Cultural identity/discontent: Two tribal leaders reject secession

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

The leaders of two South Dakota tribes don't support efforts to create an independent "Lakotah" nation.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux and Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Joseph Brings Plenty said they continue to uphold treaties their ancestors signed with the United States. They said the treaties continue to protect their land, water, resources and other rights.

"Our Grandfathers fought and died for these treaties; they are the backbone of Sioux Tribes' legal relationship with the United States,” Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux said. “They protect our remaining lands, our water, our resources, our rights and our sovereignty.”

The Cheyenne River Reservation is in the north-central part of the state, bordering the Missouri River.

On Dec. 17, long-time activist/movie star Russell Means and three other members of his Lakotah Freedom Delegation delivered a document to the U.S. State Department announcing a new nation called “Lakotah,” which covers treaty land in five states, including all of western South Dakota.

Though the announcement had no practical effect -- Means does not formally represent any tribal government -- until Monday, his dramatic secession announcement had been greeted mostly with silence from tribal governments.

Brings Plenty said similar secession proposals "had been talked about around the dinner table since I was a young kid, but these individuals are not representative of the Indian Nation I represent.”

Bordeaux said the treaties of 1851 and 1868 still protected tribes. “Without these treaties, the United States Congress and the multinational corporations that control it will attempt to steal all the remaining treaty lands and sovereignty we have left through their legal institutions.”

Bordeaux said the Lakotah Freedom Delegation did not represent the 20,000 members of his tribes who live on or near 900,000 acres of trust land.

“The Lakota Freedom Delegation does not have any authorization from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to speak on its behalf,” he said.

Full articles: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/01/08/news/local/doc478294bd25eb5785538970.txt

http://www.indianz.com/News/2008/006528.asp

Activist and actor Russell Means speaks at a news conference in Washington on the Lakota Sioux Indian withdrawal from all treaties with the U.S. government.

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

My only addition to this as an editorial, if it may, is: the easiest way to conquer a people is to have them fight amongst themselves....an age old tactic since the beginning of time.