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Yes, that's the same thing I gathered from it. Yes, I would think that they feel they will get ALL the original land back since they are pulling out of all the treaties. I don't get it either~you each get 160 acres of land, sell it to non-Indians~then come back and say it's really yours. That's just typical of the way it's been going for years. The thing that irritates me is that it appears they have half the country fooled into believing that we mean white people up here just won't help them out at all and they have to live in the poorest county in the nation.
"A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed..." Besides Mr. Means who was in the delegation? Do they have any authority to speak/act on behalf of any particular tribe or band? If tribes are sovereign nations/governments, how does Mr. Means act on behalf of those separate sovereigns? Or was each tribe officially represented by somebody in the unspecified delegation? Just curious as the Fox story leaves out those details...
Even the Lakota Freedom Delegation itself notes that it "...does not speak for the Lakota people...". http://www.lakotafreedom.com/history.html (broken link)
With the map shown by Big City V, I know that this would rile up a number of farmers and ranchers. Especially in Nebraska, where there are very few Native Americans. If the so called Lakota nation will not tax its people, how will it expect to raise money to fund its roads, social services, education, and police force? What does it plan to do for economic activity? To me, it sounds like fantasy-land ideas of a few and actually do not respresent most of the Native Amercians. As mentioned in prior posts, the Lakota were not the original inhabitants of the area. They were prevelant here in the 1700s and 1800s but the Arikara were here before and were pushed out and there were other tribes here before the Lakota. The idea seems outlandish and efforts should be focused on improving relations and reconciling difference with other races along with improving quality of life issues, education, and economic opportunities for Native Americans instead of further isolating themselves and feed further into complacency and bitterness to those outside their world. The proposal for a separate Nation would further the bitterness and isolation and will not help with their current issues.
This is not only going to rile a few ranchers and farmers. The map also show's that they are claiming land in Montana that is currently the Crow Indian Res and the Cheyenne Indian Res. Both are very prosperous tribes.
Is this going to lead to another uprising by Russel like Wounded Knee?
This is not only going to rile a few ranchers and farmers. The map also show's that they are claiming land in Montana that is currently the Crow Indian Res and the Cheyenne Indian Res. Both are very prosperous tribes.
Is this going to lead to another uprising by Russel like Wounded Knee?
Very good point in regards to the other tribes. It will also cast an unfair shadow on other tribes and Native Americans who are reasonable because of the loony ideas of a few including Russel Means.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1980 awarded the tribes $122 million as compensation, but the court did not award land. The Lakota have refused the settlement. (As interest accrues, the unclaimed award is approaching $1 billion.)
In the late 1980s, then-Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey introduced legislation to return federal land to the tribes, and California millionaire Phil Stevens also tried to win support for a proposal to return the Black Hills to the Lakota.
In the face of the colonial apartheid conditions imposed on Lakota people, the withdrawal from the U.S. Treaties is necessary. These conditions have been devastating:
MORTALITY
* Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, lowest of any country in the World (excluding AIDS) including Haiti.
* Lakota death rate is the highest in the United States.
* The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.
* Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average for this group.
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
* More than half the Reservation's adults battle addiction and disease.
* Alcoholism affects 8 in 10 families.
INCARCERATION
* Indian children incarceration rate 40% higher than whites.
* In South Dakota, 21 percent of state prisoners were Native.
* Indians have the second largest state prison incarceration rate in the nation.
DISEASE
* The Tuberculosis rate on Lakota reservations is approx 800% higher than the U.S national average.
* Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S national average.
* The rate of diabetes is 800% higher than the U.S national average.
* Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar foods that kill Native people through diabetes and heart disease.
POVERTY
* Median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
* 97% of our Lakota people live below the poverty line.
* Many families cannot afford heating oil, wood or propane and many residents use ovens to heat their homes.
HOUSING
* Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).
* 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricty.
* 60% of Reservation families have no telephone.
* 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.
* There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (may only have two to three rooms).
Some homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.
UNEMPLOYMENT
* Unemployment rates on our reservations is 85% or higher.
THREATENED CULTURE
* Only 14% of the Lakota population can speak Lakota language.
* The language is not being shared inter-generationally, today, the average Lakota speaker is 65 years old.
* Our Lakota language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction.
First of all, New City~I don't know where they get those stats from. Visit the reservations and you'll understand why I say that. They do have running water, but often sell their sinks and bathtubs that the government has provided for them in the new homes they give them.
Yes, they have a very high rate of TB. I'm sure once they become totally independent from the white man, they will tackle that issue.
Is it everyone else's fault that they over eat and over drink and have Type 2 diabetes? And yes, they do have a very short lifespan. Suicide and accidents while intoxicated can definitely shorten a life.
Again, are we to blame that they break laws and become incarcerated? Wish we could all do things we wanted to do and when we're caught, place the blame on others.
Since the Sioux receive free medical and dental care as long as they're registered with a tribe, it might be time for the females to go in and receive their free medical exams. It may lower their cervical cancer deaths.
Since they will no longer be relying on government commodities, it will take care of the awful sugary food that the government is poisoning them with.
Yes, my income would be very low, too if I didn't go out and get a job and KEEP it. Most employers frown on you skipping the following two work days after you receive a paycheck.
Whoever wrote those stats~I'm requesting addresses of the Indian homes that lack sewage and electricity. They don't pay their own heat bills~the government gives them an alloted amount yearly to heat their homes. Maybe if they could at least work part time, they could subsidize their heat. I'd also like to see the stats of names and addys of all those that freeze to death every winter. I've read about it on occasion such as someone who went out and laid in a ditch or on the road and was found frozen to death the next morning. It's just not wise for anyone to do that.
17 people in each home? Where are these numbers coming from? I've been to many reservations and none of this is even factual.
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