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Lakota Indians Withdraw-They Are No Longer US Citizens

WASHINGTON — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,'' long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means said.

A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the U.S., some of them more than 150 years old.

The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said.

The treaties signed with the U.S. were merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists said.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution,'' which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent,'' said Means.

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence — an overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration of Independence from England.

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row,'' Means said.

One duck moved into place in September, when the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples — despite opposition from the United States, which said it clashed with its own laws.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children,'' Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

The U.S. "annexation'' of native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere "facsimiles of white people,'' said Means.

Oppression at the hands of the U.S. government has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life expectancies - less than 44 years - in the world.

Lakota teen suicides are 150 per cent above the norm for the U.S.; infant mortality is five times higher than the U.S. average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.

 A Spiritual Warrior

A Spiritual Warrior is one that stands in the gap between ordinary reality and Spirit. A Spiritual Warrior is armed with self knowledge, truth, prayer, discernment, and the ability to know truth from fiction. Often times Spiritual Warriors are reviled because they refuse to compromise truth to tickle people's ears with what they want to hear. They are lone voices crying in a wilderness of self deception, false prophets, and false teachings. These are people who walk alone, and are often misunderstood. They are charismatic and intense with a passion for truth and self discipline. They are the surgeons of the spiritual world often perceiving truth with a clarity that is often disconcerting. They get to the heart of the matter with a precision of mind that can at times be difficult to hear. They rarely mince words, but their purpose is not to wound with those words. While it may seem cold and harsh their words are often prophetic in their warning to abandon a certain path or mindset. Many Spiritual Warriors are often beset themselves with issues socially, spiritually and emotionally. They are people that have walked through the fires of purging themselves and have often had their own egos broken and then rebuilt and resurrected into a vessel fit for spiritual warring. They are our teachers, our beacons, our consciences and the connection between the seen and the unseen. Spiritual Warriors are the voices of prayer in the wee hours, the constant reminder to Creator of the frailty of human existence and the need for Creator's assistance. They are on the front lines of the battle between our shadow selves and our higher selves. Their calling is not an easy one, but essential, and even more essential in the times we live in today.

Robin Hannon

 The Invisible One
Micmac
There was once a large Indian village situated on the border of a lake, --Nameskeek' oodun Kuspemku. At the end of the place was a lodge, in which dwelt a being who was always invisible. He had a sister who attended to his wants, and it was known that any girl who could see him might marry him. Therefore there were indeed few who did not make the trial, but it was long ere one succeeded.

And it passed in this wise. TOwards evening, when the Invisible One was supposed to be returning home, his sister would walk with any girls who came down to the shore of the lake. She indeed could see her brother, since to her he was always visible, and beholding him she would say to her companions, "Do you see my brother?" And they would mostly answer, "Yes," though some said, "Nay," -- alt telovejich, aa alttelooejik. And then the sister would say, "Cogoowa' wiskobooksich?" "Of what is his shoulder-strap made?" But as some tell the take, she would inquire other things, such as, "What is his moose-runner's haul?" or, "With what does he draw his sled?" And they would reply, "A strip of rawhide," or "A green withe," or something of the kind. And then she, knowing they had not told the truth, would reply quietly, "Very well, let us return to the wigwam!"

As they entered the place she would bid them not to take a certain seat, for it was his. After they had helped to cook the supper they would wait with great curiosity to see him eat. Truly he gave proff that he was a real person, for as he took off his moccasins they became visible, and his sister hung them up; but beyond this they beheld nothing not even when they remained all night, as many did.

There dwelt in the village an old man, a widower, with three daughters. The youngest of these was very small, weak, and often ill, which did not prevent her sisters, especially the eldest, treating her with great cruelty. The second daughter was kinder , ans sometimes took the part of the poor abused little girl, but the other would burn her hands and face with hot coals; yes, her whole body was scarred with marks made by torture, so that people called her OOchigeaskw (the rough-faced girl). And when her father, coming home, asked what it meant that the child was so disfigured, her sister would promptly say that it was the fault of the girl herself, for that, having been forbidden to go near the fire, she had disobeyed and fallen in.

Now it came to pass that it entered the heads of the the two elder sisters of this poor girl that they would go and try their fortune at seeing the Invisible One. So they clad themselves in their finest and strove to look their fairest; and finding his sister at home when with her to the wonted walk down to the water. Then when He came, being asked if they saw him, they said, "Certainly," and also replied to the question of the shoulder-strap or sled cord, "A piece of rawhide." In saying which, they lied, like the rest, for they had seen nothing, and got nothing for their pains.

When their father returned home the next evening, he brought with him many of the pretty little shells from which weiopeskool, or wampum, was made, and they were soon engaged napawejik (stringing them).

That day poor little OOchigeaskw', the burnt-faced gir, who had always run barefoot, got a pair of her father's old moccasins, and put them into water that they might become flexible to wear. And begging her sisters for a few wampum shells, the eldest did but call her "a lying little pest," but the other gave her a few. And having no clothes beyond a few pawltry rags, the poor creature went forth and got herself from the woods a few sheets of birch bark, of which she made a dress, putting some figures on the bark. And this dress she shaped like those worn of old. So she made a petticoat and a loose gown, a cap, leggins, and handkerchief, and, having put on her father's great old moccasins,--which came nearly up to her knees,--she went forth to try her luck. For even this little thing would see the Invisible One in the great wigwam at the end of the village.

Truly her luck had a most auspicious beginning, for there was one long storm of ridicule and hisses, yells and hoots, from her own door to that of which she went ot seek. Her sisters tried to shame her, and bade her to stay home, but she would not obey; and all the idlers, seeing this strange little creature in her odd array, cried, "Shame!" But she went on, for she was greatly resolved; it may be that some spirit inspired her.

Now this poor small wretch in her mad attire, with her hair singed off and her little face as full of burns and scars as there are holes in a sieve, was, for all this, mostly kindly received by the sister of the Invisible One; for this noble girl knew more than the mere outside of thins as the world knows them. And as the brown of the evening sky became black, she took her down to the lake. And erelong the girls knew that He had come. Then the sister said, "Do you see him?" And the other replied in awe, "Truly I do, --and He is wonderful." "And what is his sled string?" "It is," she replied, "the Rainbow." And great fear was on her. "But, my sister," said the other, "what is his bow-string?" "His bow-string is Ketaksoowowcht: (the Spirit's Road, the Milky Way).

"Thou hast seen him, said the sister. And, taking the girl home, she bathed her, and as she washed all the scars disappeared from face and body. Her hair grew again; it was very long, and like a blackbird's wing. Her eyes were like stars. In all the world was no such beauty. Then from her treasures she gave her a wedding garment, and adorned her. Under the comb, as she combed her, her hair grew. It was a great marvel to behold.

Then, having done this, she bade her take the wife's seat in the wigwam,--that by which her brother sat, the seat next the door. And when He entered, terrible and beautiful, he smiled and said, "Wajoolkoos!" "So we are found out!" "Alajulaa." "Yes," was her reply. So she became his wife.

 Donations of coats and blankets needed Pine Ridge
100% profit organization for the Pine Ridge Reservation<br />Okini is a Lakota word meaning to share material things. A ONE Spirit goal is to help strengthen families by sharing the material things with which most of us are blessed. Every day, families who do not have sponsors ask for help with urgent needs for clothing or for household supplies such as electric cooking pots and skillets, kitchen supplies, blankets and sheets. The Okini program coordinates resources to meet these needs. Many individuals or groups join the Okini program and assist with providing items directly to the family who needs them. <br />You can help us to meet the critical needs of Lakota families. Whether we warm a home, put food on the dinner table, buy a pair of shoes, or provide clothing for children, together we can help a family provide security for their children. If you or your group has access to household supplies that are in extremely good condition that you would be willing to ship to a family on the reservation, you can become a “Donation Center” for the Okini Program. We email lists of needs to Donation Centers and when someone has one of the items listed, they ship it directly to the family. In the past month we have provided families with coats for children, blankets, kitchen supplies and more. <br />This program can also use donations to help purchase items not practical to be shipped and to help donors with shipping costs. Recently, a grandmother caring for 8 grandchildren requested help with a water heater. For the past few months, she has been meeting her needs for hot water by heating water on a small hot plate. This makes baths and cleaning very difficult. Through donations, we were able to purchase a hot water heater and the men in the community donated their time to install it in her home. <br />I am looking into becoming a donation center~<br />but for now please go to the following site for further info~<br />thank you: Redfoxsees<br />copy and paste:<br />http://nativeprogress.org/component/option,com_frontp
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