Strong Heart Warrior Society
Free and Independent Lakota Nation
Box 512, Hill City, SD 57745
MEDIA RELEASE
Contact: Duane Martin Sr. 605-517-1547 or 605-454-0449
LAKOTA CALL ON U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PROMISE TO VISIT PINE RIDGE, LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE
Public Testimony of Traditional and Marginalized Lakota to Expose Graft, Bias and Corruption in BIA Tribal Government Practices
PINE
RIDGE, S. D. – If the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) keeps their
word, members of the Oglala Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation in
South Dakota may be facing a historic meeting with the U.S. Government.
The
DOJ promise to meet with the “poor people”, full-blooded Lakota and
traditional people was sparked by the unexpected take over of the June
18th Section 611 Consultation in Rapid City, S.D., between United States
officials and members of the U.S. created Oglala Lakota Government by
the Lakota warrior society known as Cante Tenza (Strong Heart).
Cante
Tenza took over the meeting on behalf of many Lakota who have watched
for decades while the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) supported Oglala
Tribal Government has squandered or stolen millions of dollars in U.S.
support while alienating and even attacking full-blooded and traditional
Lakota and the traditional Lakota systems of governance.
“The
officials in tribal government don’t speak for the people, they don’t
know how,” explained Cante Tenza headsman Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane
Martin Sr.) who helped lead the June 18th take over. “This consultation
is with a tribal government that people don’t trust, making systems that
don’t even speak our language.”
While tribal council officials
objected to the interruption and left the building, traditional warrior
society members continued meeting with U.S. government agencies and
secured a promise in writing that the Justice Department would visit
Pine Ridge to meet with Lakota who have faced economic, social and
physical attack by corrupt BIA governments for decades.
In a
letter sent to Leslie Hagan, Native American Issues Coordinator for the
United States Attorneys of the Department of Justice, Canupa Gluha Mani
(Duane Martin Sr.) repeated the cause for the meeting, “It is long
overdue for the Department of Justice and FBI to stop supporting the
destruction of the Lakota people and our sacred way of life, and instead
face-up to its continued support of an illegal and corrupt tribal
government whose actions perpetuate injustice, misery and death in our
nation. ”
Few people outside of Pine Ridge understand the history
of the illegal tribal government that was imposed on the Oglala Lakota
and its support of U.S. Government efforts to force assimilation and
attack traditional and full-blooded people by keeping them away from
their own language and culture. The famous 1973 takeover of Wounded Knee
by native activists and Oglala tribal members was a reaction to this
forced assimilation that continues today.
“This meeting is one
step in healing these injustices and returning freedom and sovereignty
to our noble people. Its time we step up to the pedestal and express our
credibility,” Martin said.
Cante Tenza is waiting for
confirmation from the Justice Department to schedule this public meeting
as soon as possible. They ask any full-blooded and traditional Lakota
to contact Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane Martin Sr.) at 605-517-1547 or
605-454-0449.
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