i received land and title paperwork from the bureau of indian affairs on some of my Ina's land in Crow Creek and it is a sad thing to look upon papers that have the letters IP next to tracts of land that belonged to my mother's family and see the initials IP next to some of them. for in the language of the united states government the letters IP mean In Perpetuity and to see the date of origination as 1957 when the us army corp of engineers "damned" the missouri river is also a sad thing for the People, the Land and the River. thinking on these things has gotten me to consider why the us army corp of engineers owns five dams along the missouri river, all built on land illegally seized from Dakotah and Nakotah Nations, all of which are producing hydoelectric power, and all built to control flooding further down the missouri for folks who were unintelligent enough to build homes and towns on flood plains. who benefits from the electricity that is generated by five dams owned by the united states army corp of engineers, transmitted across indian lands on transmission towers sitting on indian lands once again illegally seized by the People of the united states in the form of the bureau of reclamation, yet how does one reclaim what they never owned in the first place?? the question i seek an answer to is who benefits from the electricity and money that are quantifiable physical commodities of these five dams???

I ask myself that at least once a week and it makes me furious to think about it.

i intend to find out Unique and when i do... i will let you know. its all related to the Pick Sloan Act and the Indian Claims Commission which was no more than a commission to get indians to sign off on all the illegal land theft related to the dams and all the infrastructure necessary to generate and transmit electricty. what disturbs me the most is people like my mother who could have used the land and money that she inheirited from her brother for 6 years rather than the last 6 months of her life. when one gets paid to do a job be it a hang around the fort job or not one should do it to the best of their ability understanding that work done at that job has a direct impact on the lives of YOUR very own People... they are all your grandpas... all your grandmas... all your mothers and fathers... all your brothers and sisters and all your cousins. so when i hear things like it took 6 years to get a death certificate... i find that hard to believe since washington state has a vital statistics bureau that is open for 8 hours... every working day for 52 weeks a year.

Legalized land theft on a grand scale... and who is this wasichu to be signing away land that don't even belong to him. The hardship and poverty brought on by these dams exists in the here and now even though these dams were built in the 1950's.

When anybody gets something for nothing, it means somebody else got nothing for something.

Those of us who enjoy low cost energy need to examine our consciences and learn who is paying the price for our easy life style. Those of us who are honest need to join in the fight to see that all people are compensated for what was taken to provide us with ease and we need to become educated to keep ourselves from becoming or continuing to be thieves by proxy.

Those of us who have lived off of the theft from the people of the land, are thieves and we need to pay the price for what we have stolen along with stopping any future theft.

We have a very heavy obligation to pay back what we have stolen. Those of us who are not native to this land need to look in the mirror with shame each time we turn on the light switch and join in the fight to restore what we have ruined or unjustly took.

Hau Woodrow

i remember the tears in my great great grandmother Firecloud's eyes when spoke of the bodies of the People floating to the surface when the land behind the dam at crow creek was flooded and the pain in her voice... of how she was forced off prime river bottom land because a bunch of "americans" further down Mni Sose didn't have the common sense to not build their farms, homes and cities on flood plains. these aren't some pictures i saw in a book or some words i read on a website those were the tears and voice of a dakota woman who fed dogs to her grandchildren so that they might live... these are the Ancestors that i am thankful for... for they instilled in me the courage and understanding of our lifeways and culture.... not as defined by someone else's interpretation of what it is to be Dakotah... but defined by being a Dakotah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGVc1QG6 ... 1&index=38


As we move once again to define ourselves as a People and Nation it is upon us to remember at all times that it is an honor to serve the People in leadership positons and to remember at all times... it is they whom we represent. In memory of my many Ancestors who have died at Crow Creek. I am humbled that my Auntie Karen a good woman who gave to the Sundance and Sundancers at Crow Creek in a good way by providing her service as a cook for many years and asked for nothing in return and was respected for that. There will always be those who will try to define us but their views of what is good and right yet We are who We are by the will of Wakan Tanka, that Great Mystery who has created all life... we are Dakotah and we are still here.

Very often I cross Lake Oahe on the 212 bridge at the east boundry of the CRLSR. At least once a month and often several times a week I cross that bridge. A beautiful lake that any nation would be pleased to have. But, this picture is a deceit. Lake Oahe is very ugly when you understand what it buries beneath it's waters and how this lake came to be. It is not a gift from God(swy) it is theft on an unbelievable scale. And as the lake grows every year, the theft continues.

The lake is not filled with water it is filled with the blood, sweat and tears of those who have suffered over this injustice. Major wars among nations have been fought over less thievery.

May the damn dam and it's builders be damned.

> ! <

This is how I feel as well. That is why I do what I can whenever I can. This is why I will not let a lie stand - why I fight injustice at every opportunity. I do not know why I feel this way. I wasn't even born when the land was stolen. My people weren't here when the whole mess began. Sometimes I think I wish I were. I'd have told them - "don't let them off the boats!"

I can't change the past but I can affect the future and I intend to. Let me know when and how I can help. I'm not rich nor am I famous - but I've been known to be persuasive in the right venue. ~Namaste~

Hau Unique and Woodrow

I understand your feelings as well Unique i was not on this planet either when these terrible acts of disrespect and ethnic cleansing were done to my Ancestors... i will say that i was not alive thing has been used as a justification for these thefts of land... so one day i was in a heated discussion with a person of european ancestory and he said that to me..." i wasn't alive when that damned treaty was signed so i don't owe your People anything..." so in turn i said to him "well i wasn't alive when that useless treaty was signed either so get the hell of of my land" needless to say when i used his own logic on him he was left with less than nothing. i think Tunkasila just may take care of those dams for the Dakotah Oyate... the dams are more than 50 years old and have exceeded their shelf life... fifty years of generating electricity and profit off the resources and misery of the exiled Dakotah People at Crow Creek.

below are scans of pages 8 and 9 from the List of Real Property Assets issued by the united states governement, department of interior, bureau of indian assimilation, office of the special trustee... please not the IP next to some of the tracts of land this is land that has been seized by any number of state agencies and federal agencies up to and inlcluding the: United states of america, united states bureau of reclamation, united states bureau of indian affairs, united states farmers home administration, the state of north dakota, the state of south dakota, east river electric and power. these lands were essentially stolen for pennies on the dollar... if i recall correctly some of this land was not even purchased but had to be condemned and then claimed by the united states in a process known as eminent domain, in order to remove it from the hands of my family and my Ancestors.

IP: IN PERPETUITY

Thank you ghostwarrior. That is some of the kind of information I am looking for.

I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV but ... things have been known to happen when I get involved.



I love that. Wish I could have been there to see it.

I want the Lakotah - all First Nations people - to prosper. To have returned to them what has been stolen. Not from the pioneer days - those can come later. We can start from the "now" days. Even though I wasn't born in 1950 - my by God people were. I'm sure they weren't consulted either.

One step at a time. One day at a time. One parcel at a time. Stone Soup.

Unique

I would be grateful to you on a personal level and i am sure the People of Crow Creek are grateful to any who can assist in this ongoing war with the united states. we are few and they are many... but we make up in fighting spirit what we lack in numbers.

Allen

hau Allen,

Your words on this thread and other threads have given me a greater insight into the injustices that often go unpublicized. You have given me reason to develop a personal involvement in Crow Creek.

I will make an effort to get to Crow Creek more often. I can not do much. but I will do the little I can do. One person can not do much, but as each one person does a little, the little can add up. Each person that stole from the Native Americans, only stole a little, and that little added up to be the theft of a nation. The opposite can be true also, if we all begin to return or pay for what we do not own.

Hau Woodrow

These are good thoughts and word that you think and write my friend. I know that the things that will be in short supply right now in Crow Creek are school supplies for the children. Let me know and i will get you the name of a good man who serves the People of Crow Creek in a good way. I pray Tunkasila guides your steps, thoughts and words in a good way my friend.

Allen Milk

Why are melva rank, scott shields, patrick duffy, james bluestone and james steele being allowed to enforce south dakota state law within the national boundries of crow creek dakotah oyate?

These wasichu laws of american society have been nothing but bad for the People and continue to be nothing but bad for the People... if these men and one woman believe in white man's law there are any number of countries including the united states in which they can go live and get more than their share of white man's law. These men and women have colonized mindsets and serve the united states by trying to represent the vertical justice system of european societies as good for the People but they are NOT... this has been proven time and time again... i offer the Lakotah People of Pine Ridge and the Dakotah People of Crow Creek as examples of these failed "democratic" constitutions that were forced upon the People by the People of the united states.
Illegal activities by these indviduals and the united states government organizations which they represent have gone unchecked for far too long are about to come to light... and there will be a reckoning.
I also find it disturbing that council members including the tribal chairman do not return phone calls or emails as well... and that is why these ira governments must be replaced with the true and sovereign governments of dakod pi, governements that are responsible and responsive to the People.

Woodrow

thank you for posting these pictures... i can close my eyes and imagine the caress of the wind bringing the smell of sage and prairie grass in the picture with the moon. my son Dakotah who is in first grade, as part of a classroom exercise this year was asked to list four things that he thought human beings needed... most kids puts things like playstations, computers, ipods, cars...etc etc... the four items on my boys list were... food, water, air and a house.


GW, Your children have more wisdom than most adults I know.

My brother in law works in the so called intelligence community in DC. We no longer talk because I told him 15 years ago there are 50 stars on the flag and to me each star represents 10 nations who suffered and still suffer today repression, oppression, invasion and occupation of and by the USA. He can not associate with me because he must take a lie dector test every so often for his security clearence. When I tell him the govt gor generations had violated its own law and constitution. I ask him how 3 plus generations of people were forbidden to practice their own religion, in direct violation of the constitution? He would get angry with me when I would compare the reservation system to the Palestinians, and tell him the policys of the govt are no different then those of the Nazi party under Hitler. I am a threat to his lifestyle, a radical.

I may not be of Lakotah blood, but my heart is with you. If I were welcome, I would stand and fight beside you.

Hau Flip... thank you for your kind words and i do my best to instill in my children the values of Dakotah Oyate and to teach them of the true history of the united states. i am honored by your offer to stand with us... yet this is something that must be done by the People... and for the People. Dakotah is a thoughtful little boy who is already know for his kindness and generosity to others. Thank you for honoring him in this way... i am deeply humbled.

"Reservations are prisoner of war camps and we are under military occupation."

Richard Grass, Lakota, Dakota and Nakota elder

ghostwarrior, I understand this is a thing the Dakotah must do, for themselves. I can not, in good conscience, withdraw my offer. It is there for if/when it is needed. I will help where I would be needed.

Do not be humbled by the truth. I meant what I said about your son being wiser than most adults I know. Today, people are so out of touch with what is really important. All caught up in trying to make money, wanting things not really needed. I have been one of those without wisdom. Maybe I still am, but I am learning I am not as wise I had thought. Perhaps, your son is wiser than I am. I am not so sure I would have answered as well as he did. Of course, I want to think I would, but i dont know.

With your teachings, your sons will go far in life. You have already taught them far more than my father taught me.

For those who think different I urge them to spend one day on a rez with the people and not the tourist attractions. The condition differ very little from what is taking place in Gaza. These are very much concentration camps and one in which the prisoners are enticed to drink poison. It is the latest attempt at extermination and if extermination is not possible, it is the hiding of an entire people from the world.