LIE, CHEAT, STEAL IS THE COLONIAL AMERICAN WAY THAT CONTINUES AT DAPL

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The land beneath the pipeline was accorded to Sioux peoples by the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868. Eleven years later, the U.S. government incited and won theGreat Sioux War, and “renegotiated” a new treaty with the Sioux under threat of starvation. In that document, the tribe ceded much of the Laramie land, including the Black Hills of South Dakota, where many whites believed there to be gold.

In the decades that followed, other land previously controlled by the Sioux was doled out by the federal government as homesteads to Native families; when those farms failed, the government often repossessed the land. And in 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills were taken unjustly, and it ordered the U.S. government to compensate the Sioux tribes fairly for them. But the Sioux declined the payment—which still sits in U.S. Treasury accounts, earning interest—because they seek possession or co-ownership of the land itself.

Of course, this history does not answer whose land it really is: American law still respects the underlying logic of the “doctrine of discovery,” the idea that European Christians could lay claim to land if they were the first to document it.

But it is in partial recognition of the painful history of colonial land grabs that modern federal law accords certain rights to Native groups. Since 1992, one of these rights could be described as the right to be consulted: Whenever a federal agency undertakes or approves a construction project, it must consult with local Native nations or tribes about whether sacred sites or places are nearby.

~THEATLANTIC.COM

Read More

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/dapl-dakota-sitting-rock-sioux/499178/ 

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SUPPORTS STANDING ROCK SIOUX TRIBE

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Joint Statement from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior Regarding Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

“We appreciate the District Court’s opinion on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act.  However, important issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally, remain.  Therefore, the Department of the Army, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior will take the following steps.
The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws.  Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time. 

The Army will move expeditiously to make this determination, as everyone involved — including the pipeline company and its workers — deserves a clear and timely resolution.  In the interim, we request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe.

“Furthermore, this case has highlighted the need for a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects.  Therefore, this fall, we will invite tribes to formal, government-to-government consultations on two questions:  (1) within the existing statutory framework, what should the federal government do to better ensure meaningful tribal input into infrastructure-related reviews and decisions and the protection of tribal lands, resources, and treaty rights; and (2) should new legislation be proposed to Congress to alter that statutory framework and promote those goals.


Read More: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/joint-statement-department-justice-department-army-and-department-interior-regarding-standing

THE CAPITAL CRIMES OF COLUMBUS IN A CARTOON PLUS SOLUTIONS

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Trigger Warning: Extreme Violence



Columbus Journal Entry On
"The New World" he "discovered"
with millions of people already living on it for thousands of years

"I could conquer the whole of them
with fifty men
and govern them as I please." 

When Columbus went back to Spain he told the Queen of all the gold he saw there.

Sample of Cartoon

The link just below has the rest of this education cartoon on Columbus, but is is not easy to read.  Read it thoroughly yourself before deciding if your children can handle it.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day  


On Parenthood
And The Extra Responsibilities
Often Taken On By People Of Color.  

I have had a talk with each of my sons teachers about Columbus Day and also how to teach about Indigenous history in America. 

My youngest's teacher sent an e-mail out this weekend about how she is planning to teach Chief Seattle's speech. Then take them on a walk to the levee where they will sing to the river, the source of life in our area.  We also did a field trip a month back where we learned basic skills like weaving, making fire, making hand saw with antlers and stone and learned about our local tribes and some broader history from the local tribe members directly. 

With my middle son teacher we went through the school library and read through areas of books - if any told a whitewashed version of Columbus we threw them out. (I was shocked but she turned out to get it's seriousness!!) 

With my older teacher after our talk she stopped the other parents idea of a field trip at a fort (that had a "raid" as "education" /entertainment. Ft!) and instead met with local tribal elders to learn skills and history. 

I'm sharing this in hopes it sparks other parents to reach out. I think teachers want what's best most of the time. They just need support.

~Simone Samba, Mother

In better news
REGARDING COLUMBUS DAY 2015

Read More About This Historical Decision At NPR
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/10/12/354274630/seattle-swaps-columbus-day-for-indigenous-peoples-day

Kill The Indian; Save The Child

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"Kill The Indian; Save The Child"

This was a white philosophy of assimilation for a time,
here in the United States.*

Most do not know that beginning in the late 1800s Indian children were forcibly taken from their homes and placed into institutions like Carlisle Indian School or in Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools, and when the government decided that the children had to be divested of their traditional religious beliefs, Christian boarding schools were constructed on or near the Indian reservations.

I don't know which school this is. But this image chews up the soul.

Source: facebook

"We are boarding school survivors."

To this day the Indian nations are still in the process of recovery.

HuffPost

Similarly, when slavery ended in the United States, black women had to go to court or enter the U.S. legal system via the Freedman's Bureau to get their children back--if they could. A United States court could rule that a black child was better off with white people because the white people had the income and housing to take care of the child whereas the black mother did not. This essentially meant that black children remained a slave for all practical purposes...after slavery ended.

~from "Where and When I Enter" by Paula J Giddings

*Australia had a similar policy - Whites in Australia removed Aborigine's children "for the children's own good." Only the whtie Australians were using the children as indentured servants/slaves, among other things. The movie "Rabbit Proof Fence" attempts to tell that story.