Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

October 21, 2016

BREAKING Standing Protectors Face Police at New Blockade Oct. 21, 2016

DAPL ready to desecrate the graves and SACRED SITES AGAIN. COPS nearby in RIOT GEAR. PRAYERS!
--Jean, 4 pm, Friday, Oct. 21, 2016
....


.......
Urgent Call for Warriors to Come to Standing Rock!

Today Screen Capture by Censored News
Friday, Oct. 21, 2016
Prayer walk on new blockade and military camp 10 miles north of camp.
...........



"We are in crunch time! DAPL is 5-6 miles away from Missouri River(Lake Oahe) and there is a new blockade that went up today! 
PRAYERS! PEOPLE! PRAYERS! PEOPLE! PRAYERS! PEOPLE!" -- Waniya


.
Today Screen Capture by Censored News

Mohawk Nation News 'The Verdict'

THE VERDICT

mnnlogo1

Please post and distribute.
MNN. Oct. 13, 2016. The US District Court of NY has proven that we onkwe’hon:weh cannot get a fair trial on ono’ware:keh, great turtle island. The jury ruled that the 51 NYS I-81 INDIAN Detail had a right to brutally attack over 100 men, women and children on May 18, 1997, without punishment. The people were conducting a thanksgiving ceremony on the Jones private property. This police state precedent must not be allowed to stand. This judgment will be appealed.  policestate1
Judge Frederick Scullin kept out crucial evidence of the pro se victims/the “onondaga 15”, he cross-examined and answered for the cops, selected the jury, most of whom worked for NYS entities, gave the victims 5 minutes for their opening statements and 5 minutes for their closing summation, while badgering and interrupting them throughout. Scullin did not allow any of the plaintiffs to present their case.
We remember!
We remember!
The trial came after an almost 20 year delay. Judge Scullin made many errors, such as:
1.Violations of Due Process of Law [5th and 14th Amendments], and violations of a right to a trial [7th amendment] by an impartial, neutral, and unbiased jury, and freedom of speech [1st amendment].
2. Racial profiling: NYS set up the para-military INDIAN Detail, the ultimate in systemic racial profiling. They did not create an “Italian Detail” or “Black Detail” or “White Detail”. Only those troopers who could actually be identified by Plaintiffs could be implicated in the attack, though each INDIAN Detail member is responsible.
"Your honour, I must protest this is tampering with the jury!"
“Your honour, I must protest this is tampering with the jury!”
3. Keeping out crucial evidence against the cops such as police videos and a 2005 decision of Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the US Supreme Court on Jones v. Parmley 98CV374.
4. Lawyers dropped Plaintiffs after 18 years, leaving them without lawyers.
5. “Punitive damages” were not to be considered by the jury for the INDIAN Detail defendants.
6. Plaintiffs were suddenly dismissed without notice [Shawn Jones, Nadine Bucktooth, and Robert Bucktooth III], who were young children at the time of the attack.
7. Dead Plaintiffs were struck from the record without Estate authorization.
Supt. George Beach: "Take off your nameplates".
Supt. George Beach: “Take off your nameplates”.
8. Name badges were removed by order of NYSP Supt. George Beach so victims could not identify them during the horrific attack. Cops had identical interrogatory answers and sworn evidence they forgot.
9. “Appeal my rulings” Scullin told the plaintiffs if they objected to his unexplained rulings.
10. Cross examined defendants and often answered for them.
11. Only one plaintiff was allowed to question witnesses though all had a right to do so.
12. Orders were to clear, arrest and mercilessly beat the onkwe’hon:weh on the “easement” by the side of I-81, which is part of the Jones property. “Don’t talk to anyone and take them anyway you can”. No negotiations! No orders! Get them off their property.
13. Justice Sotomayor of the US Supreme Court clarified in her 2009 judgment for the Second Circuit that the cops could not use “qualified immunity” as a defence. They are all responsible. “Andrew Jones … gave a non-exclusive and limited easement to the New York Department of Public Works to work on the 1-81 road that he also owned.” Judge Scullin refused to put this relevant case law in the case or jury instructions. In fact, the INDIAN Detail trespassed on the Jones private property to carry out the attack, according to Sotomayor.
14. Scullin overruled plaintiffs’ objections without explaining why. He sustained most of Defence Attorney Tim Mulvey’s objections.
15. Scullin instructed the jury without allowing plaintiffs to comment
16. Robert Bucktooth beating. One cop testified the six cops almost beat him to death with a steel tipped baton 55 times “for his own safety”.
"How am I supposed to know whether I'm guilty or not? - I'm a sociopath!"
17. Cameraman roughed up. James Parmley arrested him for disobeying police order not to film, indicating a cover-up of their illegal horrific assaults.
18. Plaintiffs never blocked the road. Police slowed traffic for construction. The people were conducting the ohenton kariwa tekwen ceremony, giving thanks to creation. Scullin rejected this inherent ceremony as defined by the 1st amendment.
19. Video audio excluded in trial that included “get him”, “commence arrest”, “kick ass” and the screams, crying and chaos of the hysterical children and women during the attack, who were 75% of the victims.
20. Plaintiff RJ complained he could not get a fair hearing and wanted to appeal. Scullin ordered over a dozen marshals to escort him from the Courtroom. RJ later informed Scullin that one marshal pushed him along and another called him a “savage.” Scullin suggested it did not happen.
Tribal chiefs: "Personally, I could never go back to wearing sheets".
Tribal chiefs: “Personally, I could never go back to sheets now”.
21. Onondaga tribal chiefs Oren Lyons, Ollie Gibson and others permitted the attack of their own people. Subpoenas to question them were improperly quashed on illegal sovereign immunity claims, as they are part of US and NYS laws.
22. No order to negotiate or disperse was given. Peaceful assembly and ceremonial fire started on May 8, 1997 until May 21. Justice Sotomayor said there was no place to disperse on private property. It was an unlawful attack.
23. Illegal taxation issue. The gathering and feast was to be followed by a peaceful discussion on the proposed illegal taxation of all onkwe’hon:weh communities by an illegal agreement between the onondaga tribal chiefs and NYS.
24. Arrests without any probable cause. One cop testified he “assumed” he could arrest! Andrew Jones has a right to have relatives and friends use his property peaceably. The police were the trespassers. larryville-blue-the-officers-career-progression-by-les-lethal
25. Special Investigator Salvatore Volvo. Parmley & Beach stopped him from reporting that police acted unlawfully. Scullin would not let him be a witness.
26. Trial transcript. Every word spoken in the Courtroom must be transcribed and made available to the public.
27.Plaintiffs were bullied and threatened with being dismissed from the case for objecting to his rulings and asking for explanations.
All were affected by the unwarranted police attack and beating. Many still suffer extreme mental anguish and physical damages. This is a bad judgment. It will be appealed. thahoketoteh.
As Stompin Tom Connors sings about the delay in justice that the “onondaga 15” are still dealing with: “When I was a lad, I was really bad, it wasn’t smart to be good. I beat up my dog, choked my frog, and acted just as mean as I could. I hit all the girls, and put gum in their curls, cause I like to hear them cry and plead. I’d punch the little boys and steal all their toys cause I knew they weren’t smarter than me. They call me Ben, here in the pen. where you take the guff and you suffer. But I’ll be free when i’m 53, and I bet I’ll be a whole lot tougher, I hope I’ll be a whole lot tougher. Oh, what’s the use, I guess I’m not a very good bluffer”. 
NYS verdict is that the INDIAN Detail can commit a crime without penalty:
14449945_10157591708135571_8752493981282670335_n
THE AMBULANCE CHASERS WHO SCREWED THE ONKWE’HON:WEH ARE:
Adam L. Pollock adam.pollock@ag.ny.gov
Angela C. Winfield awinfield@barclaydamon.com,
Brittany E. Aungier baungier@barclaydamon.com,
Carol. Rhinehart crhinehart@ongov.net,
Devin M. Cain dcain@maglaw.com,
lkan Abramowitz EAbranowitz@maglaw.com,
Gabriel M. Nugent gnugent@barclaydamon.com, Joanna Gozzi joannagozzi@ongov.net,
Jodi M. Meikin Jpeikin@maglaw.com
CSeel CSeel@maglaw.com
RAnello@maglaw.com
Robert J. Anello ranello@magislaw.com
Terrance J. Hoffman tjhoffman@cnymail.com
TimothY P. Mulvey timothy.mulvey@ag.ny.gov
MNN Mohawk Nation News for more news, to sign up for MNN newsletters, go to mohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives. thahoketoteh@ntk.com Address: MNN, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. For original Mohawk music visit https://soundcloud.com/thahoketoteh

October 20, 2016

Attorneys submit open records request on surveillance at Standing Rock


NLG and ACLU Submit FOIA and Open Records Requests to Investigate Unconstitutional Surveillance of Water Protectors at Standing Rock

October 20, 2016
Contact: Tasha Moro, NLG Communications Director
212-679-5100, ext. 15# | communications@nlg.org
BISMARCK, ND—Today, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), in conjunction with the ACLU of North Dakota, sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and North Dakota Open Records Act requests to multiple state and federal agencies in response to the surveillance and arrests of the Native-led Water Protectors attempting to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). In an affront to First Amendment rights, Water Protectors and allies have been continuously surveilled by low-flying planes, helicopters, and drones, and have had local cell phone communications jammed and possibly recorded. Dozens of local and out-of-state law enforcement have been called in, maintaining a heavily militarized presence at the site in an effort to intimidate activists and chill dissent.
Water Protectors have come to expect surveillance and interference from law enforcement. Kandi Mossett, of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, and the Extreme Energy & Just Transition Campaign Coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network says: "My three-year-old daughter and I are beginning to get used to being awakened by the helicopter and airplane as they fly over camp in the morning. She says, ‘Momma look!’ all excited, as she is too innocent to understand they were sent to spy on us for protecting the water for her and generations to come.”
Despite remaining peaceful in their resistance, more than 140 people have been arrested at the protest site since beginning in August, with the Morton County Sherriff’s Department leveling trespassing and riot charges against Water Protectors and journalists. Earlier this week, finding no probable cause, a judge dropped the riot charge that had been brought against award-winning journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! for her September 3 coverage of the protests and the violent response by a private security firm hired by the DAPL company.
As civil liberties violations have continued to escalate over the last six weeks, the Indigenous-led resistance against the DAPL continues. More than 1,000 Water Protectors, allies, and supporters have descended on Standing Rock, constituting the largest gathering of Native American Nations in modern US history. The Red Owl Legal Collective of the NLG has been providing bond, Legal Observers, and legal support for arrestees.
The NLG and ACLU of North Dakota are requesting all surveillance information and communications regarding the DAPL protests from April 1 to the present from the following federal and local agencies:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Department of Homeland Security
US Army Corps of Engineers
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Department of Justice
ND National Guard
ND Highway Patrol
Morton County Sheriff
Burleigh County Sheriff
Emmons County Sheriff
Cass County Sheriff
Fargo Police
Bismarck Police
Mandan Police
Fort Yates Police
With these open records requests, the NLG and the ACLU of North Dakota seek to promote transparency and challenge any violations of constitutional rights.
# # #
Related:
Above: Dale "Happy" American Horse, Jr., chained himself to a large backhoe on August 31, 2016 to prevent DAPL construction. Photo: Desiree Kane.

Tags


Raye Zaragoza sings 'In the River: A Protest Song for Standing Rock'



Censored News in honored to share this beautiful and powerful song by Raye Zaragoza.
"I am a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. I am part Pima and wrote a song in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, in solidarity against the Dakota Access Pipeline."




On sale at iTunes at: (Kick in 99 cents)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-river-protest-song-single/id1167345251