Just being fair. That would have said essentially the same thing another way.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2012/03/lakotas-arrested-halting-keystone-xl-pipeline-trucks

thanks.

Sharing on Facebook to get the word out.

Legally as far as I know XL could be arrested once they go on reservation land. How one cant know Pine Ridge is there is total fucking bullshit of the highest order. Original racism was against Native Americans. XL stepped in a load of shit this time.

best of luck to them.......

a debate to determine if they will get permission...IN THE FUTURE. Really! What nerve! Good for the Lakota and I hope everyone else who is being invaded by this oil company take over keeps them out too.

Is the pipeline construction going through anyway, without federal clearance? What's going on here?

The Keystone Pipeline is on hold. There are others, not quite as ambitious, I would think.

was to allow or disallow it to cross an international border. That is, to cross into or from Canada. What happens inside the United States is up to each individual state government, and not the US State Department. The only other hands the federal government has in this comes from the EPA, FERC (Federal Energy regulatory Commission), and whomever else has a say in interstate commerce and movement of goods. Most times, once a pipeline company does all the preparation for their FERC submission, it tends to just get rubber-stamped for approval, after the review process.

Now as far as Native American lands go, yes, the feds will have to get involved in this if they aren't already.

Hold the line!

Fuck off!

Don't know how to contact these protesters, but here's a link to one of the best tribal law experts in the Americas: http://kickingbirdassociates.com/

Great guy and know his stuff.

If you want to show support, my suggestion would be to "like" KILI on Facebook. They have a lengthy thread going on this topic. My guess is that these folks can get you in contact with the protesters.

Another thing: many on KILI are asking "where's the media?" Contact a local paper or TV outlet with this, or contact CNN/MSNBC/Major Networks (heck, if you can stand the smell, contact FAUX). This admonition goes double for you if you live somewhere like Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Bismark, Cheyenne, Denver, Omaha (wait, what?? ), Lincoln, Fargo, or Rapid City.

I'll call the Post this morning. Also the Boulder Daily Camera.

time the Rapid City Journal or Sioux Falls Argus Leader gives a shit about Indians is if they've been arrested for crimes against a white person or for tribal misconduct. Otherwise, they don't exist. You'd think they'd recognize that this is 2012 and not 1951, but not in this state.

I keep hearing that, and interviews of white high school students for various radio stories on hate crimes in South Dakota seemed to confirm it. Apparently, open race hatred towards Indians is tolerated and even taught in some South Dakota communities. WTF? I have conservative relatives in that area but they aren't anti-Indian to my knowledge.

there's any one all-encompassing answer. My own theory is that it's similar to why the South hated and dehumanized African-Americans. They knew their treatment of blacks was wrong and so to justify it and make themselves feel better, they dehumanized them so that they could therefore blame them for their own oppression and mistreatment. Same thing here. The state knows deep down that it was wrong to oppress, massacre and mistreat Indians then confine them to reservations (there are nine reservations in this state, all Sioux), and, to justify it so as to assuage its guilt, it's had to dehumanize and blame THEM. My husband and I are white, but we've lived and worked on reservations and I've seen and heard it myself. Some white towns within reservations and some border towns can be even more viciously racist than other areas. And Rapid City is especially horrendously racist, it's spoon fed and deep-rooted.

The Journal doesn't help, with its focus on Indian "criminals" and its stirring up of racial issues and problems within the schools and its refusal to recognize its complicity. Things really hit the fan when a young Indian male in Rapid City shot three policeman during a routine sidewalk patrol stop last August, killing two of them. The racists really came out of the woodwork then, and many Indian Rapid City residents were and remain fearful. Good luck getting hired for any kind of job or not getting followed around in stores or getting good service in many restaurants if you're Indian in Rapid City.

Lord help them if they ever tangle with a Cherokee lawyer. We have many that are well versed esp in constitutional law. They don't get mad, they get even.

How does this stand?

everything was included.

Good for the Lakota Oyate - may your ancestors come to your aid.

Can they (the tribe) tell the federal government to piss off even if it was approved by the feds or are is the tribe sol?
Just asking because I do not know all the interactions and laws when it comes to indian reservations and the federal government.

No one can demand access to private property. That should be simple enough.

Mind you I am not sure if it applies on reservations but if it does the tribe could be sol.

The company has stepped into deep doodoo. And to be that arrogant on top of that? When and if you cross that land you are a guest and should act as such.

Things are cranking up here in Oklahoma over water rights. It is shaping up to be a multigenerational fight.

I wasnt sure if applied.
It will be interesting to see what happens next though either way.

the land in the treaty was surrendered to the Indians for their use. Of course, since when did a treaty stop the US from doing what they want-right. It was a divide and conquer strategy. Laws very depending on the treaty signed-YMMV. Did you know that a common name for Indian reservations were POW camps on many official documents-that was an eye opener for me when I first read it. When you are on tribal land, you are subject to tribal laws. If it is something beyond the scope of tribal law, it is handled at the federal level by the FBI generally. Did you know the government practiced ethnic cleansing by selling small pox infested blankets and taking young children away from their family for placement in boarding schools.

I do know that the Sioux went to the reservation kicking and screaming and raising holy hell, especially those that ended up on the Redbud, and Pineridge POW camps.

That is where AIM got it's start. All you ever need to do is read the writings of Russel Means. He is truly the most dangerous man, and one our government should fear because he is truly a free man and free independent thinker. He can be eloquent in his expression. They have tried to lock him up and did imprison his friend. He makes me think of the great chiefs of yesteryear every time I listen to him or read his works.

He jokes now that since TSA and Homeland Security....we all live on the Reservation.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Indian-Movement/108460229178254

Russell Means is Oglala Lakota but several of the other founders are members of various Chippewa Bands in Minnesota.

nt

But I desperately needed another post, so, what the hey...

Photos on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.335191396533449.92463.100001277745825&type=3

We are also trying to propagate this story on Digg: http://digg.com/news/politics/lakotas_arrested_halting_keystone_xl_pipeline_trucks

Our Government might need to protect their corprate personhoods.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4838363&mesg_id=4838363

A Native Man Asks Democrats- (2005 DU2)
"I'm pretty new here, but I hope that you folks can listen to me and hear what it is I have to say.

I'm opposed to the Bush administration, I do not like what they are doing in the world and to other people of color.

I am Oglala Lakota, and I'm from the Pine Ridge reservation in S. Dakota. What I want to ask you democrat people is why you have not put restoration of our treaty rights, our land claims, and freedom of our political prisoners at the very top of your agendas. Your track record in these areas is no better than the republicans. We do not want your government programs, your handouts, your funding. We do not want a "seat at your table" We have our own table...time long past for you to give it back. Your party is more than willing to be an advocate to the Palestinians, to black people, and to most any other oppressed people in the world, but you run from us. Why?

I will tell you why. It is because it is easier and more comfortable to ask someone else to give something up than it is to give it up yourselves. Restoring land claims would mean plenty of democratic voters might lose land, homes, businesses. This must not be acceptable to you, yet you have no problem asking the Israelis to do the same thing.

We as native people are the legitimate keepers of this land, not the US government and your people as a nation will NEVER have national honor regardless of who you elect and how you change the current foreign policy. You cannot have honor unless and untill you deal with us, and live up to the obligations that you have agreed to long ago.

I say this not to make enemies, not to anger or alienate, but to send a voice so YOU can force your politicians to make this a front and center issue, so you will know the right thing to do. Your nation is doomed unless you listen to us."

He was a good person I maintained personal contact with for a while. A troll got him banned, as I recall.
BHN

Thanks for link and reminder.

Where and how have you been?

BHN

I rarely repost anything. However, I want to repost this. This was my post this past Veterans Day on DU2. You'd be right to ask "what on earth does this have to do with the topic at hand?" I've been to Pine Ridge several times -- all briefly, on business. On my last trip, I went to Wounded Knee. There's a memorial to an atrocious crime there - the Wounded Knee Massacre. It's not a pretty memorial; it's lacks the manicured quality of the sites of other American bloodlettings, like Antietam or Gettysburg. Weeds grow among the many markers, and there is graffitti on the Sacred Heart Chapel.

I'll pause here to reflect on an excerpt from the post:

Our nation has not dealt honorably with the inhabitants of Pine Ridge. And yet, what struck me at that cemetery were three markers. The markers of the Spotted Bear family. All three had served in the US Armed Forces. All three lived up to their obligations. Is it so much to ask our nation -- if nothing else -- to simply respect the treaty agreements we made?

..but I'm rambling, as I'm inclined to do. This post was entitled, "In Honor of Veterans Day: The Spotted Bears."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2283976

**********************************************************************


This Veterans Day, I wanted to take a moment to honor some soldiers that I never met, and do not know.

Earlier this year, I came across three graves.



These were the graves of the Spotted Bears: Edward, Thomas, and Charles.



Thomas' grave immediately catches the eye. He was a scout in the Indian Wars.



This is the Grave of Charles Spotted Bear, who served in the Army, but not in any particular war that is noted on the marker.



This is the marker of Edward Spotted Bear. He died in WW II. I performed a little on-line research, and couldn't find much, except that he died in Germany in 1945.

As I said, I don't know who these men were, and I'm not related to any of them. I don't know if one is a father and the others are sons, or if they are all brothers, or if they are cousins.

What struck me most about the Spotted Bears was where they were resting -- in the cemetery of the Sacred Heart Church, in Wounded Knee, SD. Just a few yards away from these markers is the mass grave in which victims were buried after a massacre of Native Americans by US Troops on December 29, 1890. It is a place where we buried Americans killed by Americans, and it is sacred and hallowed ground.

Wounded Knee is in the Pine Ridge Reservation. The poverty and unemployment levels are staggering. It is a place, I feel, where liberals and conservatives alike could come together and agree that the inhabitants received awful treatment by the US Government. It's also a place where, I feel, that liberals and conservatives alike could agree that whatever the government has spent or done in an attempt to help these people, it seems to have failed.

If there was ever a place where men might be justified in refusing to serve, it's Pine Ridge. Yet they do serve, and have served, and clearly, they serve with pride. In a native hotel/casino, I came across a memorial to Woodrow Wilson Keeble (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Keeble), a member of the Sioux Tribe, a WWII and Korea Veteran, and a posthumous recepient of the Medal of Honor. On the highway into Pine Ridge, I saw an older tribe member in a pick up truck featuring very prominent American flag stickers, and stickers representing the Vietnam Service Ribbon. And I saw the Spotted Bears.

So today, I thank the Spotted Bears, and I thank all of the veterans - from whatever background - who have served this nation and kept us free.

My daughter volunteered there summer before last with the
RE-Member organization.

She came back absolutely devastated by the poverty she saw there.
She couldn't believe it was happening in the United States.

It is a disgrace to our country that the situation persists.

I think every American should be required to spend a few weeks there.

BHN

http://www.re-member.org/

I wish Ann Romney, or many other Americans who are in the upper 20% but don't consider themselves wealthy, could do a week in re-member. From what I understand, it is not an essentially liberal organization. I've read that faith-based colleges recommend re-member as an "alternative spring break" to encourage students not to go drinking in Cabo or Key West or wherever.

Projects include digging outhouses (yes - there is a place in America where outdoor plumbing is still in use), building bunk beds, and skirting mobile homes.

See more here: http://www.re-member.org/projects.aspx

Good think too- she would have not received any attempt to
"bring her to Jesus" very well.
I would pity those who would try-


Thanks for posting the Re-Member link-
Maybe we can organize a DU group to go...
I would love that.

BHN

Both powerful threads, that one and the Spotted Bear one.

Any one have word on what that was about? It looks like 5 Elders were arrested and are out on bail. What the heck is going on?

For those on Facebook, spread the word by sharing that KILI status.

On edit: Saw Post #5. Still helpful to spread the word on this.

Thank you for posting

I had the profound honor of being there a couple of years ago.
I'm there in spirit now. Wopila and blessings to all.

"corporate rights" do NOT supercede all other laws!


Update via FB posted at about 10:00 AM

https://www.facebook.com/notes/clayton-thomas-muller/update-from-debra-white-plume-of-oglala-nation-on-blockade-of-keystone-xl-heavy-/10150729557993573

More about Alex White Plume:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Silent_Nation

nice phrase to keep in mind.

from the WikiLink you gave:

Standing Silent Nation is a 2007 documentary film about Alex White Plume, an industrious resident of South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation. After a great deal of research, Alex and his family planted industrial hemp, under the incorrect assumption that tribal sovereignty laws would allow the production of this non-psychoactive relative of marijuana, and the film details the consequences of his actions. [1]

Standing Silent Nation was directed by Suree Towfighnia and aired as part of PBS's Point of View series in 2007.
Contents

I highly recommend watching, better yet, buying this video!

(just noticed the "incorrect assumption" and "consequences" words used in there...grrr)

So, the State Troopers are right there on the scene telling the truck drivers they cannot enter the reservation, but the people defending the border are arrested for "disorderly conduct." Meanwhile, the trucks pass on by.

Sounds like Life in America to me.

-- Mal

We must hold the line....this far and no farther!!!!

we got the alert Cherokee Nation via Phoenix airwaves in record time.

We can't get up there quick enough, but we are sending prayers of strength. The phone tree is up and running.

If the workers take a nation
They can stop all speeding trains
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation
Every mine and every mill
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at the command stand still.

From Joe Hill's "Workers of The World Unite!"

Thank you Lakota for standing up to the corporate criminals.

I have always been an advocate for the Native Americans. Hasn't the white man done enough to them? We tried killing them off and then took away their lands and put them on reservations. Now, the white man is trying to encroach on their reservation lands.

are sovereign nations inhabited by US citizens. The United States is a sovereign nation inhabited by all Americans, citizens and others. Corporate rights my ass. Corporations will have no rights when Americans refuse to concede them.

I hope the trucks has all 16 tires slashed.

If I see anything new, I'll post.

Which is great! The more exposure, the better.
I would not be surprised if Occupy is organizing a
group to go and stand in solidarity with the Lakota.
If anyone hears of such a thing, please post it!
BHN

So we have no voice in this.

I thought the Keystone issue had been settled-
Guess not!
BHN

Custer refused to turn around too. Those that don't learn from history....

As of this morning...so far

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/06-3

http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/five-lakota-arrested-for-forming-blockade-on-pine-ridge-reservation.html?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150712951306963_23020651_10150714393941963#f136b79db3df3fc

* SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NICK TILSEN * * *
Regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline

Dear relatives, we are all part of a world faced by looming climate change, not to mention the current challenges to our way of life. It seems quite often that our love of nature and Unci Maka is constantly in question with today's atmosphere of trying to make more money and "grow, grow, grow" no matter the costs to health and the environment. I stand in opposition to the underlying MOTIVES behind the Keystone XL Pipeline, and thus, the project itself. Our brothers and sisters to the north are under grave environmental threat by the processes being used to get at this oil. There is question about if this oil is even staying on the north american continent. The science of the engineering cannot promise us absolute safety of our critical water resources and health of our people. So, what are we doing to look at our behaviors? Why do we as north americans consume over 25% of the world's resources even though our population is not that big? How can we divorce "economy" from "environment" to the point we can make believe that any harm caused is for the "greater good" when its only a few people with massive amounts of money are making even more money, while most of our people remain in crushing poverty. In the Lakota language, it is hard to say "economy" and "environment" as a separate concept. The language simply doesn't "think" that way. So, we must continue to stand up for ourselves. We must continue to fight those who do not respect Unci Maka. We must continue to not just put up with "whatever." We are strong Lakota people and we didn't just get here in 2012 by being complacent. If you care about your kids and grandkids, we must never give up. Never. And if you see a truck filled with things destined to ruin the environment of our relatives to the north (and destroying our roads here at home), then block it and ask them to leave... no matter how many days and years it takes. I support all of our people that have been making a stand on this issue and I encourage others to as well. We must stick together in solidarity and support one another.

Mitakuye Oyasin. Nick

There is little I can say that you all have not already stated. It is just so embarrassing and infuriating to see this country violate its very laws and principles, decade after decade throughout my life. We have a congress that violates the laws they pass so why should we be surprised that the other branches of government also violate laws, court orders and what is portrayed as American values and ethics. Perhaps when it comes to the federal government that should be the supposed values and ethics as they, the federal government, have little to none of either.

In the process of their felonious methodology they have corrupted too many of our own native leaders as part of their ongoing effort to ultimately disband all indigenous nations and wash their hands of any responsibility. There has been no honor nor any ethics displayed or employed in these policies.

I am sure the feds will come up with some legal twist to justify the continuing violations of law and treaty and force the people into submission. Those who disagree or stand up will eventually be accused of being terrorists and then be taken away without any due process so they can never be heard from again. The feds have already set the ground work to allow themselves such blatant violations of the constitution, in particular the bill of rights.

I would call them all anisuli hawini usti only that would insult buzzards everywhere.

Dodadagohvi, nvwatohiyadv

Unegv Waya