Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 30, 2017

Akimel O'odham, Gila River -- Loop 202 Construction Disturbed Burial Places, Restricting Access to Sacred Mountain



O'ODHAM ABOUT LOOP 202: 'THESE CITIES ARE COMING CLOSER TO US, WE'LL POSSIBLY GET RUN OVER'

By Christine Prat
Censored News

The Loop 202 is a freeway leading around Phoenix, Arizona. It is partly existing east of the city and is now being extended westward. The decision to include the South Mountain Freeway in Loop 202 was taken in 1986. The final approval to extend it was received on March 10, 2015. The construction is planned to be completed in 2019. The extension implies destruction of a huge part of Moadag Do'ag, or South Mountain, which is sacred for the Akimel O'odham. A lot of destruction has already happened, but it is rapidly going on.
The Loop 202 is also part of the "Sun Corridor", a 'recreation' project, meant to develop a megacity from Phoenix to Tucson, maybe even from Prescott to Nogales.
As a matter of fact, Loop 202 extension is part of a much bigger project, the CANAMEX project. It is a road project devised as part of NAFTA, a free trade agreement between the USA, Canada and Mexico, designed in 1993 and signed by Bill Clinton in 1994.
In September 2015, I had talked with Andrew Pedro, Akimel O'odham activist, about the consequences of the project for the Tribe, and their struggle against it. At the beginning of October 2017, we met again, to talk about the present situation, regarding the construction and the struggle against it.
"It's the fall of 2017, and the construction of the 202 is still continuing" said Andrew. He went on talking about the legal aspect of the issue, as a court case against construction is now in the Court of Appeal of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. Arguments were supposed to be heard on October 28th. Andrew Pedro wrote then "People from the Tribal Council went and attended the oral arguments. Now it's in a state of limbo again. The Court could take as long as six months to make a ruling in the case. The other litigants, PARC, said this is probably the end for them. They don't believe that the Supreme Court will take the case". It is not sure that the ruling will give more hope of stopping the construction, as the 9th Circuit three judges already denied injunctions to stop construction. Andrew Pedro pointed out that, the project being in a Court case, construction should be held. However, ADOT has just stepped up construction speed, very likely hoping that when the Court will make a ruling, it will be too late to have a substantial effect on the project.
At the beginning of October, construction was mainly happening in what they call the Pecos segment, in the town of Ahwatukee, along the Pecos road. Many people in Ahwatukee, which is in 'white' territory, but where some O'odham live, are also against the Freeway.
The activists struggling against the project never expected much from the Court system, knowing that courts are not on their side. "… on one hand, they would protect Arizona's children and resources, which is predominantly a White group of people based out of Ahwatukee, and then you have the Gila River Indian Community with all their own legislation, but the lawsuits are joined, so that, if one case loses, the other case loses. So, we're kind of in a big mess with that as well." They don't trust their Tribal Council either, who "are not really fulfilling their purpose of protecting the community and protecting our sacred places and protecting our inherent right to be at these places".
There are other areas under construction. Among others, the Salt River segment, on the west side of the mountain, where bridge construction was about to start, pillars and concrete having been already brought. There is also construction on Interstate 10, 79th Avenue, to 43rd Avenue, in between, a major freeway interchange is being built.
"For us, as O'odham people, it is hard to really put a focus on which areas need to be handled properly and first. Because that freeway is one big project and is 22 miles long, and with all those constructions happening, it's hard to say what could really stop them in one area, as they'll continue in another area" Andrew stated. "Nonetheless, those of us who do this work have not lost hope that we can still save our mountain from being destroyed, from further destruction."
A lot of people are demoralized and feel defeated, but, says Andrew, "we just got to keep moving forward."
Although outsiders mainly see the actions and protests, and thus view the issue as mainly political, O'odham people, and other Indigenous peoples, see another side to it, the cultural side, meaning "who we are." …"that is more powerful than the political world, because that keeps us grounded, it keeps us back to our roots and where we really come from, and why these things are important to us and why these places and these mountains are important to us in the first place."
Then Andrew explains that there are some new people coming in to help, Indigenous people who understand the cultural side. And also, "because now, there are more people from all over taking interest in the struggle itself because it's gonna later on affect other areas too. Be it in Tohono O'odham Nation, even in Salt River, already affected by the 101 freeway, because that crosses their area. So, they know how we're feeling out here. It's the same thing because we are O'odham people, Salt River is O'odham people…"
The effects of the 'greater' projects, the Sun Corridor and the CANAMEX, are also felt by Indigenous people outside the Gila River Indian Community. The CANAMEX project is a super highway from Guaymas, in Mexico, to Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada. Road construction and repair has already started, in Tucson, Nogales, Phoenix and in Casa Grande. In Casa Grande, a 'free trade zone', an international trade hub, called Phoenix Mart, is supposed to open next year. "So, it will just keep them encroaching and encroaching on us. We are still stuck in the middle of where so-called progress is supposed to be made, and development is supposed to come from" Andrew stated. Of course, tribal politics go with it, as they only see the money that could be made. However, it is less than certain that development brings any progress to the people, as the example of Interstate 10 shows: when it was built through the Gila River, they were promised roads, housing, jobs… but none of it happened, "if you drive through the I10 now, it's completely bare." With the new developments – Phoenix Mart, development in Tucson – "…these cities are coming closer to us, and that's the example of what's going to happen to us in the long run, we'll possibly get run over. …With the 202, people who drive over the Pecos Road right now, looking one way, they see Ahwatukee, looking the other way, they see the Reservation."
However, the important part is the mountain. It is in the center, it is the central segment of the freeway. There is also a housing development, a subdivision of Ahwatukee, between the ridges of Moadag Do'ag. The project is independent from the freeway, it is not ADOT, but possibly in the way. The mountain has already been blasted for a road. "That construction is also not finished, but it's there, the land has been wiped and destroyed in the middle of those ridges, and we're left with a mountain that has already been desecrated enough. And it's not even half of what ADOT wants to do" says Andrew.
The present road is a two lanes road, the freeway is supposed to be four lanes on each side, "which is a massive cut in the mountain".
What has already been done is bad enough, but "there is still another fight coming, the war isn't over," adds Andrew Pedro, "because the scale of the project is much larger". The project is in fact the CANAMEX Corridor, which will encroach on many other Indigenous areas, down to Mexico: the O'odham territory is cut by the border. Tohono O'odham and Hia C-ed O'odham territory goes across the border. Villages on the other side will be affected too.
Andrew Pedro states "We are being attacked here, we are in the center of Arizona, the O'odham people are here being attacked by the 202, the Tohono O'odham Nation is being attacked with the border, and then, in the North, there are plenty of struggles, from uranium mines to Snowbowl. Arizona is pretty much known for its attacks against Indigenous People."
The reason for these attacks has a name: Capitalism. "That's what kind of connect it all. Because the development that is happening is to help facilitate trade. That is Capitalism in Arizona, if you really want to get down to the root of what is happening to us. It's always gonna be the money that is the driving force behind a lot of these projects." The 202 is a trade corridor, so is the Sun Corridor. Those projects are supposed to bring business and development to the region, but it hardly has any effect on the local economy. "It doesn't help anybody at all. But by doing so, they bypass Indigenous People. They don't think about what's going to happen to our ceremonial grounds and our sacred places."
In the Gila River Indian Community, ADOT illegally uses Reservation roads. As a non-tribal entity, they should have a permit to use those roads, specially as the freeway is just off the Reservation. But they use those roads because it is a little quicker to reach the construction sites.
Construction has drastically restricted O'odham people's accessibility to the sacred mountain. It has disturbed ancestors remains, human remains have been excavated and are still withheld by the state of Arizona. People fear the increased pollution which will affect their health.
Andrew Pedro concludes "We will continue to fight, as they have to know they're going to pay for this, somehow. We will do everything we can. Whether that means protests and direct actions… It is a risk and people do need to realize what this mountain means to us and why these risks are important."



Mohawk Nation News 'Creation's Design V. Indian Act'


CREATION’S DESIGN V. INDIAN ACT

 Mohawk Nation News
Please post & distribute.
MNN. NOV. 30, 2017. Every band/tribal council chief, provincial and territorial INDIAN organization has to answer the following question: Do you follow the INDIAN ACT or the kaia-nere-kowa, the great peace? The INDIAN ACT is the genocide policy of the government of Canada. The great peace is based on the original instructions of creation. 
Read article at Mohawk Nation News

Dakota Prayer Ride and Water Walk and Run Dec. 9 -- 26, 2017



14th Annual Dakota Prayer Ride and Water Walk and Run

Media Contact:
Julian Boucher
julian@mazaadidi.us
Facebook.com/DakotaPrayerRideandWaterWalk

Hope and Healing to Answer the Historical Violence Against Our Indigenous Women, Their Families, and to Our Mother Earth Who Cries Out to US in Pain
When: December 9th - 26th, 2017
Where: Sisseton Wahpeton Memorial Park — Sisseton, SD. December 26th, we will meet up with 38 Runners at the Mankato Memorial Site
Visit our Facebook Page for details and to stay updated. Maps will be distributed at the event.
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, SD — November 28th, 2017
December 9th, members of the International Indigenous Youth Council (IIYC) and supporting runners will commence the 14th Dakota Prayer Ride— including a Water Walk & Run this year. Our spiritual journey begins at 9am near the recent bitumen oil spill in Marshall County, SD, just 20 miles west of the Lake Traverse Reservation. Youth runners brought the attention of the world to protect the sacred at Standing Rock, ND. The waters here are at great risk, and by extension, communities in all directions are at risk from dangerously contaminated waters. We are located on the Continental Divide, our Mni Wic’oni, Water of Life, flows North and South, to the oceans and large northeastern bays.
Water Walkers will carry water buckets, vessels and vials of contaminated water, brought from all over Turtle Island. We will be asking and praying for the healing of our sacred waters, and praying with special emphasis on the increasing tragedies of our Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. Our prayers will focus on going to the families of these women, and to the women who have survived associated violence and mistreatment. The Dakota Ride has collaborated with women, children and the elderly to encourage healing in communities and in families directly, to bring about the change needed for survival, health, and improved lives.
Our journey will closely follow the route our ancestors took when they fled bloodshed during the Dakota Uprising.
We will be finishing the first day with the runners arriving at the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Headquarters, in Old Agency.
At the halfway point of this Prayer Ride and Water Walk/Run we will unite with 38+2 Riders at the Mankato Memorial site of the Dakota 38.
On December 25th we will run with the 38 Runners at Fort Snelling in their 31st year at 10pm to carry our healing prayers through the night running south to join together at the hanging site with the Ride and Water Walkers on December 26th at 11am.
Bringing people from all over the world to help us pray for our Mother Earth and her Mni Wic’oni, water of life, will help build hope; so many dreams of healing can be filled. This past year has brought global awareness to the contamination of our sacred waters, and finally, to the growing numbers of our Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. We expect more people than ever before.
We invite you to bring a vial of water from your territories to add to our Mni Wic’oni pail for healing prayer
These can be sent to: Sylvana Justine, PO Box 686, Agency Village, SD 57262
You can lend your support through one of the following options:
One Earth Foundation Paypal.me/OneEarth orvenmo.com/OneEarth-foundation or the Dakota Wicohan Website
Dakotawicohan.org/donate
Indicate your donation is for the Dakota Prayer Ride
W.A.T.E.R. | We All Take Environmental Responsibility

November 29, 2017

'COINTELPRO and TigerSwan Tactics -- Infiltrators, Rumors and Destruction of Sacred' by Lakota Jean Roach

Standing Rock Water Protectors
Oglala to Standing Rock -- COINTELPRO and TigerSwan Tactics are the same: Infiltrators, Rumors and Destruction of Sacred 

Jean Roach and Lenny Foster
AIM West 2017
Photo Karen Wright
Understanding this war is part of the struggle -- Jean Roach, Lakota

Article by Brenda Norrell
Audio by Govinda, Spirit Resistance Radio
Censored News

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Jean Roach, Lakota from Cheyenne River Sioux Nation, representing the offices of Leonard Peltier, described the United States ongoing genocidal war against Native Americans.
The COINTELPRO tactics used at Oglala, South Dakota, resulting in the prison sentence of Leonard Peltier, were the same tactics used by TigerSwan at Standing Rock.
These tactics targeting Native Americans continue to resulting in large numbers of political prisoners.
"I've been friends with Leonard for many years. Me and my brother were survivors of the Oglala fire fight," Jean said during the AIM West Annual Conference, held here Nov. 20 -- 21.
Pointing out the long genocidal history of the United States, she said, "The water protectors are political prisoners. Way back in the 1800s, we have prisoners of war. We have the Dakota 38."
"What happened to the water protectors, what happened to the American Indian Movement, specifically in Oglala, South Dakota, show the same tactics being used," she said.
Jean described the tactics of infiltrators, rumors and the desecration of the sacred.
"We have infiltrators coming into our movements."
What happened during the Oglala firefight, was the same as what happened in Standing Rock. "They sent people in to disrupt."
Jean said sometimes people stand back a little when they talk about Leonard Peltier, but the attacks were the same at Oglala as at Standing Rock. During the 1970s, Lakotas  were protecting the elders and the sacred at Oglala.
In both cases, there were people who started a lot of rumors.
At Oglala, they attacked a spiritual camp. The people there were armed to defend the elders, who were being shot when they prayed in their own way. They were being killed, shot, ran over, Jean said of Oglala and surrounding communities on Pine Ridge.
When Oglala was attacked by the FBI, "They kicked in our sweatlodge."
In Oglala, they abused the spiritual items, the same way they did at Standing Rock.
It was the same when water protectors camped at Standing Rock defended the sacred, and the precious water of the Missouri River.
Morton County "peed on" sacred items.
"We are dealing with this colonization, this genocidal practice that has been going on."
Jean described how FBI misconduct and a racist judge in South Dakota led to the conviction of Leonard Peltier after the Oglala fire fight.
"They set up Peltier."
"They took Myrtle Poor Bear to Canada to tell lies, who does that?" she asked.
The U.S. government falsified witnesses and changed the charges against  Leonard Peltier.
They couldn't charge all those under 18 at Oglala, but they picked on the adults, she said.
Now, in the Dakotas, racist judges continue to imprison the defenders of the sacred.
"It is so ironic that we are back in court where Leonard was convicted with this biased and racist judge," Jean said.
Jean pointed out that Dino Butler and Rob Robideux were acquitted on these charges that Leonard Peltier was convicted on. In the case of Butler and Robideux, the court found they acted in self defense because they were attacked at Oglala.
Yet, Leonard Peltier was convicted on the charges in the court of a racist judge in South Dakota.
"He would just spin around in his chair when anything was mentioned about FBI misconduct," she said of the Peltier trial.
"Right now we are facing the same system."
The COINTELPRO practices used against them in Oglala were continued by TigerSwan in Standing Rock. Both were used to "attack us for prayer."
"Look how strong our prayers are," she said, pointing out the power of prayer and non-violent direct action.Understanding this war is part of the struggle, she said
Jean said Leonard has just had major surgery. "Leonard, needs some support. Where is everybody""
"I don't want people to forget we have prisoners in this genocidal war."
She urged people to send postcards to Leonard.
"I don't want him to die in prison. We all need to act."
During his introduction, Tony Gonzales, AIM West coordinator, said all people are now feeling what Indians have always felt. We are all now in that Spiritual Movement, he said.


Article copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News, may not be republished without permission, or used for revenues or commercial purpose.

November 27, 2017

Madonna Thunderhawk -- 'Time to set up camp after pipeline bursts in South Dakota'


Madonna Thunderhawk photo by Karen Wright, AIM West 2017
From Alcatraz to the Black Hills, Wounded Knee, and Standing Rock, the struggle is continuous, it is now. Fight the fight at home. -- Madonna Thunderhawk, Lakota, Cheyenne River, South Dakota

Article by Brenda Norrell
Audio by Govinda of Earthcycles
Photo by Karen Wright
Censored News

SAN FRANCISCO -- Madonna Thunderhawk, Lakota, from Cheyenne River in South Dakota, described her time on Alcatraz, with the American Indian Movement in South Dakota, and at Oceti Sakowin at Standing Rock as an elder advising the youths, during the AIM West Conference.
Urging people to fight the fight at home, Madonna said it is time to set up camp where the Keystone pipeline just burst in South Dakota. The elders must have the backs of the young people, she said.
Recalling her time in the movement, Madonna said that she came to San Francisco in the '60s,
"I left my young heart in San Francisco," she said, speaking at AIM West's annual conference on Monday, Nov. 20.
It was on Alcatraz that she became involved in the Red Power movement. Just before going to Alcatraz, she was part of the Black Hills resistance and they took over Mount Rushmore.
John Trudell came to the Black Hills and said they needed help on Alcatraz.
The year was 1969 and it was the second year of the Occupation at Alcatraz. Trudell told them in the Black Hills that the fanfare was done and the cameras were gone at Alcatraz. Although most of the support just came on weekends, as most had jobs, still, there were young people, teenagers occupying Alcatraz.
Trudell told Madonna they needed help organizing.
Madonna recalled that it was at Alcatraz in 1969 where she first met Cuny Dog from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, a longtime AIM brother.
"That was where I first got involved," Madonna said of Alcatraz.
When she returned home from Alcatraz, she became involved in the American Indian Movement.
While at Alcatraz in 1969, she helped organize a school and got the kitchen going. This helped when she went home to South Dakota and started organizing with AIM.
Since she was around 30, she was considered "older" at Alcatraz.
During those earlier years of the movement in South Dakota, people just wanted AIM to come and listen to their problems. Along with this, there was always the problem of how to feed 200 people in the AIM caravan.
"That's how we learned how to organize, how to move people."
They also learned how to listen.
They learned "not just how to hear people stories, but how to listen," Madonna said.
"With the American Indian Movement, it was a family movement."
She said it was like a family, because they knew that the elders always had their backs.
"That was our validation."
"We weren't the 'good Indians.' We were always rocking the boat. But we always knew that the elders had our back."
"That was the strength of the American Indian Movement."
She said she spent six months at Oceti Sakowin at Standing Rock as an elder, to have the backs of the young people.
"That's what the elders did for us."
Today, Madonna is working with grandparents.
These days, grandparents are raising grandchildren. Some great-grandmothers are raising great-grandchildren. The drug culture and meth culture is rampant and it is affecting us, she said.
She said it's OK to fly all over, and do what she is doing here in San Francisco, but, she said, "You need to walk your talk."
"I've earned the right to speak."
She said its OK to go fight a pipeline, but you have to go home and fight the fight.
The grandmothers are in it for the long fight against social services to keep the children in the community.
"You have to be in it for the long haul. The work is continuous."
She said there is a place in the movement for all ages.
"When you are fighting for the survival of your people, there is a place for everybody, it doesn't matter how old you are,"' she said.
When she was leaving this time for San Francisco, her four-year-old great-granddaughter asked, "Are you going to camp?"
Madonna said, she stopped, because she had just heard about the Keystone  pipeline bursting in South Dakota.
"That's why we stood up and fought DAPL. We knew that was what was going to happen," she said of the resistance to Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock.
Madonna said of course the burst of the Keystone pipeline and the leaking oil is being downplayed in the media and by TransCanada.
"When I go home, I am going to camp," Madonna said.
"If we have to set up tents again where that spill was, we've got to do it."
"Whatever we've got to do, we've got to do it."
"It is an ongoing struggle."
Madonna said it doesn't matter how many people are present at the AIM West gathering, because with the help of social media, the word will get out. "That is the audience today."
She thanked Govinda Dalton from Earthcycles for broadcasting live at AIM West and Oceti Sakowin in Standing Rock. She also thanked Tony Gonzales for pulling together the AIM West conference each year in San Francisco.
Madonna said the Occupation of Wounded Knee showed them that they had the attention of the world.
Then, at Standing Rock, there was the realization that the strength of the camps came from the Indigenous from throughout the hemisphere and the world.
"Every Indigenous People of the hemisphere came."
"They brought their flag."
"That is our strength now. We have to stop recognizing borders."
Boundaries, she said, are part of the colonizer-settler mentality,
"Our DNA is all the same. We better pull it together."
She shared how recently that her granddaughter was going to a student gathering at the college. As it turned out, she said it was the food, the Mexican food, that drew her there.
The students with Mexican fathers, it turned out, brought the best food. Madonna said as an organizer she realized, "We can start building right there." The opportunities are there, she said, for building bonds between the Eagle and the Condor.
"That is our strength."
"I choose to look at the positive. For all of those young people, the Eagle and the Condor will mean something. We better get on it now."
Transnational corporations are running politics, global politics, she said.
"If we don't stop messing around, and start organizing, in our own hemisphere, what are we doing? Are we just spinning our wheels?"
"Anyway, its at the top of my bucket list," Madonna said at the AIM West gathering.

TransCanada's Keystone pipeline burst in November and leaked 210,000 gallons of oil about three miles southeast of the town of Amherst.

Article copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored New. No portion may be used for revenues or commercial purposes. Audio available for like-minded radio stations. Contact:
brendanorrell@gmail.com

Dakota Ride -- Water Walk and Run 2017




Dakota Ride/ Water Walk and Run
In Honor of Women and Children from historical trauma — past & present. This journey will embrace All lives lost of our women MMIW and children and also from the toxic spills.
When: December 9th Youth Councils will be running from a safe area of recent bitumen oil spill site to the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Headquarters.
*Will resume the 10th from headquarters @8:30 to SWO Memorial Park to begin Ride & Water Walk
December 10th, 2017 - 26th @ Mankato Memorial site
Woc’ekiua Kag’a Prayers with our sacred fire. Circle up of horses and walkers.
Where: Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Memorial Park - Sisseton, SD @ 9:00 a.m.
Route:
Our journey will follow closely to the route our ancestors took when they fled the bloodshed in Dakota Uprising — Maps will be passed out.
* 12/10 begins at Sisseton Wahpeton Memorial Park - Sisseton, SD.
* 12/20 joining up in Birch Coulee with 38+2 Riders (that Ride begins 12/10 @ Crow Creek) >
* 12/26 Meet up with 38 Runners from Ft Snelling @ Mankato Memorial Site - time TBA
Invitation:
*We encourage Water Walkers to participate to heal our 4-direction waterways that affect all people (Continental Divide spreading of contamination. We invite all our relations who want change for our people.)
*Bring a vial of water from your territories to add to our Mni Wic’oni pale for healing prayers.
*Send vial if you can not attend with history:
Water walk, Po box 686, agency Village, SD 57262
*Sharon Day will assist with ceremony and blessing of Water Walk. Including Memorial prayers for MMIW.
How can you help?
Donate meals through pot luck — hay — feed — warm clothing
DONATE through: (our umbrella)
https://dakotawicohan.org/donate/
Indicate: for RIDE & Water Walk
Run sign up on Dec 9 -10: grassrope04@gmail.com
Water Walk sign up info: whiteeagle57501@msn.com for more info.
38 Dakota Memorial Run info: Ft. Snelling, St Paul, Dec 25th, gather 10pm.
Contact Šišokaduta email: sisokaduta@me.com
For more information please call:
Julian Boucher — 605-268-1484
W.A.T.E.R.
We All Take Environmental Responsibility
facebook.com/DakotaPrayerRideandWaterWalk/
All s’unka (dogs) welcome — must have shots — leash control.
No alcohol, drugs, profanity & cruelty to animals. Treat one another with respect.
For assurance in safety and well-being —
Sex offenders are asked to stay away — this is to ensure children participation.

November 24, 2017

Tiny House Warriors at Kinder Morgan -- NO! Transmountain Pipeline

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Leonard Peltier's Thanksgiving Statement


By Leonard Peltier
Censored News
Greetings my friends, relatives and supporters.
Once again, I can't tell you how much i am so honored that you would want to hear my words, or should i say read my words. You can’t imagine the thoughts that go through my head at times whenever everything is still and quiet in the night, when i lay there staring into the dark with day dreams of how things could possibly be better.
I know I've said this once before in some past statement years back. However, it comes to my thoughts how the term "day of mourning" makes me think of a reverse as in the morning of a new day, and how one term refers to those caught up in a deep sorrow and how the other term is a promise of a new beginning with the rising of the sun. In our traditions and culture most tribal nations historically did a mourning period of one year for the deceased.
However, for us during this point in time we are continually losing our people, and especially our young people, and our women who continually disappear with no trace. Ours lands are constantly violated. The air, the water, the soil, all of nature is screaming against the injustice that is continually perpetrated by those who worship money.
So in essence i want to say in the loudest voice and the most sincere voice i possibly speak, we don't have a day of mourning. We have generations of mourning year after year. I don't know what I can do further from where I'm at but in whatever way possible i want to add my scream to the scream of the earth and the scream of our people for justice.
These ecological disasters caused by the wealthy must stop. Those people who are destroying the earth must realize that they ultimately will destroy themselves also. I know many of you have taken part in the prayer vigils and stood strong in the face of wrongful beatings and shootings and various other forms of violence and i commend you for your bravery. Having said that, i want to encourage you to move forward to a new day. With each new day we need to rise to the occasion to defend what is right and do what we can to right what is wrong.
Our enemy is not any person of particular color. Our enemy is those who are ignorant of the reality that we are all an intricate part of the circle of life. We must arm ourselves with the knowledge it takes to bring attention to the wrongness of their thinking, the wrongness of their exploitation of our mother earth, and the wrongness of their mistreatment of the indigenous peoples throughout our lands. I would encourage you to mourn if that is your way and do whatever length of time that is required by your teachings.
However, i sincerely encourage each one of you to take it upon yourself to become a warrior of one. Educate yourself. Find the knowledge it takes to survive and thrive in a good way. And to confront the ignorance of those who are destroying the natural. Confront them in such a way that they will come to know that to destroy the earth, to destroy our people, to continually ignore a philosophy and teachings that allowed this land to exist since the beginning of time in a beautiful natural existence, they will ultimately destroy themselves and all life.
Perhaps I've said too much. I don't know your agenda. Obviously i have more time than you. I want to say in closing, i love you, i love that you're here, i love that you want to make a difference and i will pray for you always. I further want to say you are making a difference. You have made a difference, power to the people and the earth.
If you have any questions about donations for my new legal team please call our new office in Tampa, FL. 218-790-7667 and join us in the struggle for my freedom to join you here in person, a dream of mine for many years.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Doksha, Leonard Peltier

November 23, 2017

Honoring the Life of Revolutionary Dennis Banks, Photos by Bad Bear

Western Shsohone Nation Spiritual Leader Johnnie Bobb offers prayer for Dennis Banks journey during at the InterTribal Friendship House. Photo by Carl Bad Bear Sampson.









Photos by Long Walker, Photojournalist Carl Bad Bear Sampson, Western Shsohone

Dennis Banks was honored at a celebration at the InterTribal Friendship House in Oakland, California, on Nov. 22, 2017. Western Shoshone Nation Spiritual Leader Johnnie Bobb; Walkers from the Walk for the Salmon, Seattle to San Francisco; AIM West; supporters and friends joined the local community to remember the life of the revolutionary and co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Dennis  played a leading role in bringing about new legislation to uphold Native American rights, and instilled courage in many to rise up, resist and fight the machine. Dennis is remembered for his key roles at Wounded Knee in 1973 and with the Longest Walks.

Watch livestream video below by Govinda Dalton, Earthcycles






Photos copyright Carl Sampson

November 22, 2017

LIVE Celebration of Life of Dennis Banks, InterTribal Friendship House, Oakland, Nov. 22, 2017

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Bill Means, Lakota

Photos by Western Shoshone Carl Bad Bear Sampson
Livestream by Govinda, Earthcycles
Watch live below, Nov. 22, 2017