Sitting Bull's people break away from US
From correspondents in Washington
December 20, 2007 03:10pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
THE Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the US.
"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 delivered a message to the State Department and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the Federal Government, some of them more than 150 years old.
The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and said they would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas.
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 US citizenship, Mr Means said.
The treaties signed with the US were merely "worthless words on worthless paper," he 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,'' he said.
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 US 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", Mr Means said.
One "duck" moved into place in September, when the UN adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples - despite opposition from the US, 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,'' said Phyllis Young, who helped organise the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977.
The US "annexation'' of native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere "facsimiles of white people,'' Mr Means said.
Oppression at the hands of the US 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 US; infant mortality is five times higher than the US average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.
he sounds like another Jesse Jackson (not as bad, but like).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russel_Means
"On December 20, 2007, Means publicly announced the withdrawal of the Lakota Sioux from all treaties with the United States government, [6] declaring the Lakota a sovereign nation with property rights over thousands of square miles in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.[7] His authority to speak for the Sioux, let alone make policy declarations on their behalf, is not clear, as his repeated attempts at election to the Presidency of the Oglala Sioux have been rebuffed by the Sioux people at the polls.[8]"
Originally posted by zeeblebotwell, maybe he's worse ...
he sounds like another Jesse Jackson (not as bad, but like).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russel_Means
"On December 20, 2007, Means publicly announced the withdrawal of the Lakota Sioux from all treaties with the United States government, [6] declaring the Lakota a sovereign nation with property rights over thousands of square miles in South Dakota, ...[text shortened]... to the Presidency of the Oglala Sioux have been rebuffed by the Sioux people at the polls.[8]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russel_Means
"Between 1974 and 1976, as AIM disintegrated from internal conflicts and the efforts of COINTELPRO, Means stood trial 12 times for a variety of charges. The most serious of these was a 1975 trial for the murder of Martin Montileaux, for which Means was acquitted. In 1979 he served one year of a four-year sentence on charges stemming from a riot at a courthouse in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Means was paroled in 1980 and fully pardoned in 2002. His troubles with the law have continued, however; on August 23, 2005, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that under the Indian Civil Rights Act, the Navajo Nation has criminal jurisdiction over Means for an assault he allegedly committed on Navajo land, even though he is not a member.[2]
"
Originally posted by Ice Coldit's a search query result ... here's a slightly shorter one to the same book ... some nice praise for the book onthe 3rd page down but i can't paste it here ...
WTF did you do, go to humongousurl.com?
http://books.google.com/books?id=59i7W4DjJqcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=martin+montileaux#PPP1,M1
Originally posted by terraByteAll very well and good.
Sitting Bull's people break away from US
From correspondents in Washington
December 20, 2007 03:10pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
THE Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the US.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who ...[text shortened]... mployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.
But exactly how are they going to combat suicide rates, death rates, etc. if nobody is going to be paying taxes??