From the beginning to now as Lakotas we have our inalienable rights to our traditional leadership, our own form of government, our people, our territory, our sovereignty, our jurisdiction, our language, our culture, and traditions and values, all intact since time immemorial, which cannot be transferred or destroyed.
We are the Lakota Dakota Nakota Nation a sovereign nation international, which was officially re-convened, declared and recognized in a gathering and ceremony at Bear Butte by our traditional and spiritual Chiefs and Elders as our traditional spiritual government on July 14, 1991 and retro-active to 1868-1851. Invoking fairness and justice through International law we hereby request and demand our repatriation and restitution to the original boundaries of our 1868 Treaty, restoring it to its proper position as an International border line defining our country and we will call for eventual and gradual annexation of our extended total land which starts from Louisiana and upwards into parts of what now exists as Canada where people of our Lakota Nation were driven into exile and are non-treaty signers since some of them have existed there from time immemorial.
Just Compensation for Wounded Knee Massacre
We as the LDN Nation have reviewed very closely the killing of our unarmed children and adults who were shot like fish in a fish barrel at the “Wounded Knee Massacre.” We are all related one way or another and should be compensated as a Nation for this.
No Military Installations on our Lands!
Our Chiefs said “no military installations within the boundary” yet without the consent of the Sioux Nation this immigrant foreign colonial government came in and imposed without the consent or input from our nation, put military bases and worst of all these undesirable ballistic missiles capable of mass destruction and local radiation contamination on our territory. Whereas we have a very large land base we have counted all these in our territory. If we wish to talk about atomic power, we the Lakota in theory could be the 3rd largest atomic force in the world. All these atomic weapons are not only a threat to us but to the general U.S. population and the entire world community. The local contamination to our Mother Earth and to us who inhabit this area needs to be addressed with other nations. This is another gross violation of our peace treaty as our Lakota territory is now not private, but upon public and/or federally “owned” lands where military bases of this magnitude and importance to the health and well being of the people have been arbitrarily and unilaterally installed.
Fair Monetary Value for what has been stolen from us
If this foreign emigrant United States Government were to compute the fair monetary value of land, resources, and human life and to compensate us then for the past damages it has done to our people even though we signed a peace policy treaty and they still implemented propaganda and abuse to turn our very own children against our culture and traditional spiritual values, used Genocide by secretly using psychological warfare as well as biochemical warfare, irreparably polluting and contaminating the earth; and if they were to add to this all our gold, silver, precious gems, minerals stripped from our lands that now backs their monetary system that they have stolen since 1874 from our territory until now; if they honestly paid us for this in their currency, then we would have enough money to buy this entire so called United States 10 times over.
Original Terms of the Treaty of 1851-1868 (webmasters’ note: this document was written October 13, 1989)
Therefore be it resolved that in conjunction with the “Statement of Renewal” filed with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization and the “Position of Sovereignty and Jurisdiction” statement filed with the Oglala Tribal Court in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, we officially as the Traditional Spiritual National Government reject the Award associated with Dockets 74 A – 74 B, and further that we demand that the original terms and conditions of the 1851 – 1868 treaty with the U.S.A. between the Sioux Nation of Indians be litigated and negotiated in it’s rightful arena – The International Court of Justice – with the assistance of the U.N.P.O. with the Lakota Nation being Representative Member.
How Do Traditional Spiritual Ways fit into Today’s World?
It is true that many of our people do well in this dominant society. We understand how it operates and have learned how to function within it as well as anyone. However, many of us still do not have the opportunities to merge into it as some have, so there are those who still use these as “examples” to try to make a point that we are somehow not “competent”. We have all the competent, educated, experienced and traditional people we need to effectively run our own affairs. However, the United States Government has proven itself to be ineffective and incompetent in management of its own people and has never provided sufficiently for our people. Is that what we want? Tribal government though a necessary institution is only an extension of the same government that is suppressing our people now. The only logical conclusion that can be drawn once all the facts have been analyzed is that we have to control and manage our own affairs as we see fit for and in the best interest of the people of our nation as well as the foreign nationals now living within our boundaries.
Social Security Inequities and Discrimination in a Dual System of imposed Governance
We as the Lakota and Indians in general have been discriminated against even through the U.S. Social Security System as some of our Elders went off of these reservations and worked for farmers and ranchers and odd jobs for their livelihood. However their Social Security earnings numbers were ignored for future recorded earnings so they now have nothing to show for old age pension requirements. Instead imposed supplemental Social Security or Disability is imposed on them rather than giving them the benefit and pride of obtaining what they justly earned within the system in which they were employed. This can only tell us that the Social Security cards that we carry are not what they are supposed to be to white society, which is another blunder by the U.S. government as we have been watching and have identified this as a dual system employment standard reflected in Social Security. Surely it can be seen that the 85 to 90% unemployment on all the reservations in our area is evidence that the whole system does not include and was never meant for us.
As the foreign government probably already knows, 90% of the time a nation that fights for their property and wins the battle has a right to their property, and we as a Lakota Nation that is recognized through natural laws and the law of international nations have never been conquered by any nation even this foreign experimental, theoretical, assumption government called the United States. This territory is inherently ours since time immemorial with or without a treaty as these foreigners didn’t even have a shirt on their back when they landed on our soil and started making Treaties with Nations of Indians who had a God given land base to call their own, and we as Lakota still have our land base, a very wide territory that is ours.
An infringement has occurred, that is a violation of International Law and can constitute abrogation of a treaty by the side being infringed upon. The sooner we recognize that we have legal rights for redress of grievances on an international nature the sooner we can collectively begin to assert ourselves in addressing them.
If the U.S. Government did this to their own citizenry in a large city this is what would happen….[1992 prophecy for 2012 realities]
As soon as the unemployment level of the United States or any other country reaches 7 to 11% the people become outraged and begin to protest and demand change in policy and government, they rise up in civil disorder, and demand change in policy and government. Sometimes they riot, loot, kill, and initiate the early stages of anarchy. If the conditions that exist as they have since the takeover of the U.S. Government in the treaty border would be located in any major city in the United States there would have been complete anarchy and breakdown of government structure and civil disorder many years ago.
We certainly couldn’t do much worse for ourselves than that which has already been done to us
However, we still remain complacent with 90% unemployment with its horrific repercussions, the 85% alcoholism and the terrible social conditions it produces, and the deplorable conditions that the tribal government is forced to operate on. It is time that we provide our own solutions unhindered to the problems created by the unsympathetic and unresponsive government imposed over us [At this point, we certainly couldn’t much worse for ourselves than what has already been done to us]. The money “awarded” us for the purchase of the Black Hills at this point will not even cover debts the U.S. claims is owed by tribal government and we cannot give up our rightful land base under any circumstances in consideration of the welfare of our future generations and the instability of the United Sates credibility and economic standing domestically and with other countries [webmasters note: recall that this was written in 1992!]. We must now find workable ways to protect our national interests.
As the living conditions on these reservations are equal to the third world countries, especially the housing when you have 15 to 20 people living under or sharing one roof then there’s 90% unemployment and this so called federal and state and county welfare system calling for child support for these tax-exempt Indian fathers then you wonder where the treaty obligations of this so called United States Government is at. Then that’s where population removal begins and throwing our Indian men in jail for no reason at all. The entire system is a self perpetuating vicious cycle from which there is not escape and a wall at every turn to catch our people up in your net.
Money Management in our Territories
If we started to collect monthly rent on all these people that the so called United States foreign government put on our territory and taxed them for taking away our livelihood by their creating jobs for their people on our soil and excluding our people as everyone knows this 1876 Homestead Act was just another “folly” to illegally brings it’s population on our soil, then it’s doubtful that they could afford to stay on our territory. So, we foresee that they could automatically become a citizen of the LDN Nation as we Havre discussed this with many people already.
As with the controlling or regulating this man made money, the U.S. Government can deflate or inflate at will so as to bring corruption to what it needs to promote. If it wanted to it could have promoted better living conditions on these reservations for our people but even there we have been discriminated against with their monetary system.
We Have No Need of an Army
As the foreign government knows we don’t need a vast army to start controlling our territory of our boundary lines within our territory, and no army in the world is going to stop us from becoming independent again. Like we stated, there is not more U.S. Government when you can bribe these so called elected officials. We know there are Senators and Congressmen in there that can’t even read or write, yet they are in there because they are racist and they discriminate against anyone with a different colored skin. It is the same ways with these Supreme Court Judges and on down the line. We will be calling for our displaced children to be returned back to LDN territory and we will also be calling for our Lakota men and women prisoners across this so called United States to be returned back to our Lakota territory as these arms of the foreign so called United States Government have no business on our territory like the F.B.I., C.I.A., U.S. Marshals, County Sheriffs, and on down the line, as we will be forming our own judicial systems and treatment facilities and programs more appropriate to the interests of the people and their needs.
We signed a PEACE Treaty not a Cession – it is time for us to know and operate our own nation in PEACE
Finally this treaty with this foreign U.S. Government was as stated before a “PEACE POLICY TREATY” NOT a treaty of CESSION AND IT IS NOT FOR SALE – NOT FOR MAN MADE MONEY- not for man made money as it has been ours since time immemorial inherently “God Given”.
We will by all means necessary revert back to the ideal form of government that we experienced and served us well in full effect with complete freedom and independence before the imposed foreign government was implemented fraudulently upon us. We will have our traditional spiritual, effective and responsive form of totally independent government based on our own cultural values and moral standards that made us a great nation once [and will again].
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness …
As some of us couldn’t cope with oppression, little work, little food and nowhere to sleep on these reservation, even as veterans, we came looking for a little better relief off of these imposed reservations into towns and urban areas of cities and there [most of us] also wound up living like refugees in our own territory. It is a sham – “Democracy [as it is practiced today] is a total SHAM [especially so] if you are an Indian. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – where is it??????.
Suffering under a dysfunctional imposed Judicial system
Forced into a foreign society and subjected to economic deprivation our people were systematically stereotyped from the beginning by the justice system. So we must now also address Police brutality, for as Indians we have been hung, shot, beat up and our women raped. Drugs were tested on us without our consent. Our children have been sent to these juvenile detention camps, foreign institutions where they have been treated the same way with no recourse since the system is set up for those who can afford a liar (lawyer) or should we say thieves also. They also sent the kids hundreds of miles away so that the parents can’t even visit. Some are still under legal age yet the system doesn’t take that into consideration and they often get sentenced just the same as an adult and usually get sentenced as adults, and imprisoned in an adult facility instead of a state boy training school so there is not chance for rehabilitation. So, as you can see we have been discriminated against in all aspect of this so called judicial system.
As you may have seen in the outcome of the Rodney King trial in L.A., well that beating is nothing compared to what we as Indians have been physically experiencing for more than a century and we have suffered long enough with this barbaric dual sentencing, dual system of justice. There has been NO JUSTICE for Indians as there is no representation of any kind for the Indians. The National Bar Association itself has denounced the American justice system as ineffective, outdated, and inefficient and they are also calling for total reform.
We have to also remember that the government officials from the President on down are hiding behind the immunity from prosecution which they invented and use to their advantage wherever it suits their own needs, even it if is used against their very own tax paying people.
Therefore, we conclude with the following:
Reference: United States Department of Interior
Office of the Secretary
Washington D.C.
October 13, 1989
Memorandum
To: Aberdeen Area Director
Billings Area Director
From: Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs
Subject: Results of Research Report of Judgment Funds to the Sioux Tribes of Indians in Docket 74 before the United States Claims Court.
The results of our research is hereby submitted in compliance with the Indian Judgment Funds Act of October 19, 1973, 87 stat.. 466 as amended and implemented by CFR 87.
These treaties between the U.S. and the “Sioux” Nation are laying in “dormancy” and yet are still in active status as they have never been resolved nor relinquished as [the U.S. has] claimed for with the [their own determined] monetary value attached to them.
The 1868 Treaty does not include an agreement that the U.S. Government has the authority or consent to implement legislation regarding the territory or people within the republic of the treaty boundaries.
There were, in fact, no agreements of any kind arrived at between the U.S. by the “Sioux” Nation between 1868 and the implementation of the 1871 Appropriations Act.
Also, in regards to the Indian Judgment Funds Act, this is a breech of contract and the arbitrary, unilateral decision proclaiming the taking date for the so called “cession” of the 1868 treaty is a violation of an International Agreement and subject to International Law.
Please Click here to go to – LDN Nation Sovereignty Statement
Click Here to go to Legal Paper: “Reclaiming the Black Hills”