Lakota Oyate: For a Free and Independent Lakota Nation

What a time we are living in! You are so right - there is no way we are going to hear about this in/from the mainline media. Thanks for sharing, JoyAnna. I have sent it on its way.

Hi JoyAnna,

Thanks for sharing that fascinating news. I had not heard about this and it clearly is important. Let's pray for the Native American people who have suffered so much and pray for native peoples everywhere that we might remember that we are one family.

With sacred love flowing,
Fred

Hi JoyAnna
Thank you for posting this on the site. This is wonderful news.
I was trying to think of a comment, but felt the news speaks for itself!

In Love and Light
Ursula

I would refer everyone to the following link: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/12/18472023.php

 While I applaud Mr. Means’ sentiments and his efforts to bring the light of publicity to shine where there has been only darkness, this is the action of a few individuals, not the Lakota Tribal Government. If it were, you can be sure we would have heard about it in the media.

 Frankly, I hope they do it. It would set a great precedent for the other Tribal Nations. Natives have been like the abused woman in a sadistic marriage, with no options other than to please the abuser just in order to survive. All the psychological territory that goes with an abused spouse can pretty much be applied to understanding post-conquest Native group psychology. Issues of trust, self-esteem, guilt, self-hatred, and all kinds of dysfunctional pathological thoughts and behaviors. The problem isn’t solved just because the spouse has figured out how to not trigger the abuser’s wrath…

Means is among those standing up and saying “no” to acquiescing in further abuse. But so far it’s only Means and a few associates. As long as it’s just Means and a few supporters, he’s easily ignored by the US government.

However, a similar move by the Tribal Government could provoke a severe response. Go back to my analogy. A severe response does not have to be actual violence. A simple ignoring of the “legitimacy” of any official tribal action is probably all that is needed. After all, the US still has the muscle power and intimidation power to enforce pretty much whatever it wants. What’s so severe about that? Because it says you are a non-person with no rights except what rights I grant you, and I can change that at any time. Anybody know how it feels to be a non-person? You know, the Cherokee won when they appealed to the US Supreme Court to stop their removal to Oklahoma. Didn’t make a bit of difference. Got removed anyway.

Anyway, asking a Cherokee about the Lakota is like asking an Italian about the Norwegians. They’re both European, but… Just my two feathers’ worth.

Spyder

Rev. Dr. Spyder Webb
http://www.GentleHealingTouch.org

Spyder, I'm glad you clarified that issue. It is interesting that you characterized that relationship as like an abusive marriage. That's a good point and it illuminates the issue somewhat. Ironically, one of the comments I've heard from my NDN friends in discussing this is that (supposed) fact that Means has a history of being abusive to women. From my fairly superficial reading of news stories about this I'd simply assumed that it was the tribal government that had taken this step - and like you, I hope they do it. Knowing that it's just a few individuals, even though they may be well-known activists, changes the picture somewhat.

8-D

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www.leftydave.com

I'm with you Stefa....wife and I are seriously considering driving out to the Dakota's this summer and looking into this further....this could be a really big thing...unless or until the Blackwater or KBR (or Canadian) troops are sent there to quell the unrest.

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Greetings, JoyAnna,

There is no new Lakota Nation. This is a publicity technique by a long-time Native activist. He has to resort to such things because Americans simply don't know, don't care, and don't want to be bothered.

I have seen too many non-Native Americans weep and apologize and wring their hands and then go back to their normal daily lives when the emotion of the moment is over to care what they say any more, because it's all hollow. Where are the civil rights marches for the Native people? Where are the lobbying campaigns? Where are the mass protests? The fact is, Americans have it too good to care. And the Natives know it, and they've pretty much given up.

America is the Borg. Resistance is futile.

There's enough left to give the illusion of freedom and choice, but the reality is that when it begins to rise to a level of real threat, it's easy to neutralize it - where is the fourth estate, the watchdog news media? Oh, yes, I forgot - they're covering Britney and Paris and the Oscars.

This country was built on the blood and the backs and the tears of those not currently in power: the Native Americans, the African Americans, the immigrant workers, the nonunionized workers, women - and of course, the global environment.

Nobody cares. And so fighters like Russel Means try to find some way to bring real meaningful change. But there is something I learned in my old pre-enlightenment days as a Christian evangelist - you can't force someone to change if they don't want to. And Americans don't want to. They'd rather buy HD TV's, watch reality TV, send a few bucks to Africa, and switch to cloth shopping bags at the grocery store, and weep at the "plight of the Indians."

Ther is one thing that will force change though. It is when the environment collapses and population dwindles to 10-20% of what it currently is, and a few people remember that there was once a people who could live on the same land for tens of thousands of years without environmental or spiritual degradation. There might even be a few of these two-legged dinosaurs left who still remember enough of the old ways to teach them.

Until then, people like Russell Means have to keep trying to shine a light. But it's just a light. It's not a new landscape.

Sorry 'bout the rant, but the French have a saying: plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Spyder

Rev. Dr. Spyder Webb

www.GentleHealingTouch.org

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Hi Stefa,

Thanks for your thoughts.

The last time anyone tried to secede from the nation, it was called the Civil War. This was a large united group of people, an entire section of the continent, not just a tiny divided remnant people. There's just no way. And there's no will. Natives don't want any more trouble, and that's all they'd get, in dump truck loads. It would be out of the frying pan into the fire. 

You don't secede from America any more than you secede from the old USSR, or the Roman Empire before that. Remember Wounded Knee? Both I & II? Natives do. You wait till the empire collapses, and see what you can salvage from the ashes. In the meantime, you try to survive while you keep the dream alive.

Spyder

Rev. Dr. Spyder Webb

www.GentleHealingTouch.org

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Hi Stefa,

I think the Transformation Team is one such safe haven...

Spyder

Rev. Dr. Spyder Webb

www.GentleHealingTouch.org

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