Three Water Protectors Found Not Guilty, 11 More Have Charges Dismissed

Court Update: Three Water Protectors Found Not Guilty – Eleven More Have Charges Dismissed

Posted on June 27, 2018

By Water Protectors Legal Collective
Censored News
Eleven Water Protectors have had all charges dismissed because their cases were substantially the same as three who went to trial and were acquitted last week. All 14 were accused of obstructing law enforcement’s efforts to clear the Oceti Sakowin camp on February 23, 2017, pursuant to Governor Burgum’s executive order declaring the camp hazardous to people and the environment.

On Friday, June 22, Anthony Provenzano, Cindy Lou Eyerly-Santo, and Bradley Duquette were found not guilty of Physical Obstruction of a Government Function after bench trials before Judge Daniel Narum in Morton County Court.

The government argued at trial that the presence of each of these Water Protectors at Oceti was an intentional act; that it was a violation of the governor’s order, whether or not they knew about that order; and that their presence slowed law enforcement’s efforts to clear the camp. Testimony from officers as well as the three Water Protectors, however, suggested that they had not been given notice of the executive order, nor been given any warning or opportunity to leave the camp. In finding the Water Protectors not guilty, Judge Narum pointed out that the state had failed to present facts that would show how any of the three had intentionally obstructed a government function.

Bradley and Cindy Lou were represented by volunteer attorney Melinda Power, and Anthony was represented by Water Protector Legal Collective Staff Attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen.

Today, the prosecutor filed two separate Motions to Dismiss the charges against 11 additional Water Protectors from the same arrest date who were scheduled for trials this week, because their cases are “substantially the same.” There are nearly a dozen similar cases from the camp clearing that remain scheduled to proceed to trial in the coming weeks.

Posted in Arrestee Updates, Press Releases, Updates

Live at the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana

.

Live from the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, the tail end of the Dakota Access Pipeline
in Louisiana, where the fragile coastline is being destroyed by this Black Snake Monster.

American Indian Movement Denounces Fake 'Chief' Steve McCullough

American Indian Movement Denounces Fake 'Chief' Steve McCullough

By Clyde Bellecourt

National Director

American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council

June 2018
The Grand Governing Council of the National office of the American Indian Movement publicly demands that Steve McCullough, also known as; “Chief” Steve McCullough, aka “Chief Red Spider Iktomi Sha”, stop identifying himself as a member of the American Indian Movement. Steve McCullough has never been a member of the American Indian Movement and will not ever be recognized as a member or supporter of the American Indian Movement by the National office.

The Grand Governing Council of the American Indian Movement also publicly denounces the so-called “Salt Creek Sundance.” McCullough has in the past proclaimed support from Dennis Banks, however Dennis Banks and other leaders, such as; myself, Vernon Bellecourt, Michael Haney, Kenny Kane, Kenny Irwin, Louie Erwin, Mary Crowdog, Charlene Teeters, and many others, demanded McCullough stop his fraudulent Sundance over 24 years ago. McCullough agreed to do this but has failed to do so. In the past 24 years, American Indian Movement Chapter Directors, Elders, members and supporters throughout Indian Country have called for him to cease and desist “performing” Sundances, and to stop appropriating Native American Culture and Spirituality, and he has blatantly refused and ignored their requests to do so.

Native Americans, since first contact, have died to protect and to preserve our languages, culture, religious and spiritual rights. This is one of the principal reasons that the American Indian Movement was founded in 1968. For the past 50 years, we have fought against the United States Government and various Christian sects that have sought the genocide and ethnocentric policy and strategy to annihilate Native people. “The Longest Walk” of 1978 was an AIM-led spiritual walk across the country to support tribal sovereignty and bring attention to 11 pieces of anti-Indian legislation. One of the outcomes to this walk was the Native American Freedom of Religion act, created to protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts and Native Hawaiians.

However, people like Steve McCullough, the New Age Movement, and “Indian Hobbyists”, are an equal, if not more insidious threat. They misrepresent themselves as Native people, they take ownership and appropriate our culture and spirituality. They skewer history with racial stereotypes, and “water down” our traditional and cultural ways. They profit by preying on the spiritually lost and deprived to support their efforts; financially and socially. People like Steve McCullough, and those that associate with the “Salt Creek Sundance” appear to use social media to create a false image of credibility and to promote and package Native Spirituality as if to be consumed by an audience, all the while still disregarding the call from Native people to stop “performing” this Sundance and appropriating Native culture.

The Grand Governing Council of the National office of the American Indian Movement stands with the American Indian Movement of Ohio and the American Indian Movement Indiana/Kentucky in their efforts to educate and inform the public that Steve McCullough is misrepresenting himself as an American Indian Movement member, and that the American Indian Movement does not endorse this “Salt Creek Sundance” and in fact, views this not as a ceremony but as a fraudulent performance that should not occur.

Also see:

Censored News Dutch translator Alice Holemans exposed this fake 'chief' Steve McCullough in 2015, who is making money off of ceremonies in Europe.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/03/fraud-chief-exposed-in-europe.html

'Planting Seeds of Change' Apache Stronghold with Poor People's Campaign in DC

.

 .

The people are trying to deliver Petitions to every Senate and House Rep.

'Planting Seeds of Change' Apache Stronghold with Poor People's Campaign in DC

Article and photos by Steve Pavey

Apache Stronghold Sacred Journey

Censored News

“I want to thank the creator for having us see the country as well as meeting so many people from all walks of life. Thank you for letting us into your homes, sharing stories of good and bad with the faith of a better tomorrow. We as always will follow the spiritual trail that now has been reconnected. We leave this place knowing we have planted the seeds of change, for now the work of a better tomorrow has been born. Blessings to all.” - Wendsler Nosie, Sr.

The Stronghold’s Sacred Caravan representing many tribal nations and people across the US opened the Poor People’s Campaign Mass Rally with prayer and words from Wendsler Nosie, Sr of what this nation must hear to change its moral narrative. All the oppressive policies that we are upset with are part of a value system that goes back to the birth of this nation. And it was native people who experienced the evil oppression of racism, materialism and militarism first and know an alternative moral narrative rooted in prayer and another way of being in this world in relation to Mother Earth and one another. We must listen to their voices or destroy ourselves if we don’t.



Copyright Steve Pavey, Apache Stronghold