Fwd: Lakota Sioux: The Bravest Americans PART 1

[Guest guest]

>-

>carolyn

>kep2

>Wednesday, December 26, 2007 11:46 PM

>Lakota Sioux: The Bravest Americans

>

>

>http://carolynbaker.net

>

>

>And So It Begins

>

>In an incredible irony, the very people that the United States have most

>oppressed throughout our history may hold the key to freedom for all of us.

>

>Few Americans remember the siege at Wounded Knee in the mid-1970s, but

>perhaps they should. Members of the AIM, or the American Indian Movement,

>occupied parts of Pine Ridge in protest over the brutal killings of two of

>their own, the disgustingly mild prosecutions for those murders, and the

>beating of the mother of one of those two when she attempted to seek

>justice from the U.S. government. The AIM were seeking their rights under

>U.S. law and for the U.S. government to honor treaties with the American

>Indian that had been ignored for more than a century. It was a lawful -

>and a peaceful until attacked - protest.

>

>In response, the FBI fired almost 200,000 rounds at the protesters (the

>protesters did fire weapons in their own defense, but only over their

>attackers' heads) in an illegal show of force that betrayed every ideal of

>real freedom. The siege at Wounded Knee lasted 71 days. This was Waco

>decades before Waco, largely ignored by the U.S. population due to media

>indifference and the fact that the victims were not white Americans.

>

>Later, the defense team for Russell Means and Dennis Banks was infiltrated

>by a government informant, which led to perjured testimony and a very

>angry judge who stated that the government was more interested in

>convictions than in justice. South Dakota Judge Nichols was quoted as

>saying, " It's hard for me to believe that the FBI, which I have revered

>for so long, has stooped so low, " and dismissed all charges against the

>defendants.

>

>Apparently, all those years ago, at least a portion of our justice system

>still operated as it was designed to do.

>

>Leonard Peltier was not so lucky. He was tried in North Dakota, and was

>sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison. He remains there

>today, even though evidence recovered after the siege clearly showed that

>the two FBI deaths were attributable to friendly fire. During his years in

>prison, through his art and letters, Peltier has continued to work for

>oppressed people everywhere.

>

>Russell Means has remained free, and he has not been idle in the

>intervening decades. A committed libertarian, he has written several

>books, run for office on the Libertarian ticket, and continued to pursue a

>film career that has made him a household face and name. Apart from that,

>he has bided his time, waiting for just the right moment in history.

>

>That moment has come. In September of this year, the United Nations passed

>a non-binding Resolution on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Naturally,

>Canada, the United States and Australia refused to sign, but this

>resolution paved the way for a move that has been waiting in the wings, so

>to speak, since the 1970s.

>

>On Wednesday of this week, Russell Means led a delegation of the Lakota

>Sioux people to the U.S. State Department and the embassies of Bolivia,

>Chile, South Africa and Venezuela, declaring their secession from the

>United States of America.

>

>Means stated, " 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. " The lands of the Lakota Sioux encompass portions of

>Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. In the coming

>weeks, they will take their diplomatic mission overseas to seek further

>support.

>

>Means also stated that anyone willing to renounce their U.S. citizenship

>would live on Lakota land tax free, and that the Lakota would issue their

>own passports and driving licenses. Since a large group of libertarians

>have recently moved to Wyoming, this opens up some interesting

>possibilities for a free society growing up in our midst.

>

>The coming road will not be an easy one. I cannot see the U.S.

>neo-conservatives leaving this alone. I imagine that there will be another

>bloody and vicious siege taking place on Lakota land, but I also believe

>that Means has timed his move correctly. If this happens as I fear it

>will, the neo-conservatives will be the clear authors of their own

>destruction. The American people have had enough!

>

>You go, Russell!! You are the bravest and best of us, and the sanest and

>best of America stands with you in the trials you will face over the

>coming months and years.

>_________________________

>Kathryn A. Graham, author of Flight From Eden and America Hijacked!.

 

******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

 

 

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