The Black HIlls Sioux Nation Treaty Council, the Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Independent Lakota Nation, and the Lakota Oyate met with the Department of Justice on the unexplained deaths of our people. October 21, 2017.
Following Lakota testimony, an agreement was made to go forward with an independent investigation! Hoka Hey!
October 17, 2017 | Original: English
Press Release, Immediate Release: October 17, 2017
Contact: Canupa Gluha Mani 605-517-1547. Email: cantetenza13@gmail.com
Lakota Territory – The Independent Lakota Nation along with other traditional and grassroots Lakota institutions are forcing action and accountability from local, state and Federal governments for stolen Lakota lives and lost Lakota lands.
On October 10, 2017, the Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Independent Lakota Nation again met with a team of investigators from the Department of Justice to seek accountability for missing, murdered, and mistreated Indigenous people at the hands of a racially discrimanatory Pennington County Sheriff, Rapid City Police, and the South Dakota court system.
Specifically, the meetings are looking at Lakota people’s abuse at the hands of law enforcement and overall deaths in the community as a consequence of the policies and proceedures of United States governments, State and local governments.
“It’s the will of the Lakota people to surive the bias they face by a law enforcement and justice system that eliminates the values of being Lakota from it’s actions and proceedings so that we have no Lakota representation in our rights of way,” said Strong Heart Warrior leader Canupa Gluha Mani.
This was the second meeting between independent Lakota representatives and the Department of Justice following continued questions on the murder of Mariah High Hawk and other Lakota women and men. Seeking accountability and garnering public support has been hindered by media outlets who admist they refuse to publish Lakota perspectives because of behind-the-scenes police pressure.
“We are taking direct action because action in the death of Mariah High Hawk has not been met with suitable criteria for the Lakota people to see,” Mani said.
The Department of Justice is also indicating it seeks to interview and explore discriminatory practices in the Oglala Sioux Tribe police, courts, and Tribal Council that are affecting traditional and grassroots Lakota people on Pine Ridge Reservation. Discriminatory violence on the reserveration sets the stage for bias Lakota face in border towns and cities and in State justice systems.
As the Independent Lakota Nation pushes the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and hold its state and local governments accountable, it is now joining with the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council (BHSNTC) in blaming the State of South Dakota and the Federal reservation system by supporting the filing of a $100,000,00 law suit against the State and Federal governments for lives stolen and lands lost through Constitutional violations of the Supremacy Clause of Article VI.
The lawsuit contends the Federal Government has not followed its own law in honoring treaty agreements between itself and a still independent Lakota Nation, and has further allowed State governments to engage in defacto treaty making with independent Indigenous nations or non-traditional, quasi-sovereign tribal governments which violates Article VI.
The Independent Lakota Nation and the BHSNTC assert these violations have pushed Lakota people into a purgatory constructed to neutralize Indigenous values of life, including language, tiyospaye family structures, and matriarchal political and cultural systems leading to the genocide of the Lakota people.
Canupa Gluha Mani explains, “To protect the matriachal way of life we are pushing these issues forward to make things happen for the Lakota survival.”
The Independent Lakota Nation continues the inter-generational movement to assert Lakota independence and grows from past efforts by Lakota chiefs, elders, treaty councils, and more than 165 years of resistance to illegal settlement on unceeded Lakota territory.
Here are photos from the October 10, 2017 meeting with the Department of Justice team of investigators. The team is looking at Lakota people’s abuse at the hands of law enforcement and overall deaths in the community as a consequence of the policies and proceedures of United States governments, State and local governments.
The DOJ has indicated it seeks to interview and explore discriminatory practices in the Oglala Sioux Tribe police, courts, and Tribal Council that are affecting traditional and grassroots Lakota people on Pine Ridge Reservation. Discriminatory violence on the reserveration sets the stage for bias Lakota face in border towns and cities and in State justice systems.
The meetings with the U.S. Department of Justice continue as we seek investigation into missing and murdered Lakota people and discriminatory treatment from Rapid City and Pennington County police. We are also looking at unexplained deaths and wrong-doing on Pine Ridge.
HAU MITAKUYEPI:
The grassroots Lakota Oyate are called to provide testimony on the abuse, violence, murder, and discrimination you and your families face at the hands of law enforcement and court system of Rapid City, Pennington County, other reservation border towns, as well as BIA law enforcement. Security provided by the Cante Tenza Okolakiciye Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Independent Lakota Nation.
Please make every effort to attend with testimony concerning you or your loved ones:
U.S. Federal Monitors will be present to record your testimony in preparation for investigation into systemic, wide-scale racial discrimination against Lakota and other Indigenous people.
Bring pictures, video, documents, and other evidence you would like to present.
Meeting organized and security provided by the Cante Tenza Okolakiciye Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Independent Lakota Nation. For more information contact Canupa Gluha Mani at 605-517-1547.
Every year, Strong Heart gives away backpacks and school supplies (if available) to Lakota kids on Pine Ridge and Rapid City.
Candlelight Vigil for Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women and Men. August 30th, 2017 at Memorial Park shell, downtown Rapid City.
Canupa Gluha Mani was invited to give the opening and closing prayers for the emotional gathering. There were other families that also wanted to attend to honor their relatives but were unable. The number of signs up should be a sobering reminder for everyone outside Indian Country.
August 29, 2017 | Original: English
Lakota Territory – The Independent Lakota Nation (ILN) announces the historic formation of the International Indigenous Human Rights Office (IIHRO) to monitor and address Indigenous human rights issues within Lakota and surrounding Indigenous territory.
The ILN has been in previous contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Office (UNHCHRO) on human rights issues pertaining to the Lakota and Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island, and the IIHRO is a further step towards bringing the condition of Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island further into public awareness.
The IIHRO will first address the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous peoples within Lakota and surrounding territory. Under the name Justice For Stolen Lives, the investigation will begin with the U.S. states of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana and will focus on those Indigenous people murdered by law enforcement or whose cases were never solved, or solved in contradiction of evidence going back twenty-seven years to 1990.
“The International Community is required to investigate a high capacity of unexplained deaths that occur randomly to Indigenous people at the hands of law enforcement,” explained Lakota Strong Heart Warrior leader Canupa Gluha Mani. “In the absence of International action, we will take it upon ourselves to investigate through the forming human rights office.”
The IIHRO will regularly update the United Nations and other international human rights bodies on the status of Indigenous human rights in Lakota and surrounding territory.
Canupa Gluha Mani added, “We call out to other Indigenous nations with the same circumstances of unexplained or uninvestigated deaths at the discretion of America’s policies and procedures of ethnic cleansing to hold the U.S. Government, states, and towns accountable for these violations of human rights.”
The Independent Lakota Nation continues the inter-generational movement to assert Lakota independence and grows from past efforts by Lakota chiefs, elders, treaty councils, and more than 165 years of resistance to illegal settlement on unceeded Lakota territory.
On Friday, August 25th, members of the Strong Heart Warrior Society met with the Rapid City Police Chief Karl Jegeris on the troubling death of Mariah High Hawk.
The meeting was arranged by Pennington County Commissioner George Ferebee.
Strong Heart headman Canupa Gluha Mani addressed the police chief along with Mariah’s father and Strong Heart member Delbert High Hawk.
Mr. High Hawk re-emphasized the private detective that has been aiding the family has strong evidence that Mariah’s death was murder. Though Jegeris claimed to be open to new evidence, High Hawk’s claims were met with skepticism.
Despite claims of openness, Jegeris left immediately after responding to High Hawk preventing any further conversation. Listen to the full meeting audio below:
https://www.facebook.com/221714141215308/videos/1421341047919272/
Finally, we have Independent Lakota Nation license plates on the road! It’s been a struggle to get the right design and to produce the funding, but the first few are ready!
Independence is alive and growing!
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