Mohawks welcome Lakota Freedom Delegation to Akwesasne Longhouse

This is a very important international gathering. On December 17th the Lakota declared their continuing independence and withdrew from all treaties with the U.S.

People worldwide have come to realize that colonial societies are responsible for wars, deaths, degradation of the environment and many social injustices. They still haven’t admitted that their colonial practices fully fit the definition of genocide. They haven’t even admitted that colonialism is a form of addiction to hierarchy and domination.

Now that some Europeans are coming to their senses and starting to heal themselves, we’d like to move our relationship forward onto a more respectful footing. Ordinary heirs to the colonial order are supporting Ongwehonwe efforts. Some of them even want to serve as ambassadors from their states to the Lakota to facilitate an orderly transition from the colonial modes of operation that have wreaked havoc in the world during the last few centuries.

We all want an egalitarian society that will protect everyone and the environment that our future generations must depend upon. The old colonial “command and obey” paradigm simply does not work. At the first sign that the sickness of colonialism is about to go into remission, they do everything they can to prevent open, public and egalitarian discussions aimed at creating good social health. In times like these the colonists reassert their model using violence, threats, coercion and skullduggery.

There are lots of “ambulance chasers”, bureaucrats, politicians and corporations who are eager to do this; a) because they don’t know any better; and b) because they’re greedy and they know at some subliminal level that their neurotic control freak functions will be considered criminal in a decolonized world order. If we ever manage to eradicate this disease there will be no more use for “ambulance chasing Chihuauas” who claim to be working for Ongwehonwe “pro bono”.

They invariably fail to mention that the impoverished Ongwehonwe are expected to pick up the tab for their fancy dinners and executive hotel suites while they engage endlessly in dead end negotiations that would not be legal if they ever saw the light of day. [Why can't they meet at Tim Horton's or Dunkin Donuts?]

Colonialism has been repudiated under international law. We need to re-examine our independence and the terms of co-existence with the colonizers. Despite growing support for the positive initiatives the Lakota are taking, we can expect intrusive and obstructive tactics. No doubt, they have already cranked their surveillance up to the hilt. In keeping with their habit of ignoring our humanity and treating us disrespectfully, they especially dislike those who have a clear sense of our rights and identity.

We would never succumb to the dubious pleasures of joining them in their “crack house” addiction. Among other Ongwehonwe, these junkies dislike the Mohawks and the Lakota. We have called each other, in jest, “the Mohawks of the West” and “the Lakota of the East”. We even joke about who is hated the most by the colonists!

WHY?

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.
• More than 6753 Lakota children have been placed in foster care with non-Lakota parents.

After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative. That alternative is to bring freedom back into existence by taking it back - back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway. Canupa Gluha Mani

Lakota has been reborn as a free and sovereign nation!

This rebirth is the realization of an ongoing process lasting no less than 33 years and guided by the Great Mystery, the Ancestors, and traditional Elders.

1974: The first International Indian Treaty Council brings together more than 5000 delegates representing 98 Indian tribes and Nations from North and South America. The Declaration of Continuing Independence, a manifesto representing the wisdom of thousands of people, their Ancestors, and the Great Mystery supports the rights of Indigenous Nations to live free and to take whatever actions necessary for sovereignty.

2004: Lakota representatives renew communication with the traditional chiefs and treaty councils in the following communities: Pine Ridge, Porcupine, Kyle, Rosebud, Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, and Flandreau. Additional consultation with the Treaty Council occurred during a Defenders of Black Hills meeting in Rapid City.

December 17, 2007: Lakota Freedom Delegation delivers letter to U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. withdrawing from all treaties with the United States government. Delegation consists of Mni yuha Najin Win (Phyllis Young), Teghiya Kte (Gary Rowland), Oyate Wacinyapin (Russell Means), Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane Martin Sr.), Delegation Liaison Naomi Archer (Iladurarrak Nation), and several other members.

December 17, 2007: Freedom Delegation holds international press conference at Plymouth congregational church in Washington D.c. News becomes world-wide sensation. Website receives over half-a-million hits from more than 100 different nations in one week!

December 30, 2007: Lakota Freedom Delegation website and contact info taken by one delegation member without consent of all other delegates. So-called "Republic of Lakotah" and "provisional government" is announced despite the fact "republic" is not a Lakota word and Lakota already has a traditional form of government still in existence.

January 1, 2008: Lakota Oyate emerges from the Lakota Freedom Delegation to ensure the voice of the people - Elders and children - is respected and heard. Contact information continues from Freedom Delegation with email to lakotafree [at] gmail.com and liaison/media phone to (828) 230-1404.

January 1, 2008: Lakota Oyate launches website at www.lakotaoyate.net

January 5, 2008: Meeting and honor ceremony for the Lakota Freedom Delegation held in St. Francis on Rosebud.

See

LAKOTA SECEDE FROM U.S. AND ALL TREATIES

Dare to Compare: Americanizing the Holocaust

MORE
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/01/mohawks-welcome-lakota-freedom.html

Please also see:

Mohawk Nation News http://www.mohawknationnews.com

Lakota Oyate: Recovering Lakota territory after trail of broken treaties
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=4234&blz=1

Republic of Lakotah Notice
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=4226&blz=1

The Lakota will never forget Wounded Knee 1890,
by Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout5.php&id=4217&blz=1

Lakota Sioux Declare Sovereignty
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=4202&blz=1