Black Elk Speaks
The Lakota Sioux declared sovereign nation status this month, as well as withdrawal from all previously signed treaties with the United States Government.
“Here here,” I say, raising my cup of coffee in support.
In order to reclaim disputed lands, they may (and should) file liens against those properties.
It’s unfortunate that vast majority of people really have no idea how horribly the Lakota were treated by the United States government and its agents. In my mind, the case is clear. The govenment, its agents and its beneficiaries carried out acts of genocide and ethnocide in pursuit of economic goals.
“We must act with vindictive earnestness against the [Lakotas] even to their extermination, men, women and children.” -William Tecumseh Sherman
The beginning of the end for the Wasichu? No. It’s just another sign of the beginning of the end of the dominance of the United States government. The people, all people, and the earth are rising up against the tide of industrialism, militarism, murder and genocide. More people should declare their independence and sovereignty from not just this government but all governments. Communities and bioregions should secede and form their own bioregional democracies, ridding themselves of unnecessary hierarchies and profit motivated, unscrupulous rulers.
“If America could be, once again, a nation of self-reliant farmers, craftsmen, hunters, ranchers, and artists, then the rich would have little power to dominate others. Neither to serve nor to rule: That was the American dream”- Edward Abbey
It’s time for the people re-learn how to live together in peace and in harmony with the earth. How to live in place.
Incidentally, Sunday is the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee.
“I did not know then how much was lost. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream…the nation’s hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.”-Black Elk
I believe Black Elk may have been wrong. I don’t believe the dream is dead. I believe all people are preparing to reclaim their right to democratic self rule.
Come together.
I just got “Black Elk Speaks” from the library for the trip home. I look forward to reading it. Its one of those books that has been referenced by other authors (and blogs) that I have enjoyed. Thanks for being part of the circle and for writing. To paraphrase Abbey, “Happy New Year, pigs!”