# Lakota Indians Withdraw Treaties



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

FOX News

Lakota Indians Withdraw Treaties Signed With U.S. 150 Years Ago
Thursday, December 20, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,'' long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means said.

A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the U.S., some of them more than 150 years old.

The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said.

The treaties signed with the U.S. were merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists said.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution,'' which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent,'' said Means.

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence - an overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration of Independence from England.

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row,'' Means said.

One duck moved into place in September, when the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples - despite opposition from the United States, which said it clashed with its own laws.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children,'' Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

The U.S. "annexation'' of native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere "facsimiles of white people,'' said Means.

Oppression at the hands of the U.S. government has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life expectancies - less than 44 years - in the world.

Lakota teen suicides are 150 per cent above the norm for the U.S.; infant mortality is five times higher than the U.S. average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Do you suppose Means is talking for all of them or just himself?


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Wow, that leaves a lot of questions. Will people need a passport to go to the casinos? Will native Americans need passports to leave the reservations? Will they pay back the millions of dollars in treaty settlements.

My guess is Means is just hoping for a few more hundred thousand from the government to his personal wallet. He has made his living being a pain in the keester to the government. With no benefit to native Americans I might add. The logistics of making this work would be terrible for the reservations. For example, how would we get the millions of dollars to them that we give to them now? Foreign aid? How about housing? I can't see it working.

I was in Wounded Knee a few weeks after Russell Means and Dennis Banks left, back in about 1975. As a hunter all I can remember about that is they killed a cow and only got 60 pounds of meat off it. At least that was the story I got from a native American in a resturant there.


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## walker (Sep 27, 2007)

KEN W said:


> Lakota teen suicides are 150 per cent above the norm for the U.S.; infant mortality is five times higher than the U.S. average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.


The answer to their problems is to move forward not backwards. The solution is in their hands. Cultures all over the world embrace modern western society and maintain their cultural identity. The only way to prosper in the modern world is to do so.


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## johnsona (Dec 4, 2003)

If Means is indeed speaking for a large percentage of the Lakota peoples, and this is how they feel, then good for them for standing up for what they believe. They must realize however that if they choose this road, all government support can (and should, IMO) be cut. No more nice little privileges. If they decide that they want to be an independent nation then they should be ready for the U.S. Government to take the land back. Why should we allow another country within our own?

Walker, you mirror my thoughts exactly.

Plainsman, I would hope that they would need passports to leave the reservations, and that they would have to pay back the settlement monies. Despite my strong feelings on this issue, I don't think our government will ever be as stern on this issue as it needs to be. We'll let them say whatever they want so they feel good about themselves, and we'll keep giving them money. Hopefully they'll realize what they need to do before they destroy their own culture. For the most part we've left them to their own devices on the reservations, and the stats show that they continue to slide towards disaster. Yet they still blame the government.


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

You mean the US taxpayers don't have to pay them any more welfare checks anymore? GOOD!!!


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

Push um North!


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

So the answer to unbelievable unemployment, infant mortality, and teen suicide is to cut yourself off from a country that largely has a grip on those problems?


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

Isolation need not be synonymous with retaining cultural identity. Russel means is now an actor and director. Like most of these, he goes where the dollar leads him. Means is not a chief, although many of his people think so. He is a shepherd, simply leading the sheep to their eventual demise, as they are assimilated into (as so many already have) the poorest example of American society. I'll bet someone is pulling his strings. I'd like to know who. 
Those from the reservations who have, and continue to use those pathways open to them for both self, and cultural betterment should be the leaders. However, most find it more prudent to live and work elsewhere to fulfill their own dreams of success in this ever changing world, rather than continuing to be dragged down within the confines of the reservation welfare system. 
I genuinely wish the tribes, as a whole were able to handle their own destiny. Currently, they are not. 
If they are planning on re-creating Las Vegas on the Rosebud, more power to them. It might be an interesting, if sad, experiment.
Burl


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## theodore (Nov 3, 2007)

Suddenly the future of reservations looks brighter.


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

From the Indian Country Today Publication

*Harjo: 2007 Mantle of Shame Awards* 
© Indian Country Today December 21, 2007. All Rights Reserved 
Posted: December 21, 2007 
by: Suzan Shown Harjo / Indian Country Today

This year has been filled with so many acts worthy of a place on the Mantle of Shame that there simply isn't room for all the deserving. But don't think that the anti-Indian wingnut writers or Team Abramoff didn't make the cut. I just can't bear to write another word about them this year. Ditto for the Mel Gibson's uber-tacky Macacalypto and Ward Churchill's bizarre ''Dances with Identities.''

Kudos to anyone who tried to do anything about anything this year, especially if you helped someone in need, stood up for Indian rights or committed resistance art. The following is for you.

The 2007 Mantle of Shame Awards

Congress and the White House - for not reauthorizing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. A very special place is reserved for Justice Department lawyers who want to exclude traditional tribal healing and the majority Native population: urban Indians.

The White House and Congress - for not enacting a cause of action to defend Native American sacred places. The Forest Service and Justice share a special place for supporting ''yellow'' snow on the San Francisco Peaks and opposing tribal traditions there.

The White House and Congress - for not clarifying the definition of ''Native American'' and returning the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to the original intent of Congress.

The Federal Communications Commission - for its Dec. 18 adoption of media-ownership rules that move toward deregulation and away from diversity, favoring big media consolidation over minority- and woman-owned broadcast outlets.

The pope - for not withdrawing the doctrine of discovery papal bulls that have wrought so much havoc on Native peoples of this hemisphere. Judges who are raining injustice on Native Americans share this award for relying on 15th-century European religious law to continue to separate Native peoples from Native lands; for penalizing Native plaintiffs for barriers and passage of time caused by others; and for ruling on the side of non-Natives who may be disturbed in the future, while disregarding the disruption and damage to Native peoples that have taken place already.

The Associated Press, Washington - for erroneously reporting that Makah hunters used a machine gun to kill a gray whale, which made a complex, tragic situation a dangerous one for the entire Makah Tribe and all Native peoples. The false report of Sept. 8 machine-gunning both ignited an anti-Indian firestorm and made reasoned discourse on Makah traditional whaling nearly impossible.

The Associated Press, Seattle and D.C. - for distributing an erroneous Oct. 4 report nationwide, without fact-checking or questioning the bias of the non-AP writer and without seeking Native or congressional comment; and for a Dec. 7 article, ''Scientists protest tribal control over ancient remains,'' a better article with fewer inaccuracies, but with an overall bias against the tribal interest. The October article falsely proclaimed that the NAGPRA amendment could return Kennewick Man to tribes; misstated that the amendment is ''tucked inside'' a methamphetamine grant bill, when it's in a technical corrections bill that has nothing to do with drugs or money; and even miscounted the number of words in the bill (two, rather than the actual 13). Embarrassingly, ICT ran the second article without fact-checking, seeking Native comment or quoting supporting resolutions of Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, National Congress of American Indians and 8 Northern Pueblos.

LEGO Western Chess, Indians v. Cavalry - for inflicting on children in the vulnerable ages of 6 to 12 a stereotype delivery system with lessons in inequality and non-equivalent humanity. The ''game'' features as queens a ''Squaw'' (offensive word for Native woman) opposite ''Western Woman'' (dignified or neutral descriptive term); kings, ''Chief'' and ''General'' (not really equivalent, but toys may be forgiven some lack of nuance); bishops, ''Medicine Man'' (wearing horned headdresses, holding snakes and scowling) and ''Chaplin'' (bareheaded, blond, holding chalices and smiling); knights, ''Warrior'' (generic) and ''Lieutenant'' (specific officer rank); rooks, ''Totem Pole'' (not human) and ''Bugler in Fort'' (human, musician); and pawns, ''Indians'' (race) and ''Soldiers'' (job).

Uncle Tomahawk Chops - for their unusual focus on and attachment to ''Indian'' sports references and their singular disregard of the views or situations of living Native Americans. The hands-down winner in this category this year is the University of North Dakota, whose fans would rather spend tens of millions of dollars in court to keep their team name and images than pay attention to the actual Sioux peoples who are telling them to retire ''Fighting Sioux.'' Dishonorable mentions go to the Indian hustler who cut a deal with UND to convince the Sioux nations to change their minds and the non-Indian hustler who made up the T-shirts with this: ''No Sioux Logo / No Sioux Casinos.''

_*Russell Means - for his mid-December announcement in D.C. that he is unilaterally withdrawing the Lakota Sioux from treaties with the United States. News flash to Means: treaties are made between nations; you are a person and not a nation; you are not empowered to speak for the Great Sioux Nation; as an individual, you can only withdraw yourself from coverage of your nation's treaties. (Means is the same Oglala Sioux actor who tried to beat domestic violence charges by challenging the sovereign authority of the Navajo Nation to prosecute him - he took it all the way to the Supreme Court and lost.) *_
People who claim Indian ''descent,'' ''heritage,'' ''ancestry'' and ''background,'' and who say, ''You don't look [or sound or act] Indian.''

Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for Indian Country Today.


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

plainsman said:


> Wow, that leaves a lot of questions. Will people need a passport to go to the casinos? Will native Americans need passports to leave the reservations? Will they pay back the millions of dollars in treaty settlements.


Since the reservations were set up by treaty, and they are no longer recognizing said treaties, then the reservation land and all improvements should revert to the government. Issue them resident alien status and give them 60 days to vacate the reservation, including the casino's , they now belong to the US Government, essentially, us.

They can find a job like the rest of us. No more free college either.

huntin1


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

"Lakota teen suicides are 150 per cent above the norm for the U.S.; infant mortality is five times higher than the U.S. average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website."

This is our fault how? And, leave em to their own means and those numbers are going to increase substantially.

Means should have gotten the crispy chair back in the late 70's.


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

So if they gained the land from treaties, and they are not going to go by the treaties and they aren't US citizens, does that mean they get deported? Maybe whoever came up with this plan should have used there free schooling so they know what they are doing. WOW


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## johngfoster (Oct 21, 2007)

hunt4P&Y said:


> So if they gained the land from treaties, and they are not going to go by the treaties and they aren't US citizens, does that mean they get deported? Maybe whoever came up with this plan should have used there free schooling so they know what they are doing. WOW


OK, humor me here just a bit. I'm going to play Devil's Advocate. 
They didn't "gain the land from treaties". We took it from them. They were here first. Now I'm not saying we just give the land back. Just be careful how you phrase this to sound like we gave them the land they owned in the first place. We were just stronger. To the victor go the spoils, I guess.


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

If you can't defend your land it's not "YOUR LAND". Nobody really owns anything when it comes down to it. There is always somebody that can take it. We were nice unlike most countries/governments in that position. They didn't just kill everyone and call it good they got land and get a lot of good stuff still today.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Interesting in that anyone who know history knows that the Sioux lived in Minn.,Ontario, and Wisc.The Chips with the aid of the French and their guns chased them out onto the prarie where they pushed the Cheyenne further west.These treaties made 150 years ago should mean nothing since they took land from other people anytime they could as did all native americans.


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## wyogoose (Feb 11, 2006)

I think we must be the only country in history that takes over land through war and death and then gives it back. If they really want to renounce the treaties and think they can just start their own country with out any resistance than they have another thing coming. Do they really think that they can just take over land in the US?!!! If this is what they want then so be it. Take the gov. funding all of the schools and necesities that the gov has paid for and fight them for the land again.


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## Lil Sand Bay (Feb 2, 2005)

This topic seems to be getting a little over the top.
The news event which generates this thread is Russell Means and a couple of buddies getting together and deciding, to make an announcement, as individuals. The speak only for themselves, as self styled "leaders", and certainly do not represent any tribal government. 
Picture five North Dakota duck hunter partners sitting around their favorite watering hole after a successful day in the field, and deciding to invalidate the International Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on behalf of the U.S. Government because they are citizens, and you'll have an accurate picture of the issue. 
Unfortunately the media in general is so woefully ignorant of indian country that they decided that somehow this proclamation has merit...absolutely amazing!


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## Centerfire (Jan 13, 2006)

What Russel Means and the Lakota Group really wants is attention!

They know their proposition has the about the same odds as Steve Martin's famous demand:

"I would like the letter M stricken from the English language"


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Thats just fine. The treaties in essence gave them back some of the land we took from them (reservations) so I guess that just means we get that land back and they can disperse elsewhere. It is unfortunate what happened to the Native Americans in the 17 and 1800's but it is a common occurance throughout the world. Someone is always taking land from someone else, who took it from someone else who took it from someone else. To the victor goes the spoils. Kind of like evolution.


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Land of 'Lakotah' to be celebrated Saturday
Activists declare victory, plan for creation of new country
By Bill Harlan, Journal staff Friday, January 04, 2008

Despite not getting support from recognized tribal officials, the Republic of Lakotah will gather for a victory celebration today Supporters of activist Russell Means' declaration of independence for a "Lakotah" nation will meet at noon today in St. Francis on Rosebud Indian Reservation.

"All the members of the Lakotah Freedom Delegation will be there," including Means himself, organizer Alfred Boneshirt said Friday.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe Chairman Rodney Bordeaux said Means does not represent his tribe. He also said the tribe's formal trust relationship with the federal government depends on the treaties.

However, most Lakota tribal presidents and chairmen have not responded to requests for comments from the Rapid City Journal.

Last month, Means and other organizers delivered a document to the U.S. State Department declaring that "Lakotah" was renouncing treaties with the United States.

A "Lakotah Freedom" Web site is announcing that liens will be filed against government property in a five-state treaty area that includes all of western South Dakota. (No liens will be filed against private property, the Web site says -- at least, not yet. Landowners are invited to discuss the issue with the Lakotah Freedom Delegation.)

The U.S. government has not responded to the declaration, and so far, the "Lakotah" declaration of independence has had no effect except to generate a worldwide response. Gay Kingman, executive director for the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association in Rapid City, said she had fielded inquiries from Russia, Canada, South Africa and other countries.

Means is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and he lives on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. But he does not represent a tribal government.

Boneshirt said today's "Victory Celebration" would show widespread support for the idea of secession. "I want people to understand it's not just Russell Means and his activists," he said.

Activities at the St. Francis community center will continue into Saturday evening, Boneshirt said, with a supper and a dance.

Boneshirt also is the coordinator of the Sicangu Grassroots Oyate, a Rosebud-based organization.

On the Net: Republic of Lakotah: www.republicoflakotah.com

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or [email protected]


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## HARRY2 (Jul 26, 2004)

Its not their land none of them ever owned it, they were not alive back then and were born onto the same country i was.


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## wyogoose (Feb 11, 2006)

I couldnt hav said that better myself. I'm sure my great great great great grandaddy had some land in Ireldand before he was beheaded and had it taken from him so maybe I should get it back now!!


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## jmillercustoms (Dec 11, 2007)

i agree with wyogoose, if they wanna be on there own let them!......but they had better find some good guns and quick


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## tsodak (Sep 7, 2002)

Centerfire,

The real question is besides the letter M stricken from the english language, and a million dollars, what was the third thing Steve demanded.


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## ninjashoes (Dec 15, 2007)

Indians are awesome I hope they get revenge against the white devil


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Withdrawal from US treaties enjoys little support from tribal leaders 
© Indian Country Today January 04, 2008. All Rights Reserved 
Posted: January 04, 2008 
by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today

Legitimacy of 'Republic of Lakotah' questioned

ROSEBUD, S.D. - Tribal leaders in the northern Great Plains said that actor and activist Russell Means has accurately portrayed the federal government's broken promises to America's indigenous peoples. But when Means and a group of fellow activists recently announced a Lakota withdrawal from all treaties with the U.S. government, they were not representing the Lakota and other Sioux tribes of the area, the leaders said.

Means and a delegation calling themselves the Lakota Freedom Delegation convened a press conference Dec. 19 at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Washington, D.C., where the withdrawal was declared. A seven-page document titled ''Lakotah Unilateral Withdrawal from All Agreements and Treaties with the United States of America'' was presented to the U.S. State Department, according to the group's Web site at www.republicoflakotah.com.

Rodney Bordeaux, president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said Russell's group was not authorized to speak on the tribe's behalf: ''They're individuals acting on their own. They did not come to the Rosebud Sioux tribal council or our government in any way to get our support and we do not support what they've done.''

The Rosebud Sioux have around 25,000 enrolled members with between 15,000 and 20,000 people living on or near its 900,000 acres of trust land, Bordeaux said. The tribe's reservation once comprised of 3.2 million acres, but the land was expropriated through the Homestead Act, the Allotment Act and other ''legal'' mechanisms that successfully robbed indigenous peoples of their lands. The Sioux tribes are spread over South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and parts of Nebraska and Wyoming.

''That's all our treaty lands,'' Bordeaux said. ''Russell made some good points. All of the treaties have not been lived up to by the federal government, but the treaties are the basis for our relationship with the federal government and also the basis for the trust relationship to our lands. We're trying to recover the lands that were wrongfully taken from us, so we are going by the treaties. We need to uphold them.

''We do not support what Means and his group are doing and they don't have any support from any tribal government I know of. They don't speak for us.''

In a phone interview with Indian Country Today, Means made clear his thoughts on the tribal leaders of the Sioux nations.

''I maintained from the get-go I do not represent, nor do the free-thinking, free-seeking Lakota want to have anything to do with, the 'hang around the fort' Indians, those collaborators with the government who perpetuate our poverty, misery and our sickness - in other words, our genocide. They are part and parcel of that genocide. I couldn't care less what the bought-and-paid-for, 'hang around the fort' Indians represent or what they say. End of conversation,'' Means said.

He further noted that his group has liberated the land and established the ''Republic of Lakotah,'' which he said has been done legally according to Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The republic is currently governed by a ''provisional government.''

The provisional government plan is negotiating with ''foreign investors'' to develop the energy resources on the land.

''There's enough wind coming from North and South Dakota to power electricity in every city in the U.S. forever; so, consequently, we are now in negotiations with investors who are going to want to immediately put up windmills and solar because the sun shines on the Lakota in the northern Plains over 300 days of the year,'' Means said.

He declined to name the potential investors until the deal is completed, but said the group has land that it will utilize.

He said the Republic of Lakotah would have a gold-based economy, that it had already established a bank and would use the ''economic weapon or tool'' of property liens to force the federal government to come to the negotiating table.

But what does the republic want to negotiate?

''We want them to have hands off, to realize that our relationship is diplomatic,'' Means said.

Means said the republic tried to files liens against property the South Dakota state government had seized for nonpayment of taxes, but the county in which the attempt was made refused to accept them because it didn't know what a sovereign nation was.

Asked how the republic's government had formed, Means said, ''Actually, that's none of your business. I went around and we, the people who are leading this, we got critical mass - enough freedom-seeking Lakotas - to make it worthwhile for us to seek our freedom.''

The group's attempt to withdraw from the treaties on behalf of the Lakota people ''doesn't mean anything,'' said BIA spokesman Gary Garrison.

''These are not legitimate tribal governments elected by the people. These are just groups who don't have a government-to-government relationship with the federal government,'' he said, adding that ''the group's claim to be acting according to the law is their interpretation.''

''It's not like we haven't had individual groups that have declared independence from the federal government all the way from Montana to Texas; and as long as they want to go out and sit on a hill and play paramilitary and be independent, that's fine. That's every American's right.

''But the bottom line is when they begin the process of violating other people's rights, breaking the law, they're going to end up like all the other groups that have declared themselves independent - usually getting arrested and being put in jail,'' Garrison said.

Means and his group are not saying anything new, said Joseph Brings Plenty, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

''What has been said by these individuals has been talked about from dinner table to dinner table since I was a young kid; but the thing is, these individuals are not representative of the nation I represent. I may agree, I may disagree, but they have not gone out and received the blessing of the people they say they are speaking for,'' Brings Plenty said.

But, he added, the ''facts are the facts. Unless a person lived here, you couldn't see the day-to-day, the way we live and how our lifestyle has been lowered. ... The document they took [to Washington] referred to what the U.S. government has failed to do in the treaties. Our funds have been cut and it's been crisis management from year to year. There's always a justification as to why the funds and obligations of the treaties aren't being met. There's no justification from our tribes' point of view. Maybe not enough people understand what happened to our relatives,'' referring to David Stannard's 1992 book, ''American Holocaust.''

Perhaps the group's actions have value in raising awareness of the real history?

''That's what it is. I think raising awareness is a big part of what's happened with the tribes: past, present and what sort of future we're looking at,'' Brings Plenty said.


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