vehicle in which I had a traffic accident: someone ran into me and the car had to be repaired. I could get parking tickets so I always had to hunt around for parking space, and in some places, I had to pay for parking. I had insurance to pay, and I had to spend my Sundays washing the car. I had maintenance and car repairs. Instead of a monthly bus pass, I now had a car loan to pay off. I had a driver’s license to renew at the DMV. I had a yearly car registration to renew. I had to have a car inspection to get the registration renewed. I worried about someone trying to steal the car, so I bought an expensive car alarm system. Instead of being able to dose off when riding in the bus, I had to stay alert at all times when driving the car. I now got stuck in traffic jams on the freeway and ended up taking a longer time to get home from work than if I had taken the bus! When I added it up, I actually had more problems than when I rode the bus.
Energy is not created or destroyed – it just changes form.
I think this law applies to everything we do. There is no such thing as progress. We just change out one set of actions for another, one set of problems for another. We are not getting anywhere from where we started. We are making things worse.
We used to know how to make the things we needed, but now we are dependent on people and systems for everything.
We used to be able to drink water from the rivers and fish/hunt for our food. Now we use self-checkout at stores that sell us contaminated and processed unnutritious food.
We used to work in our fields growing the food from sun up to sundown. Now we sit in cars in traffic for hours to get to work and then back home so we can afford a gym membership to try and stay fit.
We used to sit on our front porches on hot summer evenings because we had no air conditioning and would talk to our neighbors to get the daily gossip. Now we are isolated in air-conditioned homes with security systems behind locked doors.
So, back to the article I cited. Little has changed in relation to the land and indigenous people. They have a pristine forest with old-growth trees. How are they able to still live there and the land has not been destroyed? – that is the big question.
We are clearly missing some knowledge. We come along and want to build a potentially polluting ¨Green¨ plant right next to their land because, you know, progress.
We live an unsustainable, nonregenerative lifestyle. That is why their forest is beautiful and all the other land is polluted, exploited, and dead.
![One attendee at the Jan. 24 Portland city council meeting held a sign that reads, “U.S. [money] killed another child since you started reading this. Ceasefire now.” (Photo by Jarrette Werk Underscore News/Report for America)](https://ictnews.org/.image/t_share/MjAzODg2OTM0NDc5NjExMzg3/_mg_9813.jpg)
Water is Life 