(This is a repost from years ago, and now the nightmare is coming true. When the thieves are in their "Heaven" with their streets made of gold, some of that gold will have been ripped from the sacred Black Hills. I won't be there)
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA -- Yet another federally funded "improvement" project threatens to further undermine the sanctity and integrity of a culturally relevant Native American landmark in the Black Hills, or Paha Sapa.
The Pennington County-initiated undertaking, known as the South Rochford Road Project, seeks to pave an approximately 12-mile graveled stretch of road between the unincorporated town of Rochford and Deerfield Lake, a recreational destination. This particular section of South Rochford Road, which remains as a historical throwback of Rochford's gold mining boomtown days of the late 19th century, gouges a swath directly through the center of what the Lakota call "Pe Sla," or the venerated "Old Baldy" of the Black Hills.
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Due to the nation's ensuing recession, however, the project was essentially put on the back burner until 2010, when the economy began its slow recovery. At that time, the Federal Highway Administration determined that an environmental impact statement (EIS) was necessary before the proposal could continue.
Following World War II, the United States decided that it wanted to sever its relationships with American Indian tribes. In order to do this, it needed to settle all possible legal claims which might arise out of its past dealings with the tribes. Thus, in 1946, Congress created the Indian Claims Commission to adjudicate all claims arising out of fraud, treaty violations, or other wrongs done to the Indians by the government. Under the Indian Claims Commission Act, a tribe could receive full and just compensation for wrongs. It was presumed that most of these claims would deal with land: lands which had been illegally seized from Indian tribes, land which had been purchased from them at less than their true market value, and damages to Indian land by non-Indian intruders.
While Europeans tended to build the places they considered to be sacred-churches, statues, memorials-for American Indian people sacred places were often not places constructed by humans, but places which were naturally sacred. In looking at the landscape around them, Indian people did not see a landscape that needed changing, nor did they see it as a landscape which they were to dominate: rather, they saw a landscape filled with living things. The living things within this landscape included the plants and animals, as well as the rivers, the rocks, the mountains, and the hills. Sacred places in the landscape were often portals through which Indian people could make contact with the sacred.
The Black Hills in South Dakota is an area which is sacred to several tribes, including the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Geologically, the Black Hills are the site of an ancient upheaval that pushed the rocky strata far above the surrounding plains. The resulting peaks trapped the clouds and gave the region its own climate. During the summers, this was an area which was often used for ceremonies-sweat lodges, vision quests, and Sun Dances-and for gathering medicinal plants.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, American policies regarding the "civilizing" of the Plains Indians called for them to be segregated in reservations where they could be trained to be Christian farmers. At the same time, non-Indians, obsessed with the idea of obtaining Indian land, strongly felt that because the Indians didn't know how to farm, the good farm land on the reservations should be opened to non-Indian settlement. In addition, since Indians didn't value gold, all mineral producing lands should be turned over to non-Indians so that it could be mined. Since it was imperative that Indians become Christians, sacred lands referred only to lands developed as Christian churches, while areas which had been sacred to Indians was simply considered vacant lands which needed to be developed.
The text of this post was a collaborative project of navajo and Meteor Blades. All but four of the photos, most of which appear below the squiggle, were taken by navajo.
This is the third in a year-long series being posted at Native American Netroots dedicated to revealing how American Indians - on reservations and in urban environments - are mostly invisible, a product of long-standing U.S. policy and societal ignorance.
On Nov. 26, 2011, Harper's magazine Contributing Editor and National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey joined Shepard Fairey, the prolific street artist known to most people for his iconic Obama HOPE campaign image, and installed a stunning 20x80-foot mural THE BLACK HILLS ARE NOT FOR SALE. It's at the intersection of Ogden and the highly trafficked Melrose Avenue in West Los Angeles near Fairfax.
The result is a beautiful, intriguing "billboard" that we hope will spur those who walk and drive by to educate themselves about what it means. The composition brings visibility to a group that is otherwise pretty much hidden from the rest of the nation, the Lakota people of South Dakota.
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND:
The Black Hills (He Sapa in Lakota, the language of the people most Americans know as Sioux) were wrenched from the tribes in 1877. Starting in 1922, the Lakota have sought what has become an 89-year-long array of complex legal efforts to have them returned, so far without success.
In 1950, the Sioux Nation filed a petition with the Indian Claims Commission for He Sapa and other lands based on two factors: treaty violations and lack of compensation. Thirty years later, ruling in what is one of the longest running court cases in U.S. history, United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, the Supreme Court ruled that the Lakotas had been unjustly moved onto reservations and 7 million acres of their lands, including the He Sapa, illegally opened up to prospectors and homesteaders in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Rather than give the Black Hills back, the court affirmed a lower court decision backing the ICC's award of $106 million in compensation, which included 103 years of compound interest. It did not include compensation for the vast amount of minerals that have been extracted from the area.
The Sioux Tribal Council said no to the settlement, fearing that agreeing to take the money would mean they could never get back the sacred He Sapa. Thus the slogan, "The Black Hills are not for sale." In the 30 years since then, the compensation fund held by the government has grown to more than $1 billion, and the pressure inside the Sioux Nation to accept payment has grown in great part because of the continuing poverty and associated ills the Lakota people endure decade after decade. This past August, a case brought by 19 Lakotas seeking to have the money divided equally among individuals was dismissed by a federal court to the relief of tribal leaders.
Considerable hope has been placed in President Obama to resolve the issue. Unlike past presidents, he is widely viewed among Indians to have actually listened to our concerns and promised to deal with them fairly. Since the highest court has made its ruling, only the President and Congress can change things.
Some solutions have been suggested with varying degrees of acceptance among Lakotas. One proposal would release the accumulated funds from the court-ordered settlement and turn over the federally owned land in the Black Hills and other nearby lands. Excepted would be Mt. Rushmore, which hosts the granite faces of four presidents who presided over the taking of Indian land from coast to coast. No private land owned by non-Lakotas would be part of the deal.
In 2009 the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association formed the Great Sioux Nation He Sapa Reparation Alliance in hopes of presenting a unified voice for realizing a settlement that would hold the United States responsible for the violations of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and take action on both the land and compensation issues. Nearly 135 years after the Black Hills were taken, the Lakota people still want them back and seem determined not to sell them, not even for a billion dollars.
I have been asked to talk about my relationship with the Lakota. That is a very difficult thing for me because, if you haven't noticed from my skin color, I'm white. And that will always be a huge barrier on a native reservation. You will see a lot of people in my photographs today. I've become very close with them. They have welcomed me like family. They called me "uncle: and "brother" and they welcomed me back many times over in my five years of visits. But on Pine Ridge I will always be what is called Wasi'chu. Wasi'chu is a Lakota word that means "non-Indian," but another version of this word means "Takes the best part of the meat." And that is what I want to focus on today: "The one who takes the best part of the meat." It means "greedy."
Custer's method of attack was a four front attack at dawn on sleeping villages. It seems an extreme comparison to make, even irresponsible. Is it however, since George W. Bush and the Neoconservative forces in the U.S. and in Canada who de-affirmed the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are going to finish what Custer started in the sacred Black Hills? Custer discovered gold there and that brought the railroad along with cultural destruction in the very least. Today, uranium has been being drilled for, and more cultural destruction will probably tragically come about as the result of the TransCanada Keystone Project. But wait, that's not the only problem.
"We continue to believe that someone important someplace cares and will do something before our situation becomes impossible." Fools Crow from "Fools Crow," by Thomas E. Mails. p. 217
Many years ago, the federal courts ruled that the Black Hills of western South Dakota had been taken illegally from the American Indian tribes -
As governor, would you consider transferring Bear Butte State Park land and management to a consortium of American Indian Tribes as a gesture of reconciliation from the state?
Mike Rounds, Republican candidate in 2006:
"I do not believe that Bear Butte State Park, and it is a state park, should be transferred to a Native American tribe.
I'm not sure which Native American tribe you might suggest (that) you hold that they are all sovereign.
SD Governors Discuss Bear Butte
Why is the Bear Butte issue more critical than ever?
This Constitution, and Laws of the United States which shall be made Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United Stated, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding .
...the continuation and preservation of traditional Native American Religion is ensured only through the performance of ceremonies and rites by tribal members. These ceremonies and rites are often performed on specific sites...These sites may also be based on special geographic features...For most Native American religions, there may be no alternative places of worship since these ceremonies must be performed at certain places and times to be effective.
Such is the case at Pe Sla, "one of the five primary sacred sites in the Black Hills to the Lakota nation."
A British mining company is about to begin exploratory drilling for toxic, radioactive uranium in Kaibab National Forest just outside the eco-fragile boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park.
Genocide denial is part of the steel that drills the oil in "Custer's Pipeline," is part of what moves the pens making lying papers that are stealing and have stolen the promised sovereignty of American Indians, and what makes the modern day Custers feel joy when they succeed and rage when they fail.
Looks like the modern- day Custers are feeling a little joy lately.
Custer's method of attack was a four front attack at dawn on sleeping villages. It seems an extreme comparison to make, even irresponsible. Is it however, since George W. Bush and the Neoconservative forces in the U.S. and in Canada who de-affirmed the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are going to finish what Custer started in the sacred Black Hills? Custer discovered gold there and that brought the railroad along with cultural destruction in the very least. Today, uranium has been being drilled for, and more cultural destruction will probably tragically come about as the result of the TransCanada Keystone Project. But wait, that's not the only problem.
Manifest Destiny is a thing of the past, but its philosophy didn't die with the forced relocations. The American company developer Henco attempted to encroach on Native lands in 2006, and I speculate that George W. Bush's having signed NAFTA treaties which eroded some limits on U.S trade borders enabled Henco to proceed to Canada and attempt stealing Native soil from Six Nations. While it wears only a shadow in sound comparison to the Seige of Wounded Knee 1973, (I think it's more so comparable now than before; however, I don't have the expertise about treaties and prior circumstances in Canada to say how much more or less it is. There was a treaty violation here. I'm not sure it's my place to say more in general) it bears valid comparison in the display of overt racism against the First Nations.
Krisztina Kun, a staff member at SFPIRG, and eyewitness to the standoff remarked that the blockade was characterized just as much by racial tension as it was by disputes over land ownership. SOURCE
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Native American Netroots
...a forum for the discussion of political, social and economic issues affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States, including their lack of political representation, economic deprivation, health care issues, and the on-going struggle for preservation of identity and cultural history
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is a non-profit 501c(3) organization that provides legal representation and technical assistance to Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide - a constituency that often lacks access to the justice system. NARF focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations.
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