Apache Stronghold '250 Years Later, What Does Freedom Mean for Indigenous Peoples?'

Photo courtesy Apache Stronghold

Apache Stronghold '250 Years Later, What Does Freedom Mean for Indigenous Peoples?'

By Laak’os Parsons, Member of Apache Stronghold,

Censored News, June 29, 2026

As the United States prepares to commemorate the 250th  anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I find myself  asking a different question: What does independence mean for  Indigenous peoples whose lands, religions, and sovereignty continue  to be threatened?  

As a young Indigenous woman, I am fighting to protect my identity, defend our sacred sites, and preserve a future for the generations who will come after me. For me, this anniversary is less a  celebration than a reminder that the nation's founding brought  extreme losses for Indigenous peoples—our lands, sovereignty, cultures, and countless lives. It is also a reminder that many of those  struggles continue today.  

California: The State of Genocide and Forced Sterilizations of Native People

Floyd Red Crow Westerman

 Floyd Westernman planned to produce a series on genocide in the U.S., and completed the first film before he passed. This article, from years ago, shares this story, and is one of Censored News most viewed articles today. Among the most censored facts in the U.S. is the history of the Smithsonian and other museums that paid bounties for Native people, and the grave robbing that the museums facilitated. The bounty hunters were responsible for the Massacre of women and children at Sand Creek. The sterilization of Native women by IHS doctors was kept secret for years. It was only after the BIA offices were taken over in Washington in 1972, and BIA documents were seized, that the truth came out. The facts in the documents were later published in Akwesasne Notes. -- Censored News 2026

California: The State of Genocide and Forced Sterilizations of Native People

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News, March 22, 2023

Floyd Westerman, shortly before he passed, announced his plan for a series of films on the genocide of Native people. Floyd said he planned to begin in California, exposing the mission, gold mines, and attempts to exterminate Native people, and then continue east to produce this series.

The first of these films was completed before Floyd passed.

'Native american Holocaust -- Exterminate Them! The California Story,' documents the holocaust committed against the native people of California by the state and federal governments. Floyd reveals the bullets, smallpox blankets, kidnapping of Native children, and oppressive concentration camps, carried out by California and the United States government in this attempt at extermination.

Sacred Wind Drum Carrier Speaks of Peace and Melting Ice -- World Peace and Prayer Day at Bear Butte

Sacred Wind Drum Carrier Speaks of Peace and Melting Ice

World Peace and Prayer Day at Bear Butte

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, June 25, 2026

BEAR BUTTE, South Dakota -- Peace is not just the absence of war. Peace is how we treat one another, how we lift one another up, said the Carrier of the Sacred Wind Drum, speaking at World Peace and Prayer Day on Bear Butte.

Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) cannot be invaded because, he said, "I belong to this land."

Oglala Lakota Oppose Fireworks Event at Mount Rushmore. Qatar-Donated Luxury Jet Planned Overhead

Trump confirms that he will attend the fireworks event at Mount Rushmore in the Sacred Black Hills on July 3, 2026. The Oglala Lakota Council in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, passed a resolution opposing the event.

https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2026/06/25/trump-will-attend-july-3-mount-rushmore-fireworks-display/

Oglala Lakota Oppose Fireworks Event at Mount Rushmore. Qatar-Donated Luxury Jet Planned Overhead

Where the Epstein Files and Sacred Black Hills Intersect

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, June 16, 2026

PINE RIDGE, South Dakota -- The Oglala Lakota Tribal Council opposes a presidential visit to Mount Rushmore for a fireworks celebration in the Sacred Black Hills, on July 3, 2026, which President Trump is expected to attend.

"It should not occur," the Lakota Council said in its resolution, pointing out the violation of the aboriginal treaty, the Fort Laramie Treaty, and the distress Lakota already live with because of federal budget cuts.

The tribe's resolution points out the ongoing uranium mining and oil pipelines, including Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline, where sacred sites are being destroyed.