The Integrity of the White Man

The Final Indian War In America Is About To Begin


South Dakota’s Republican leadership of John Thune and Kristi Noem always march lockstep with the other Republican robots. Neither of them care that South Dakota’s largest minority, the people of the Great Sioux Nation, diametrically oppose the Pipeline and they also fail to understand the determination of the Indian people to stop it.

The House vote was 252-161 favoring the bill. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) who is trying to take the senate seat from Democrat Mary Landrieu, They are headed for a senate runoff on December 6 and Landrieu has expressed a strong support of the bill in hopes of holding her senate seat.

Two hundred twenty-one Republicans supported the bill which made the Republican support unanimous while 31 Democrats joined the Republicans. One hundred sixty-one Democrats rejected the bill.

Progressive newsman and commentator for MSNBC, Ed Schultz, traveled to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota this year to meet with the Indian opponents of the Pipeline. Firsthand he witnessed the absolute determination of the Indian nations to stop construction of the Pipeline.

He witnessed their determination and reported on it. Except for Schultz the national media shows no interest and apparently has no knowledge of how the Indian people feel about the Pipeline nor do they comprehend that they will go to their deaths stopping it. What is wrong with the national media when it comes to Indians?

As an example of the national media’s apathy, the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota have turned their backs on the $1.5 billion dollars offered to them for settling the Black Hills Claim and although they are among the poorest of all Americans, the national media does not consider this news.

Why do they protest the XL Pipeline? Because the lands the Pipeline will cross are Sacred Treaty Lands and to violate these lands by digging ditches for the pipelines is blasphemes to the beliefs of the Native Americans. Violating the human and religious rights of a people in order to create jobs and low cost fuel is the worst form of capitalism. Will the Pipeline bring down the cost of fuel and create thousands of jobs?

President Barack Obama has blocked the construction of the Pipeline for six years and he said, “I have constantly pushed back against the idea the somehow the Keystone Pipeline is either this massive jobs bill for the United States or is somehow lowering gas prices. Understand what this project is. It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. That doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.”

In the meantime Senator Landrieu conceded that it is unlikely that the Senate and the House will have the two-thirds majority needed to override an Obama veto.

Wizipan Little Elk of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and a coalition of tribal leaders from across the Northern Plains and the United States have pulled no punches on how they intend to fight the Pipeline to the death if that is the only way to stop it.

South Dakota’s elected leadership has totally ignored the protests of the largest minority residing in their state. They have also totally underestimated and misunderstood the inherent determination of the Indian people. This is a huge mistake that will have national implications and it is taking place right under their Republican noses.

What is even worse South Dakota’s media has also buried its collective heads in the sand even though Native Sun News has been reporting on the Keystone XL Pipeline since 2006. Award-winning Health and Environment Editor for Native Sun News, Talli Nauman, has been at the journalistic forefront of this environmental disaster about to happen from day one and she has been rewarded by the South Dakota Newspaper Association with many awards for her yearly series of articles on this most important topic. Until this issue became a political football, the rest of South Dakota’s media had been silent.

The Keystone XL Pipeline that is being pushed by TransCanada may well be the beginning of the final war between the United States government and the Indian Nations. A word of caution to TransCanada and the U.S. Government: please do not disregard the determination of the Indian people when they say they will fight this Pipeline to their deaths if need be. They mean it!

When asked if he truly thought that a handful of Indians could stop the construction of the Pipeline, Little Elk simply said, “Try us!”


Source: redpowermedia.files.wordpress.com

Our Land, Our Mother

Love of the Land


The old people came literally to love the soil, and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. It was good for the skin to touch the earth, and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth. 


Their tipis were built upon the earth and their altars were made of earth. The birds that flew in the air came to rest upon the earth, and it was the final abiding place of all things that lived and grew. 


The soul was soothing, strengthening, cleansing, and healing. This is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life-giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly. 


He can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him. 

- Chief Luther Standing Bear,

Teton Sioux, Born 1868

Irony of the day!
early 20th century
Robert MulvaneyFIREKEEPERS

dawn of the Earth

Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar

SELL SACRED LANDS

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — It's advertised as a one-of-a-kind deal: Nearly 2,000 acres of prime real estate nestled in the Black Hills of South Dakota for sale to the highest bidder.

But the offer to sell the land near Mount Rushmore and historic Deadwood has distressed Native American tribes who consider it a sacred site. Although the land has been privately owned, members of the Great Sioux Nation — known as Lakota, Dakota and Nakota — have been allowed to gather there each year to perform ceremonial rituals they believe are necessary for harmony, health and well-being.

Members now fear that if the property they call Pe' Sla is sold, it will be developed and they will lose access. The South Dakota Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are studying the possibility of paving one of the main roads that divides the land, a fact mentioned in the advertisement touting its development potential.

The tribes have banded together to try to raise money to buy back as much of the land as they can. But with a week to go until the Aug. 25 auction, they have only about $110,000 committed for property they believe will sell for $6 million to $10 million.

"A lot of our people who practice our way of life go there to pray and there are a lot of us that go up there," said Rodney Bordeaux, president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, which is leading the effort. "Basically, it's an opportunity for the tribes to become involved and save Pe' Sla from development, commercial development, up there and try to save it and keep it in its current state, so people can always go up there to pray."

The area is the only sacred site currently on private land outside Sioux control. The tribes believe the Sioux people were created from the Black Hills, and part of their spiritual tradition says Pe' Sla is where the Morning Star fell to earth, killing seven beings that killed seven women. The Morning Star placed the souls of the women into the night sky as "The Seven Sisters," also known as the Pleiades constellation.

The land — 1,942 acres of pristine prairie grass — is owned by Leonard and Margaret Reynolds, who would not comment on the sale. Chase Iron Eyes, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said they should be commended for how well they have preserved the land and for giving the tribes access. Iron Eyes founded Last Real Indians, a website that promotes indigenous writers and is working with the tribes to spread the word about the sale via social media.

The auction house also would not comment on the sale.

Raising money to buy the land is a monumental and controversial undertaking for the Sioux tribes. An 1868 treaty set aside the Black Hills and other land for the Sioux, but Congress passed a law in 1877 seizing the land following the discovery of gold in western South Dakota. A 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling awarded more than $100 million to the Sioux tribes for the Black Hills, but the tribes have refused to accept the money, saying the land has never been for sale. There are Sioux tribes in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska and Canada.

"There are a lot of our people that absolutely 100 percent do not agree with paying any money for land that we consider still ours, but the reality is we sometimes are forced to fight with the rules of the United States," Iron Eyes said.

Online donations totaled about $59,000 as of Friday. The Rosebud Sioux have allocated at least $50,000 to the cause, and other Sioux tribes are discussing how much to donate, Iron Eyes said.

The tribes are not the only ones concerned about the sale. The closest business to the property is Mount Meadow Store & Campground, which is about nine miles away by road. Manager Dave Oyen said he would like to see the road paved to make it friendlier to visitors, but he worries the land could end up spliced among many different buyers. He said he hopes that it goes in one piece to a rancher.

The auction comes amid a renewed interest in preserving indigenous peoples' lands and sacred sites. James Anaya, a University of Arizona professor and United Nations special rapporteur, traveled the country earlier this year visiting Native Americans. Afterward, he specifically noted the Black Hills as land that should be restored to the Native Americans as a way to foster reconciliation. The Department of the Interior also has been holding sessions around the country on about the importance of protecting sacred sites on federal land.

Even if the tribes buy Pe' Sla, it's not clear what will happen next. Will one Sioux tribe be responsible for the land or will it be split among them all?

"We don't know that yet, but we are aware of it. Step No.1 is to secure the site," Iron Eyes said.

Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/
kristieaton.

There are several things to be mindful of. Near the end of the article doubt was expressed about what comes after the purchase of Pe'Sla, if it happens. In high negotiations not knowing the next right step means the right questions are not being asked of each other. If the Lakota People don't learn to ask the right questions to each other the right questions addressed to the land grabbers will not get to the revelations the Whites conceal in their dealings.

Pay attention to the Black Americans. Remember the hoopla over the Confederate flag in South Carolina's capital flying atop the building a few years ago? Well in the end the flag came down, but the Black activists didn't ask the right questions of themselves. This made it easier for their opponents to ask themselves, "Where do they (the Blacks) want us to put the flag when we take it down?"

The question never came up, and the whites did not tutor the Blacks in the negotiations, or raise the question themselves. Where is the flag now? It is on the ground in the middle of the city in everyone's face! 

Another thing that won't leave my mind as I mull over this was said by Supreme Court Justice Scalia August 9, 2009. He said, "United States policy is revolved around conquest.. So, Indian nations are conquered nations, and the treaties have been upheld."

That is a fundamental part of the consciousness of American people who have generally rendered Native people invisible. Even so-called good hearted people harbor this, and at the negotiations for land this is one of the set values sitting across from the Lakota representatives who may not have enough money to lull the whites into creative discussions that may prove to be beneficial to all concerned. 

There is also a deep seated belief that land should be built upon. What has the power to offset this belief system? Plus the deep seated belief in the inferiority of improvised people as a liability works against causes... We of the Black and the Red nations need to be in relationships with the Japanese to learn their great lessons! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [8/19/12]