Two local men were arrested after burglarizing the Main Building on the Coldwater campus for about 100-pounds of copper pipe. A quick internet search estimated the price of copper at just over $3-per-pound.

In an email exchange Paul Labovitz, National Park Service superintendent of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA), wrote that the earliest the buildings could be removed is spring of 2011 despite a timetable confusion in the television report on KSTP-TV, Channel 5.

“If a miracle occurred and we had a federal budget the first day of the fiscal year, we could only hope for an accelerated contracting process for demo and that would take awhile. Spring 2011 demo or late winter is our fondest dream. Glad the police are stepping up (patrols at the Coldwater site).”

Labovitz asks Coldwater supporters to “keep your eyes open over there and take license numbers and call the police if you see anything out of line.”

Since the Bureau of Mines closed in 1991 and then FEMA moved out in 1995, the buildings have been essentially abandoned, used for storage, or as bomb squad training by the Hennepin County sheriff, a palette for graffiti artists, a target for kid vandals and sometimes a homeless shelter. The Main Building has been a drug shooting gallery. Black mold and asbestos infests some buildings.

Coldwater Spring is the last natural spring in Hennepin County. The soldiers who build Fort Snelling (1820-23) camped around the spring which has been called the Birthplace of Minnesota. Coldwater furnished water to the Fort from 1820-1920.

Previous to European settlement the spring was considered sacred by Dakota, Anishinabe, Ho Chunk, Iowa, Sauk and Fox peoples who gathered for cultural and spiritual events above the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. Coldwater Spring is estimated to be at least 10,000 years old.

—Susu Jeffrey

for Friends of Coldwater

See the KSTP-TV news clip at:

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1584258.shtml?cat=127

The local Twin Cities office of the National Park Service, known as MNRRA, the National Mississippi River and Recreation Area, has provided clarification on who it was within the agency who made the decision almost four years ago to reject the findings of a government consultant–which stated in an Ethnographic Study, that Coldwater Spring at the Bureau of Mines Twin Cities Campus property near Fort Snelling in Hennepin County, Minnesota, is a place of traditional cultural importance for Dakota people.

more at http://minnesotahistory.net/?p=2565

First Nations United: To ensure the prosperity of the First Nation people and to bring about unification of all tribal nations through redefining our identity and connecting with our past!

FIRE TALKS!
Fire represents power, strength, life, and sustainability. First Nation people have used this life source in their ceremonies as a way of connecting us to the creator. Our ancestors gathered around fires and discussed many important issues that effected their tribe, community, and family. This connection to fire still remains for the First Nation people of Turtle Island. First Nations United would like to invite you to participate in FIRE TALKS! This is a bi-weekly intertribal gathering to develop a dialog about reclaiming the sacred site know as “Coldwater Spring.” Bring your ideas, history, and knowledge of this sacred site. _________________________________________________________________________
Location/Logistics: Coldwater Spring is south of Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis. From Hwy 55/Hiawatha, turn east (toward the Mississippi River) at 54th Street, take an immediate right (south) & follow the frontage road for a half mile past the pay parking meters, through the fence gates, & past the aqua brick building where you can park. This gathering is outside so please dress appropriate for the elements. A fire will be provided and some refreshments.

When: 1st & 3rd Sunday of every month 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Contact Information: George spears Chi-Noodin (612) 269 -5083
Gary Spears Migizi (952) 974-3257

The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe has settled its tax debt with the Internal Revenue Service and lined up a loan that will enable it to buy back the 11 square miles of land the IRS sold at auction in December, the tribal chairman said.
A stipulation filed in court last week indicates the tribe will dismiss its lawsuit, which sought to prevent the IRS from selling the Hyde County land. That will cancel a May 4 trial.
The IRS took the unusual step of seizing and selling the land because the tribe refused to pay $3.12 million in employment taxes, penalties and interest it racked up since 2001.
At $2.58 million, the winning bid did not fully satisfy the debt. But tribal chairman Brandon Sazue, who met with government officials in Washington last week, said the IRS is forgiving what’s left.
“We don’t owe the IRS anything at this point in time, as long as we drop the lawsuit,” Sazue said.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice’s tax division acknowledged a deal was struck but could not provide any detail.
“We were glad we were able to reach an amicable resolution of the case,” Charles Miller said.
The next step for the tribe is buying back the land; the auction sale came with a provision that the tribe had 180 days to do so.
Sazue said the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux in Minnesota have agreed to loan the Crow Creek Sioux $3 million to buy back the land. Shakopee Mdewakanton spokeswoman Tessa Lehto could not confirm the loan.
The Crow Creek also are working with the government to make sure they don’t get in tax trouble again. The tribe’s written complaint in the court file says they weren’t paying taxes because the Bureau of Indian Affairs wrongly advised them they were exempt.
Sazue said he wants to set up a mechanism that subtracts taxes from tribal councilors’ paychecks.
The chairman said he’s excited to put the tax problems to rest and get back the land.
Sazue spent three weeks on the land in December fasting and praying in protest of the IRS action. He said the tribe’s plight has spurred sympathetic calls and e-mails from as far as Europe and Australia.
“If I hadn’t set my trailer up there I don’t think we’d be where we are today,” he said.

Belief that traditional dancing is evil remains deeply ingrained in many Native villages

Taylor Wells, 13, left front, and Betty Sheldon, 18, right front, practice traditional Eskimo dance Jan. 23 in Noorvik.

 By Rachel D’oro | THE Associated Press

NOORVIK – Bobby Wells has lived all his life in this remote Alaska village, where the Eskimo dancing of his ancestors was banned by Quaker missionaries a century ago as primitive idolatry.

Now Wells, 53, and other residents of Noorvik have wholeheartedly embraced the ancient practice outlawed in the Inupiat Eskimo settlement, which was established in 1914.

“This is the way God made us, to express our thankfulness to him with dancing,” Wells said.

The belief of traditional dancing as somehow evil, however, remains deeply ingrained in scores of Native villages around the state. But some communities have broken away from that ideology in recent decades. One by one, they have resurrected the old dances and songs of the long ago past, along with culture camps and language immersion programs.

Mike Ulroan can’t imagine life without dance. It was already revived in the Cup’ik Eskimo village of Chevak when he was born 21 years ago, long after the practice was prohibited by Russian Catholic missionaries. Dancing has always been a constant for Ulroan, even after he left four years ago to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage. In Alaska’s largest city, he dances with several groups.

“It’s just a way to make me feel happy,” he said. “With the movements we do, we push away bad spirits and keep away sickness.”

Noorvik’s decision to lift the ban last fall came after residents learned they would be the first in the nation to be counted in the 2010 U.S. Census. The idea had been kicked around before, but this time locals wanted to make it a reality for a celebration with visiting census representatives and other officials.

Tribal leaders formally approved the proposal after it received the blessing of the Noorvik Friends Church, despite opposition from a few elders. It’s a huge change because dancing had never been done in the current location of Noorvik, which means “a place that is moved to” in Inupiaq.

“I don’t speak for the church, but in my own view we’re going to come to a place in the afterlife where we sing and dance to the Lord,” said church pastor Aurora Sampson. “While we are on this earth we might as well practice.”

The primary dancers are students, who quickly honed their newfound skills to put on a rousing performance at the census festivities in January, complete with Native singing and drums.

“I like it. It’s fun,” said 16-year-old Tori Newlin. “It’s something to do.”

To learn the long forgotten moves, village leaders hired dancers from other villages for a week of intense lessons that led to frequent practice sessions at the Noorvik school. One of the instructors is 19-year-old Richard Atoruk, from the nearby hub town of Kotzebue. He has since moved to Noorvik to continue teaching and to enroll at the school as a senior.

For Atoruk, dancing is a way to tell stories for all occasions, weddings, funerals, birthdays, the subsistence lifestyles of people who live off the land as Noorvik residents do. Motions and songs represent the movements of fishing, ice hopping, even traveling by snowmobile. And as far as Atoruk is concerned, shamanism is an important part of his people’s spiritual culture, not a satanic tool.

“I think we lost a lot of our history because the missionaries came,” he said. “Now it’s coming back.”

But too many villages continue to cling to the oppressive legacy left by Western missionaries, according to Theresa Arevgaq John, a Yup’ik Eskimo and Native studies professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Indigenous people saw the destruction of their sacred traditions, including shamans, who were revered as spiritual leaders empowered by the creator with skills and tools to communicate with the spirit world to ensure the welfare of communities. Dancing had nothing to do with devil worship, John said.

“It was our only way of prayer,” she said. “Can you imagine someone coming in and saying your way is wrong?”

Thousands of Native American Indians are illegally being kicked off reservations and kicked out of tribes all over the US!

Dis enrolled, Dis enfranchised, Exiled, whatever you want to call it, it’s happening to thousands of Indians across America.  Apparently what the whites FAILED to do, money, or at least the love of it, is now accomplishing.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

WOLFCHILD V. UNITED STATES (NO. 09-579); ZEPHIER V. U.S. (NO. 09-580) – On November 6, 2009,

two groups of individuals who claim to be descendants of the “loyal” Mdewakanton Sioux filed petitions

seeking review of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which reversed the trial

court’s finding of breach of trust by the United States. Based on its determination that the finding of

breach of trust is a critical prerequisite to identifying which plaintiffs are entitled to relief and calculating

the measure of damages due, the trial court certified two questions for immediate appellate review. In

response, the Federal Circuit held that (1) the 1888, 1889 and 1890 Appropriation Acts enacted for the

benefit of the loyal Mdewakanton Sioux and their lineal descendants which included lands, improvements

to lands and monies as the corpus did not create a trust; and (2) if the referenced Appropriations Acts did

create a trust (which they did not), the 1980 Act terminated that trust by giving the three Mdewakanton

Indian communities beneficial ownership of the lands. The U.S. filed a waiver of its right to respond on

December 7, 2009, and the petitions were scheduled for conference on January 15, 2010. However, on

January 13, 2010, the Court issued a request for the United States file a response by February 12, 2010.

Download the entire TRIBAL-SUPREME-COURT-PROJECT-MEMORANDUM-FEBRUARY-1-2010-UPDATE-OF-RECENT-CASES

Newest updated news and events, politics and commentary www.NewsForNatives.com

Written by Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) © 2010 Native Sun News Sunday, 31 January 2010 12:29

February 1, 2010

Like millions of other Americans I watched the State of the Union address by President Barack Obama almost as a moth drawn to a flame. I saw something afoot that I haven’t read about in the words of other columnists even though it was not something I expected.

Whenever the President made a point that may have been intended to draw the audience together, African American, white women and Democrats stood and cheered while their Republican counterparts sat on their hands.

The real problem with this is that

Read the rest of this entry »

A State of Emergency has been declared on the Pine Ridge Lakota “Sioux”
Indian Reservation. People have died. Many more people are at risk of
freezing to death. Another cold front is coming in, yet where is the
national media coverage?

Does the ‘Lacreek Electric Company’ – a non-Indian utility often thought
to be prejudice, care that people are suffering, since they are pulling
meters every day? (which is illegal throughout the rest of the u.s.
during the winter months).

What will Obama and the federal government do about this? While they dig
out Haitians, indigenous people right here may freeze to death. What are we going to do about it?

Help put this message out for help. The children and families of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation need our help now. It is urgent that all 40,000 residents of the Oglala Nation have electricity and propane.

Call LaCreek toll free at 800-655-9324 or (605)685-6581 to see how you can
help pay into a customer’s account, example $5 into ten customers would
require a $50 donation by you. Tell LaCreek to make sure tanks are full
for ALL area residents between the months of November to March – and to
collect any delinquent payments between April and October.

Also, check out this non-profit to see if it is appropriate for you:
Arlene Catches The Enemy 605-867-5771 Ext 13.
Tax Deductable, Non-Profit (501-c-3). She can take credit cards over the
phone: Pine Ridge Emergency Fund, C/O Economic Development Administration
PO Box 669, Pine Ridge, SD 57770-0669

And call Lakota Plains Propane at 605-867-5199 and find out what homes have elderly or children and if they need money put down on their account to be
able to have a warm home tonight.

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

List to assist Elders at Pine RidgeShare

Below are several Elders in the Kyle Community of Pine Ridge that are in immediate need of assistance. The contact information has been confirmed and permission has been granted to share their information with you.

There are several ways I will mention where assistance is needed and I’ll share here before I begin the information for where you can assist in paying for Propane for those who need it or to contact a local grocery store to pay for food for families who need this. Other ways of assisting the individual families will be listed with their contact information below.

To pay for propane for any individuals listed below use the information here and be sure to make your payment to the account of the individual(s) you choose to help. The propane company requires a minimum order of $120 of fuel before they will make a delivery to the individual. You can also pay for a persons propane and they will credit the individuals account so that when they do run out of any fuel they may have at the moment they can simply call and the company will deliver more.

Lakota Plains Propane (will take credit card)
Highway 407
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
605-867-5199
Be sure to request a receipt and use the contact for the person you are helping to call and followup to be certain they received the help you paid for.

Kyle Grocery (will take credit card)
Owner: Liz May
605-455-2824
Again be sure to follow up with the person you make a donation for to be sure they received the appropriate credit for purchasing food.

Elders in need are as follows:

Adolph Bull Bear
605-454-2190
He remains in need of continued assistance for propane, his son who is disabled lives with him and he is in need of food assistance which you can contact Kyle grocery (above) to make a donation for food. He will also need help with his electric bill.

Arlene Talks (age 72)
605-407-8243
She has a daughter and a granddaughter (age 7) who lives with her and is in need of propane and food assistance and you can contact the propane and grocery above to assist. You could also contact her for mailing address to send items for her granddaughter such as clothes, etc.

Janice One Feather (age 61)
605-455-2889
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 44, Kyle SD 57752
For Propane Delivery give House # 307
She has two grandsons living with her. Asa Steele age 7 and Dillon Westover age 9. You can mail donations for the two boys to the mailing address above for her and if you mail by fedex, UPS, etc use the house #307 Kyle SD 57752. She is in desperate need of food assistance and propane and you can use the info for propane and grocery companies above to pay for those items.

Donna Garnette
605-455-2527
605-441-7541
She has two grandchildren (Boy and girl), you can contact her for an address to offer assistance in clothes, etc for the children. She is in need of Propane and food assistance and you can use the info above for both companies to assist them with that.

Lilly Mae Red Eagle (age 88)
605-455-2612
Mailing address: P.O. Box 2, Kyle SD 57752
For propane delivery give House #HC2
She is in need of Propane and food assistance. You can use the info above for both companies to assist them with that. For deliveries by fedex, ups, etc use the house #HC2 Kyle SD 57752

Perlene Yellow Wolf (age 65 approx)
605-455-1458
She is in need of propane and food assistance. She lives with her daughter Crystal and three children. You can use the info above for both companies to assist them with that. They have a lot of problems with pipes freezing so if anyone in the immediate area could help with this that would be greatly appreciated.

May you be richly blessed for sharing your blessings with these elders and ensuring some relief to their suffering. Please help now as the need is immediate but please remember to help again in the future if you are able to as their needs are continual. Thank you in advance for sharing your love and helping these elders.

Raven Skye WinterHawk

A woman is like a tea bag: you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.
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Yes Cops were just here, electricity will be out for possibly more then 2 more weeks. Water is getting scarce. Pathwaystospirit.org is doing the best they can, they are in contact with Vice Chairman. Sad that news does not pick up on this serious matter as much as other news. I am sure there are other organizations that are trying to assist, don’t know their information. But people can go to the website and see how they can assist, they have a good track record., they assisted in tornado victims in Pine Ridge before.

On 26/1/10 6:04 PM, “kelly morgan” wrote:

Just spoke to my sister down in Eagle Butte. She said they have no water again. That the pump house flooded after the pipes froze and broke. She said that she saw the Red Cross there and that she heard that Walmart delivered a truckload of supplies. She also said that there is very little communication to the community as to what is going on. That there are members of the National Guard there and that they are doing some things. Yet there is not much communication of what is happening getting out to them in the community. They do have power right now in Eagle Butte but that REC will have to shut it off again as they continue to repair poles.

I am certain, as with my brother West of McLaughlin, that there are many without power and heat in the outer districts on Standing Rock, Cheyenne River and everywhere else in South and North Dakota where this dangerous situation is occurring. I graduated from high school in McLaughlin and have relatives on both Standing Rock and Cheyenne River. I hope that they and your brother are all safe as we enter into a very cold below zero night in this part of the country.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton considers starting a state run casino in the Twin Cities to raise money

Dayton says he would consider supporting a Twin Cities casino to raise money for Minnesota’s ailing budget, but not for a new Vikings stadium.

The former senator says a metro-area casino would raise about $200 million a year, and would bring “much needed competition” to Mystic Lake Casino, the only tribally run casino in the Twin Cities area.

The Prior Lake casino is owned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community.

Dayton says he wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, including tribal members who have received million-dollar casino pay-outs.

He says the money would pay for services such as public schools.

Dayton talked about the idea at a wide-ranging Capitol news conference Monday.

The former U.S. senator says a metro-area casino would raise about $200 million a year.

He says such a facility would bring “much needed competition” to Mystic Lake Casino, the only tribally run casino in the Twin Cities. The Prior Lake establishment is owned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton  Sioux Community.

Dayton says he wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, including tribal members who have received million-dollar casino pay-outs. He says the money would pay for services such as public schools.

Dayton says he is not only considering a state-run casino but also tax increases on couples who make more than $150k.

After a news conference last week in which he ducked most reporters’ questions, DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton reappeared at the Capitol on Monday with more details about his campaign.

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY AND VIEW READER COMMENTS HERE:

What is in the final environmental impact statement for the Coldwater / Bureau of Mines property near Fort Snelling in Hennepin County, Minnesota? How does it provide a basis for the Department of Interior to select Preferred Alternative D [3], including the cleanup the property by the federal government and its retention in federal hands? And how does it deal with the issues about Coldwater Spring as a place of traditional cultural importance for Dakota people?

To know the answers to those questions—and the meaning of those answers—requires context and information. One of the problems of dealing with any bureaucracy which operates in an environment of controversy has to do with the flow of information. To understand how such agencies make their decisions requires access to hidden information, buried reports, and phantom memos. Every decision has a hidden history that has to be understood before you can begin to figure out the decision. Should you choose to try to learn this context, may the force be with you.

More at www.MinnesotaHistory.net

Vigil on the Plains

Crow Creek Sioux chairman is ‘not going anywhere’

By Stephanie Woodard, Today correspondent

Story Published: Dec 29, 2009

Story Updated: Dec 24, 2009

FORT THOMPSON, S.D. – On Dec. 15, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Chairman Brandon Sazue got a visit from eight horseback riders on a pilgrimage to memorialize 38 Dakota men who died in the nation’s largest mass hanging, in December 1862 in Mankato, Minn.

“The group took a detour from the main ride to fill a pipe here that will be smoked and prayed over when they get to Mankato.”

The 35-year-old chairman was camped on 7,100 acres of wind-swept, snowy land owned by Crow Creek Tribal Farms. The IRS recently seized the tract and on Dec. 3 auctioned it off for $2 million less than its $4.6 million value to pay a purported tax bill for the tribe, a separate legal entity.

The riders found Sazue holding his own in sub-zero temperatures. The chairman took up residence on the expanse shortly after the auction, intending to fast and pray for its repatriation until the crisis is resolved. “I’m not going anywhere. This land never was and never will be for sale. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow. As chairman, I inherited the tax problem and tried to work with the IRS. They claim they ‘consulted’ with us, but all they did was tell us ‘here’s how it’s going to go.’”

The IRS action appears to fly in the face of legal precedents as far back as a 1790 law prohibiting the transfer of Indian land without a treaty, according to a legal memorandum drawn up by the tribe’s attorneys, Mario Gonzalez, Oglala Lakota and Terry L. Pechota, Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The document was filed Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court in an effort to stop the sale. That request was denied; however, a trial will take place in March, during which the tribe will attempt to regain the site.

“It’s the Black Hills gold rush all over again,” said historian Waziyatawin, Ph.D., Wahpetowan Dakota from Upper Sioux and a University of Victoria research scholar. “Nowadays, the press is reporting on a green energy land rush and Department of the Interior efforts to free up millions of acres for wind and solar development. Open prairie land, such as that on Indian reservations in the Plains, is suitable for such enterprises. So the U.S. government is going after the poorest of the poor to find the resources it needs.”

The tribe, which has an unemployment rate of about 80 percent and lives in one of the poorest counties in the nation, had been planning a wind farm for the area, said Sazue. “If we lose this land, we miss that opportunity. We have profound connections to this place as well. Our ancestors are buried here, and tribal members come to collect sage and other traditional medicines.”

When Waziyatawin visited the site with her family Dec. 12 for a pipe ceremony, she joined Crow Creek tribal members and visitors from Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Yankton Sioux Reservation, and the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

The tax problem appears to have arisen after Harold Condon, a BIA employee who became financial manager of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in the early 2000s, advised the community not to pay federal employment taxes. According to a document that Gay Kingman, Cheyenne River Sioux, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, received from the BIA in early December, the agency claims Condon did “an excellent job.” Further, the BIA letter says, the tribe owed the taxes and Condon was “instrumental in working with the Internal Revenue Service to get the large bill paid.”

The tract, which makes up 20 percent of Crow Creek’s reservation, was originally sold off after the Allotment Act of 1889 moved it into the hands of individual Indian owners. Notably, this was done without the majority vote of the tribe required by law. “We all know the referendum never took place,” Pechota said.

The tribe repurchased the land in 1998, according to Gonzalez’s and Pechota’s legal memorandum. Crow Creek then attempted to put the acreage back into trust, said Sazue. “We started the process in 2000. It shouldn’t take a decade to accomplish this.”

Nedra Darling, Prairie Band Potawatomi and a BIA spokeswoman, refused to comment on any aspect of the situation, citing the ongoing litigation. Darling added that Hilary Tompkins, Navajo, solicitor of the Interior Department and one of the Obama administration’s high-profile Native appointees, would also not comment.

The crisis occurs against a background of economic devastation created by the building of a series of giant dams along the Missouri River in the mid-20th century. The dams flooded valuable riverside agricultural areas on Sioux reservations throughout the Dakotas. Starvation ensued in many areas. In return for giving up the richly diverse bottomland, Crow Creek was promised free electrical power, which it never received. It did get $27.5 million that has been put into trust. However, the tribe can only touch the interest, not the principal, said Sazue. “I call that living off scraps. Why couldn’t we use that money to pay the IRS?”

The tribe’s difficulties have been exacerbated by the IRS siphoning off earnings from Crow Creek’s small casino and motel, making it difficult for the tribe to meet payroll and provide public services, as well as to pay the tax bill in an orderly fashion, Sazue said. The problem has also arisen at the worst time of year, according to the chairman. Despite frigid temperatures, the local electric company has been disconnecting the only power source for many Crow Creek families, claiming non-payment of bills. This forces the tribe to shelter members at its Fort Thompson motel, thus forgoing income it might receive by renting the rooms.

This is an annual occurrence, according to the humanitarian organization Can-Do, which filmed the electric company ripping out meters throughout Crow Creek during the winter of 2008, as babies cried and mothers tried to understand mysteriously escalating bills. To see the group’s video, visit www.can-do.org and look under “Project Progress Videos.” Can-Do’s investigation found “severe increases of illness, disease and mortality” on the reservation.

Sazue’s family was affected this year as well. “A month ago, my cousin called. She just had a baby, her husband is on oxygen, and her electricity got cut off. Companies are not supposed to do that in inclement weather, but they do here. Our people are suffering.”

“The Obama administration could help solve this crisis,” Waziyatawin said. “Obama is talking the talk when it comes to Indian country, but are he and his appointees going to walk the walk?”

My understanding is that on Saturday at 1:00 there will be a gathering at the tribal hall at Fort Thompson.  We are hoping that a lot of the local people will also be there so that we can better organize support and coordinate efforts between supporters in the community and those of us who are trying to help from the outside.  Then, after that meeting, we will all head out to the encampment.

This is the info I have so far: Read the rest of this entry »

Dec 13th 2009
Eric Klein Founder, CAN-DO.org reports LIVE from Crow Creek- More reports form the field over the next week to come-

DAY 2- Dec 14,2009- Riders head to meet up with BRandon Sazue help up in protest on the auctioned land-

Dec 13th, 2009

CROW CREEK RESERVATION, Friday, December 11, 2009—Brandon Sazue’s camper sitting in the middle of the prairie presented a lonely but inspiring image as we drove up Wednesday afternoon.  Despite the bitter cold and wind, the young Crow Creek tribal chairman was taking a stand against the United States theft of any more Dakota lands, telling us “Crow Creek land is not for sale, and it never will be.”

Symbolically placing his camper under a wind data tower, Sazue has committed to remain on this parcel of land as long as it takes to achieve justice.  The land is part of the 7,112 acres recently stolen by the United States government in what amounts to a 21^st century land grab.  Because the land is not currently held in trust, on December 4, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service used that as an opportunity to claim it and auction it off as a means to settle what they assert is a delinquent $3,123,790 tax bill.  Though most of the Crow Creek reservation is situated within the poorest county in the United States, the land under dispute happens to contain world-class sites for the harnessing of wind power.  As the world’s fossil fuels dwindle and alternative energy sources are increasingly sought after, Crow Creek lands also become increasingly more attractive to outside interests.  Whoever develops the site for wind-energy stands to make a fortune.  This connection is not lost on Chairman Sazue.

Anyone who understands the history of the Dakota people since invasion and conquest cannot help but be stunned by this attack on the tribal lands of people who have already suffered so much.  After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the U.S. federal government and the State of Minnesota initiated polices of genocide and ethnic cleansing against Dakota people in our beloved homeland.  White Minnesotans hanged thirty-eight Dakota warriors, rounded-up and force-marched our populations to concentration camps in Mankato and Fort Snelling, then forcibly removed us from Minnesota to fulfill Governor Alexander Ramsey’s genocidal call for extermination or forced removal.  Dakota people were loaded onto boats that went down the Mississippi River and then up the Missouri River on a journey that was so horrendous, a missionary at the time compared it to the Middle Passage of the slaves.  Under gun and bayonet, our ancestors were brought to Crow Creek in 1863.  Thus, Crow Creek began as a concentration camp.

The trauma to Dakota people only continued there.  Within the first few months of arrival at Crow Creek, hundreds of Dakota people died from the dreadful conditions.  In fact, the missionary John P. Williamson wrote “Nearly all the small children died in 1863.”  The heartbreak from those events are still felt today.  The people of Crow Creek live with that legacy, as do the rest of us with ancestors who were subjugated on these lands.  After 1862, the United States government left our people with so little.  Now, even what little we have is under attack again.

Sazue’s stand in defense of the land is a rallying cry to the rest of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) of the Dakota Oyate (Nation).  Though fierce winter weather has so far kept supporters from camping out next to Sazue, a steady stream of allies offering prayers, songs, food, supplies and encouragement continues throughout each day and even more people show their solidarity through phone calls and emails.  We know more of our people will be coming.  Like Chairman Brandon Sazue, we will not allow these lands to be taken.  We will stand with him.

Waziyatawin, Ph.D.

waziyatawin@gmail.com

Crow Creek Supporters:

In addition to your presence and prayers, we need supplies at the encampment site.  The first objective at the site is staying warm.  We need people to help cut, haul or donate wood to keep a fire going, lumber for building windbreaks and shelters, sandbags, blankets, sleeping bags (especially those made for below 0 temperatures), hats, scarves, mittens, boots, tarps and tipis.

Oceti Sakowin and other Indigenous relatives, please bring flags from your communities to show solidarity with the Crow Creek Oyate.  Everyone bring banners—7,100 acres is a lot of ground on which to maintain our presence.

In addition, we need food, flashlights, cookware, tools (shovels, axes, saws), concrete blocks, matches, and water containers.

We also need people who have other gifts to encourage these resistors to U.S. land theft.  Drummers and singers, your presence and support would be most welcome.

Supporters may stay in the tribal hall.  Please bring your own bedding and linens.  Showers will be available at the motel.

Please go to the website below on highlighted area and sign the petition to support Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS auctioned off 7100 acres of land to a local rancher, this land belongs to the Hunkpati Crow Creek.  Thank you for your support

“Crow Creek Sioux Land is NOT For Sale” hosted on the web by our free online petition service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CrowCrek/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Maybe someone should call Shakopee, they should pay the ”38″ descendents tax situation within the 180 day time period….the crow creek people should never want or need for anything, its shameful whats happened and could of been prevented with the help of the other dakota communities…

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_95aa4610-e062-11de-aa52-001cc4c03286.html