August 2020
Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Peltier Support for Apache Stronghold
By Leonard Peltier
Censored News
English/French
French translation by Christine Prat
Censored News
English/French
French translation by Christine Prat
July 19, 2015
Greetings my friends and relatives,
Most history classes will teach that United States' policy of Indian Termination was officially abandoned in the late 1960's. Native peoples know all too well that many of the policies and goals of "termination' persist to this day. The beliefs that Indigenous people should abandon our traditional lives and culture, surrender even more of our ancestral homelands, and become "civilized," assimilated people are enacted through the continued desecration of our sacred sites, the use of our image as mascots, and in the environmental racism that has devastating effects on Native lives.
One of the few things I am able to do in this prison is follow the news from outside. It is good to see the Apache Stronghold Caravan to stop the desecration of Oak Flat, and supporters, organized and successful at getting the attention of the American media and the US government. Your spirit and strength helps lift my own spirit and gives me hope. The Apache people should know they are not alone in this struggle for survival, and the organization that works on my behalf offers you our support and solidarity.
Native people see all around us the continued disregard of our sovereignty, and of our human rights and treaty rights — at Oak Flat; the desecration of the sacred San Francisco peaks; for sport; in the continued occupation of the Black Hills; in the taking and poisoning of Mother Earth by extractive mining for uranium, coal and other minerals; and in the practices of fracking and drilling for oil and natural gas – all of which leave long legacies of poisoned water and air that sickens and kills our people.
If all nations would begin to respect and follow the principles and guidelines defined in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the tide could be turned from the direction of termination of tribes towards the survival and flourishing of all our relatives, our languages, our spirituality and also towards the healing of Mother Earth.
Mitakuye Oyasin.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
Source: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/dispatch/in-solidarity-with-the-apache-stronghold-save-oak-flat/
Greetings my friends and relatives,
Most history classes will teach that United States' policy of Indian Termination was officially abandoned in the late 1960's. Native peoples know all too well that many of the policies and goals of "termination' persist to this day. The beliefs that Indigenous people should abandon our traditional lives and culture, surrender even more of our ancestral homelands, and become "civilized," assimilated people are enacted through the continued desecration of our sacred sites, the use of our image as mascots, and in the environmental racism that has devastating effects on Native lives.
One of the few things I am able to do in this prison is follow the news from outside. It is good to see the Apache Stronghold Caravan to stop the desecration of Oak Flat, and supporters, organized and successful at getting the attention of the American media and the US government. Your spirit and strength helps lift my own spirit and gives me hope. The Apache people should know they are not alone in this struggle for survival, and the organization that works on my behalf offers you our support and solidarity.
Native people see all around us the continued disregard of our sovereignty, and of our human rights and treaty rights — at Oak Flat; the desecration of the sacred San Francisco peaks; for sport; in the continued occupation of the Black Hills; in the taking and poisoning of Mother Earth by extractive mining for uranium, coal and other minerals; and in the practices of fracking and drilling for oil and natural gas – all of which leave long legacies of poisoned water and air that sickens and kills our people.
If all nations would begin to respect and follow the principles and guidelines defined in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the tide could be turned from the direction of termination of tribes towards the survival and flourishing of all our relatives, our languages, our spirituality and also towards the healing of Mother Earth.
Mitakuye Oyasin.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
Source: http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/dispatch/in-solidarity-with-the-apache-stronghold-save-oak-flat/
Lakota Debra White Plume: TransCanada KXL Pipeline Threatens Sacred Water
Subject: Docket HP12-001 TransCanada KXL Pipeline
English/French
French translation by Christine Prat
July 19, 2015
South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
500 E. Capitol Ave.
Pierre, SD 57501
Wioweya Najin Win miye. My English name is Debra White Plume and my address is PO Box 325, Manderson, SD 57756. I am commenting on docket number HP12-001 regarding the TransCanada, Inc. KXL Tarsands Pipeline for the July 26, 2015 Public Comment in South Dakota.
You are human beings who drink water, you cannot live without water. You, by some reason, have the authority this day to protect the sacredwater and all of life in this whole pathway across the big land, by deciding to say no to TransCanada, Inc. You can stop this destruction now before it begins, you can protect the lands and waters for those living now, and for the coming generations.
The KXL can contaminate the ground water and surface waters with not only its vile tarsands oil, but the many lethal and deadly chemicals mixed with it, needed to liquify it at constant temperature of 150 degrees. The intense pressure required to slurry it thousands of miles from its beginning in Canada to its end at Texas is a deadly force in itself, strong enough to cut a man in half if he is standing nearby when it ruptures or explodes. Common sense tells an intelligent person that the KXL tarsands pipeline is a black snake with deadly venom that must be kept away from our lodges and our environment. Would you make the decision to allow a rattlesnake to live in your living room or the bedrooms of your daughters and sons?
Do not let your decision be part of violating American and international and natural law by voting to approve the KXL tarsands pipeline. Do not open the door to this beautiful land and water to the black snake so it can enter our lodges. It will not care or discern that it is a Lakota standing there or a white man standing there. The white farmers and ranchers are just as much at risk as we Lakota are. Many have been violated through the government supported manipulation by TransCanada of eminent domain, their ranches and farms cut in half.
I urge each of you to be a real man, a real human being, and stand against this threat to our water and our families. Do not be a coward or a puppet of the corporation and government leaders who receive money from the corporation to do their bidding. Be part of creating the good history that generations to come will look back on, and be happy that their grandfathers and grandmothers stood in the way of something bad coming toward the people.
I urge each of you to be a real man, a real human being, and stand against this threat to our water and our families. Do not be a coward or a puppet of the corporation and government leaders who receive money from the corporation to do their bidding. Be part of creating the good history that generations to come will look back on, and be happy that their grandfathers and grandmothers stood in the way of something bad coming toward the people.
I urge you to see beyond the desire to be part of the backslapping good ole boy network of Fat Taker pleasing the appetite of insatiable greed. I urge you to see the good future of Lakota boys and girls, the good future of white rancher and farmer and city white boys and girls, whose future you hold in your hands. You know there are loopholes you can find to say no to TransCanada. I urge you to be brave and visionary and not only stand apart from, but stand against, Fat Taker.
Wioweya Najin Win, aka Debra White Plume
Owe Aku, Bring Back the Way
Owe Aku, Bring Back the Way
PO Box 325
Manderson, SD 57756
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