This week, the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative released the second volume of its investigative report. Its conservative estimate that at least 973 children died in federally operated Indian boarding schools sadly confirms what we in Native communities have known for decades. The legacy of these prison camps for children is generational trauma that may never fully heal. I know this is a difficult subject, but I invite you to read a recent article from USA Today, in which I offer more thoughts on this dark chapter of our shared history.
As a Lakota Law supporter, you’re likely well aware that Indian boarding and residential schools were noxious and dangerous places, designed to strip Native and First Nations children of their Indigenous identities, force them to work long hours, and assimilate them as good Christian subjects. (The report unfortunately does not include full statistics from the roughly 50 percent of domestic boarding schools formerly operated by religious institutions.)
Many of the young ones fortunate enough to make it home after their incarceration bore permanent scars — mental and/or physical — which often later manifested in a variety of ways, not least a common difficulty raising the next generations in traditional and loving homes. Anyone who grew up Indigenous on Turtle Island can tell you stories of the danger, abuse, and dehumanization either they or family members experienced in these “schools.”
That’s why, in 2021, on the heels of the revelation that 215 unmarked children’s graves had been discovered at the former Kamloops Indian Residential school located on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc land in so-called British Columbia, Lakota Law advocated for a reckoning in the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the nation’s first Native Cabinet secretary) quickly lept into action, launching the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to investigate, make public its findings, and provide recommendations for next steps.
Now the world knows what really happened. As I told USA Today, truth and reconciliation are not beyond our reach — and I’m grateful to see the United States begin to assist in providing paths to recovery. While we can’t go back in time and save the children who endured the terrors of the boarding school experience, we can move forward in a good way. Your solidarity, empathy, and generosity of spirit are always welcomed and valued as we forge ahead.
Wopila tanka — my gratitude for your support of our children. Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel Lakota People’s Law Project Sacred Defense Fund
Today, I write to you to share a little piece of joy. Summer is an important time of year in Lakota Country. Right now, many from the Oceti Sakowin and beyond — including my father, Chase — are reconnecting in a deeply meaningful way with their spiritual identities at the annual Sun Dance ceremony.
And about a month ago, I also felt the power of reconnection with our ancestors, homelands, and tradition of horseback riding at this year’s Memorial Crazy Horse Ride. I invite you to watch our new video, which features footage from the days-long event, background on its meaning, and an interview with Oglala Lakota organizer Kylie Richards Red Willow, a junior political science major and pre-law student at the University of Colorado.
Watch: I interviewed organizer Kylie Red Willow about this year’s Memorial Crazy Horse Ride.
By now, you’re most likely aware of Crazy Horse and his enduring legacy. We recently wrote to you about the battles of the Rosebud and Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn), both of which were won in part thanks to this legendary Ogala Lakota war leader. The annual ride pays tribute to him, the role he played in those and many more confrontations with the U.S. Army, and also our other warriors, many of whom honorably served in the U.S. military over the decades.
Native People, of course, have a complicated and bloody history with the U.S. government, but that hasn’t stopped us from answering the call to serve in large numbers to protect this land, particularly when faced with existential threats like Hitler’s fascism during World War II. You may recall that, at that time, 29 Navajo code talkers in the Marine Corps provided a key to victory in the Pacific.
Today, of course, we still face fascist threats — some right here in our own homelands. Whether it’s the architects of Project 2025 seeking to reinstall Donald Trump as their presidential puppet, or S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem, who recently, offensively invoked the Sun Dance to falsely connect Native communities with Mexican drug cartels, we still have plenty of terrible people to fight.
As you know, we’ll take on those battles, and we won’t stop in the pursuit of justice and equality. When we pray to and ride for our ancestors, who fought so hard so we could be here today, we’re always reminded they expect nothing less.
Wopila tanka — my gratitude, always, for your friendship! Tokata Iron Eyes Spokesperson & Organizer Lakota People’s Law Project
With a heavy heart, I report to you that, once again, American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier has been denied his freedom. On July 2 — despite the best efforts of a large coalition and so many who lobbied the U.S. Parole Commission to do the right thing by Leonard, behind bars since 1977 and our longest-standing political prisoner — it decided against his release.
That said, options remain — so we must keep the pressure on! We continue to ask the president to grant Leonard clemency and let this legendary justice defender live out his remaining years at home. As we have mentioned to you before, Leonard has serious health issues which the prison cannot properly handle. Time is running out. That’s why we hope you’ll send your message to the president and share this action today.
Understand that Leonard’s case is a classic miscarriage of justice. Leonard, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota and a Dakota, was a key member of AIM — which pushed back hard in the 1970s against violence in our communities perpetrated under the auspices of federal law enforcement. Thus, the government went after him hard and, despite a host of problems with his trial, he’s now serving two life sentences as a scapegoat.
Problems with his conviction include a lack of eyewitnesses, recanted testimony from other witnesses, and withheld ballistics evidence. The prosecuting attorney is now on record saying Leonard should be freed — and a host of other justice advocates, including Amnesty International and the Dalai Lama, agree.
Leonard’s freedom is an issue of Indigenous sovereignty, as embodied by a single man. A good human being has now spent nearly 50 years behind bars, essentially because he’s Native and once made for a convenient example. Enough is enough! Please send your message to President Biden. Ask him to do the right thing, show empathy to a misunderstood elder with a good heart, and grant clemency to Leonard Peltier.
Wopila tanka — thank you for showing your love and respect. 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
It has been a century since the imposition of American citizenship on Indigenous Nations marked a systemic threat to Tribal Nationhood and people. Since the signing of the Indian Citizenship Act on June 2, 1924, we’ve resisted the many waves of attempted erasure of Tribal sovereignty – legal and otherwise – designed to assimilate Indigenous identities into American citizenship.
Native Nations are not merely American citizens. The rights, privileges, and immunities granted by the U.S. Constitution are not the ultimate aspiration for Native people. Our treaties with the United States were made to uphold our status as sovereign nations, not subjects. Native people’s voluntary defense of the U.S. and its allies in World War I was used as a pretext to impose American citizenship, undermining Tribal sovereignty.
This week, we mark three of the many important anniversaries in our history: As Leonard Peltier nears 50 years in prison we demand his release by the June 10th parole board meeting. And we remember Leonard Crow Dog’s passing June 5, 2021, and the American Indian Movement (AIM) Mount Rushmore Action of June 6, 1971.
While it is good to pursue the rights that America considers inalienable, America will be lost unless it learns from the spiritual foundations of Native Nations and respects our sovereignty. We stand with all those who are willing to stand with Native Nations to defend our collective birthrights in these sacred lands and waters from the poison of corporations and government profiteering.
Free Leonard Peltier: No discussion of the American Indian Movement (AIM) can proceed without advocating for the release of Leonard Peltier, who has been illegally held captive as a political prisoner of the U.S.A. for nearly 50 years. Peltier is a victim of a corrupt FBI and anti-Indigenous Federal policies that caused numerous deaths and conflicts in the 1970s. Why have they not been held to account for this grave injustice? Why has no U.S. President or parole board, in 50 years, freed this man? Who are we if we live in a state of fear and terror of oppressive violent oligarchs?
Join us in calling for Leonard’s release by the Parole Board that meets on June 10th. It is imperative for restoring faith in justice and upholding human rights. Leonard deserves to spend his remaining years embraced by his community.
Remember Leonard Crow Dog: We honor the legacy of Chief of Chiefs Leonard Crow Dog, who passed on June 5, 2021. As a primary spiritual leader of the AIM, Crow Dog’s influence ensured the survival and pride of our traditional ways. His efforts helped establish a world of allies (Oceti Sakowin) and fortified the Native American Church. Crow Dog’s spiritual strength offers hope for humanity’s future against colonial violence.
Commemorating AIM’s Mount Rushmore Action: On June 6, 1971, AIM leaders, including Russell Means and Madonna Thunder Hawk, responded to Oglala Sioux elders’ call to assert Indigenous sovereignty over the sacred Black Hills. Guided by Leonard Crow Dog, they conducted a ceremony and climbed Mount Rushmore to reclaim their rights. Despite National Guard intervention and arrests, the charges were dismissed, culminating this powerful act of resistance and treaty defense.
In Solidarity, we express profound gratitude to all who stand with Indigenous sovereignty. Upholding Native sovereignty is essential to defending our collective rights to clean water, air, and a healthy climate. This is the Native way.
Wopila tanka — Thank you for your unwavering support. Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel The Lakota People’s Law Project
Next week, on June 10, Anishinaabe-Lakota elder Leonard Peltier has a scheduled parole hearing — his first since July 28, 2009, nearly 15 years ago. Several months ago, Leonard said that he hopes he makes it to this hearing. He’s 79, he’s been incarcerated since 1976 — almost a half-century — and his health continues to decline.
Please click above to write the parole board today!
Leonard was a leading member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) during a critical time in our history. In the 1970s, many Indian people began expressing pride in their identity. Then the “Reign of Terror” swept over the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, resulting in the unsolved murders of dozens of Oglala Lakota people and the siege of Wounded Knee by federal agents. In this environment, elders asked AIM for additional security assistance, and Leonard answered the call to help protect Oglala Lakota elders, women, and children.
In 1975, this led to another stand-off, a shooting incident during a violent and unwarranted FBI raid which resulted in the deaths of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Leonard was subsequently charged with nonsensical crimes, such as aiding and abetting “murderers” who even the day’s biased courts determined to have acted in self-defense. But the government needed a Native scapegoat, so Leonard was eventually falsely convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
We’ve been by Leonard’s side ever since. Since 1977, we’ve demanded his freedom. Evidence that exonerates him includes documents, proven to be illegal, used to secure his extradition from Canada, recanted witness testimony, and the court’s decision to exclude ballistics and other evidence surrounding the shooting, all of which prejudiced the process and prevented a fair trial.
The U.S. Parole Commission has held a number of hearings on Leonard’s case over the years, but it has always denied his parole on the grounds that he won’t accept criminal responsibility for killing Coler and Williams — murders he simply did not commit. That’s why it’s so important that we stand with Leonard, right now. It is now well beyond time for our elder to come home.
Chi-miigwetch, Lisa Bellanger Co-Director American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council Leech Lake Ojibwe Via the Lakota People’s Law Project
P.S. Please help flood the parole board with messages of support for Leonard. This is likely the last hearing he’ll have. Our treasured relative deserves to live out his remaining days free, happy, and vindicated. Recently, Leonard’s request for compassionate release was denied, leaving this as possibly his last, best chance of getting released. His team is planning his defense for the parole hearing next week, and in the meantime, he needs your support!
We’re Less than a Week Away from the 2024 Mid Year Convention & Marketplace
The National Congress of American Indians 2024 Mid Year Convention & Marketplace is less than a week away, and we are thrilled to welcome you to Cherokee, North Carolina! If you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time to join us for this impactful event at Harrah’s Cherokee Hotel & Casino Resort.At this year’s convention, attendees will have the opportunity to engage in key discussions and strategy sessions between Tribal Nations, Native organizations, federal agencies, and the Administration that will shape the future of Indian Country. Additionally, attendees will hear from an exceptional lineup of speakers sharing their insights and experiences on critical topics facing Tribal Nations. Key speakers will feature: Tom Vilsack, Secretary, U.S. Department of AgricultureLynn Malerba, Treasurer, U.S. Department of the Treasury Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the InteriorElizabeth Carr, Tribal Advisor to the Director, Office of Management and BudgetRoselyn Tso, Director, Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesHeidi Frechette, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Sallie Ann Keller, Chief Scientist & Associate Director of Research and Methodology Directorate, U.S. Census BureauRose Petoskey, Senior Advisor and Tribal Affairs Director, White House Office of Intergovernmental AffairsMorgan Rodman, Senior Policy Advisor for Native Affairs, White House Domestic Policy Council
Last Call to Register for the 2024 Mid Year Convention Golf Tournament
Join NCAI for the second annual Mid Year Convention Golf Tournament Fundraiser! Hosted at the Sequoyah National Golf Club, this exciting event will feature a 4-Person Team Scramble format with trophies and prizes up for grabs. Fuel up with breakfast, tee off with a shotgun start, and enjoy a boxed lunch before diving into a BBQ dinner. The course boasts 6,600 yards of championship play, offering immaculate greens, expansive practice areas, and a full-service golf shop overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains. Don’t miss out on an unforgettable day, and register now for an opportunity to connect at the Sequoyah National Golf Club.When: Sunday, June 2, 2024Where: Sequoyah National Golf ClubFormat: 4-Person Scramble
Empowering Native Youth: View the Full Youth Agenda
The 2024 Mid Year Convention & Marketplace Youth Agenda is designed to empower Native youth with opportunities to connect, learn, and grow with like-minded leaders from across Indian Country. Through our curated agenda, Native Youth will engage in discussions, workshops, and activities focused on pivotal policy areas such as education, wellness, environmental stewardship, data sovereignty, civic participation, cultural knowledge, climate action, and much more. The Native Youth Agenda is intended for young adults ages 15-24.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment is seen at the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP, Yuki Iwamura)
A wave of highly charged student protests sweeping college campuses around the nation this week include Indigenous students protesting Israel’s killing of Palestinians.
Kianna Pete, Diné and a Columbia University graduate student from New Mexico, said she and other Native American peers stand in solidarity with Palestinians.
She has taken part in a protest encampment at Columbia – which ignited the fast-spreading student movement – in New York City since last week when 100 students were arrested. Student protesters’ ranks have swollen nationally with reportedly mostly peaceful protests.
Kianna Pete (Courtesy photo)
“All of those things that we’ve experienced as Indigenous peoples here on Turtle Island, the same thing is happening in Palestine and has been happening in Palestine for the past 75 years,” Pete said. “But through this movement, I’ve begun to learn a lot more about it and to offer support.”
Pete, who’s studying politics and education, sees parallels between American colonization and what she considers to be inhumane acts of war by Israel against everyday Palestinians.
“Similar to settler-colonial projects we’ve experienced here in the United States as Indigenous peoples – that being the justification of land grabs and that is done through stealing Indigenous land and displacing them, (we are) being super highly surveillanced,” Pete said.
She said police are using drones to monitor the student encampment.
A student pro-Palestine encampment at Columbia University in New York City is shown here. (Photo courtesy of Kianna Pete)
Like students across the country, Columbia’s student protesters are demanding that their administration stop doing business with companies linked to Israel and are also calling on the U.S. government to stop providing military aid to Israel.
“I’ve been in a stage of solidarity with our pro-Palestinian movement here on campus,” Pete said. “And that encompasses a huge plethora of different organizations, different people inside and outside of the community … supporting the Columbia University’s divestment from Israeli apartheid.”
According to Gaza health officials, at least 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing war between Palestine and Israel since the Hamas resistance group retaliated against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages. As of Nov. 2023, Israel help nearly 7,000 Palestinians, many of them children, according to the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked.
The United Nations reports that two million Gazans are trying to survive near-famine conditions. At least two-thirds of the 34,000 killed reportedly are women and children.
Columbia alumni have donated money to and provided on-the-ground necessities like food, water and shelter to student protesters.
Indigenous people see many similarities between the U.S. government’s seizure of Native lands and murder of of Native people and Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, said Nick Tilsen, Lakota and president of the NDN Collective, a Rapid City, S.D.-based nonprofit.
NDN Collective has been documenting the student protesters’ efforts and supporting them.
Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective president (Photo by Arlo Iron Cloud courtesy of NDN Collective)
“We have been in deep solidarity with the Palestinian Liberation over the past few years,” said Tilsen. “One of the real important reasons why we as an organization supports … the movement for cease-fire and for Palestinian liberation is specifically because if you look at the amount of resources that the United States of America, which is a settler-colonial government, is sending over to Israel, it’s in the billions. Before October 7, it was annually about $3.4 billion a year.”
The NDN Collective is dedicated to building Indigenous power, he said. It invests in the self-determination of Indigenous people across Turtle Island, as well as in Canada, Mexico, American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico. They focus on grant-making, loans, community development, advocacy, policy development and public relations support. https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/3tZkdbfvVqI
Although not directly involved in the current University of Minnesota student protests, NDN Collective sent staff to document the protests. But Tilsen said while his organization supports the protesters, it’s not NDN Collective’s role to lead the student movement.
“And so the work that they have done to extract our resources from our lands and to impose violence and settler-colonialism on a whole other people in Gaza is not something that we stand for,” he said. “We’re part of the ant-militarization movement. We do not believe that military violence is the solution.
“And we do not believe that U.S. imperialism is the solution.”
In the face of what protesters describe as overly aggressive police response to the peaceful protests, students have persevered – even as end-of-semester final exams and spring graduations loom. At the University of Southern California, main-stage graduation ceremonies were canceled after authorities cited safety concerns due to protests.
Misinformation in the mainstream media has led many to believe the protests are not peaceful, Pete said.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric saying that these are not peaceful, or that these protests are funded by terrorists,” she added. “A lot of these different stories aren’t capturing what exactly is happening in these different encampments.”
She suggested the public pay attention to independent news sources to get the real stories of what’s happening in Gaza.
“So (we’re) making sure we’re getting verified information that is from people on the front lines, that is from independent journalists who have been at these encampments from the very beginning, listening to students, organizations, newspapers and outlets who have been covering this since October, when many of the protests started.”
Pete remains adamant that Indigenous people stand up for the vulnerable people of Gaza.
“We are protesting for the right to life, the right for Palestinian people to live and to exist,” she said. “Right now, there are no more universities left in Gaza. We have an extreme privilege to be able to protest and to use our voice for those who don’t have them right now.”
Columbia University students protest the war in Gaza. (Photo courtesy of Kianna Pete)
By now, you’ve no doubt become familiar with ongoing legal battles over the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). You may recall that I, myself, was targeted and faced years in prison. Fortunately, all serious charges against me were dropped as I prepared to present a comprehensive necessity defense outlining why I had no choice but to resist the pipeline and its threat to my homelands, our people, and Unci Maka, our Grandmother Earth. You might remember the Standing Rock Nation’s lawsuits to prevent the pipeline, and you also recently heard from me about my testimony in the trial between North Dakota and the federal government regarding who will split the costs of over-policing our peaceful protest camps.
Did you know that Energy Transfer, which operates the pipeline, has also targeted nonprofit organizations in the courts of law? Specifically — and preposterously — the oil company has gone after Greenpeace USA with a pair of lawsuits. Energy Transfer’s tactic is, unfortunately, increasingly popular. Extractive industry corporations seeking to suppress opposition to their exploitative projects file what’s known as a Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). To give you another example, the lithium mine company operating at Thacker Pass is using SLAPP in an attempt to silence tribal activists, elders, and allies resisting the company’s destruction of Unci Maka and sacred sites on Paiute and Shoshone homelands.
A sign from a NoDAPL resistance camp perfectly sums up one reason why lawsuits against Greenpeace and other nonprofits are way off the mark. They discredit the Indigenous agency involved in frontline resistance movements.
Frankly, the latest lawsuit against Greenpeace is of a different magnitude — both in terms of the exorbitant amount of damages Energy Transfer is seeking and the specifics of the case. Greenpeace (and other entities resisting DAPL, including Standing Rock and other tribal nations) have evidence of clear legal violations committed by Energy Transfer in its rush to complete DAPL. Aware of the gravity of those violations and wanting to cast doubt on their veracity and rewrite the narrative, Energy Transfer has attacked Greenpeace with false allegations of defamation.
As Greenpeace has highlighted in this piece — which I strongly encourage you to read — none of the nine statements Energy Transfer claims as defamatory were originally made by Greenpeace. Rather, they were circulated publicly (and endorsed widely). I commend Greenpeace for hearing the call to join Native nations on the frontline of this fight and for accurately summarizing the problems with Energy Transfer’s SLAPP effort. Honestly, from our perspective, if you’re being sued for defamation by a major extractive industry corporation, you’re probably doing something right!
Of course, Native water protectors and land defenders are all too familiar with the oil company’s modus operandi. Our ancestors witnessed similar tactics when Indian agents exerted control over their lives in the wake of the Dawes Allotment Act. More recently, my parents, aunties, and uncles remember well the FBI’s attempt to infiltrate and destroy the American Indian Movement in the 1970s. Native Peoples understand deeply that a commitment to truth telling and justice invites backlash from wealthy and powerful interests — government, corporate, or both.
It’s extra important for us to have our allies’ backs now, as all of this is occurring against a stark backdrop: not only has DAPL already leaked many times, but it continues to operate without a valid Environmental Impact Study or easement to cross under the Missouri River upstream of Standing Rock. Furthermore, in 2022, Energy Transfer was convicted of criminal charges in connection to its disastrous operation of pipelines in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In other words, it’s essentially a criminal corporation committed to shifting blame onto activists fighting for environmental justice and tribal sovereignty. That’s why we’ll keep battling and shining the light of truth. We hope that despite all spurious and costly legal attacks, Greenpeace will, too. We are all in this fight together.
Wopila tanka — thank you for protecting water and advancing environmental justice! Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel The Lakota People’s Law Project
The future is now, and it’s looking brighter by the day. Recently, a youth group from the Oglala Lakota Nation — all members of the Lakota Tech High School Student Council — attended a meeting of the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance (GPTWA) to learn and talk about their inspiring efforts to uplift their community. I was honored and encouraged to witness that powerful interaction, the culminating event in a series of activities the students undertook early this year as leaders of their school and future leaders of the Oceti Sakowin (Sioux Nation). You can watch our new video to see them in action!
Watch: future leaders of the Lakota Nation detail their vision. Opening musical track provided by Hundred in the Hand (featuring Tokata Iron Eyes).
My son, Zaniyan Iron Eyes, was joined by fellow student leaders Derrick Merrival, Antoine Running Bear, Wazilya Fuller, Marcel Swallow, Keldon Weston, and advisor Marlin Kingi to address Doug Crow Ghost, Reno Red Cloud, Syed Huq, and Mary J. Gourneau of the GPTWA. The students’ words are eloquent, so again, I urge you to see for yourself what they had to say.
Highlights include recaps of the students’ various community projects, their plans for their own futures, Marcel’s frank and poignant reference to the hurdles faced by young people on the reservation, and his gratitude for the mentoring provided by GPTWA. In turn, the leaders of the alliance, whose membership is composed of people from seven Sioux tribes, conveyed their concerns for all waters in the Oceti Sakowin, from the Big Horn Mountains to east of the Missouri River. I can confidently report that the students took to heart the necessity to protect Unci Maka (our Grandmother Earth).
Many of these same young leaders from Lakota Tech also presented to Lakota Law members at our Membership Event in February. That was such a special interaction, and I’m grateful to every member who listened in. On that note, I’m elated to report that our March membership drive was a huge success! 100 of you signed up, helping us shatter our goal of 60 new members, and I can’t wait to introduce members to other inspiring people from our community at subsequent events. In the meantime, please stay tuned right here, because I’ll have updates to share with you soon about further plans to engage with and support our youth leaders.
Wopila tanka — thank you for supporting us, and my enduring gratitude to you for lifting up our next generations! Chase Iron Eyes Director and Lead Counsel The Lakota People’s Law Project
Water is Life 