Lakota Leaders Repudiate Secession Claims

The Rapid City Journal has an article today (it looks like it's been pulled from the online edition) about two tribal leaders who reject the idea of Native secession with which Russell Means and a few other Native American activists made a splash a few weeks ago.

“Our Grandfathers fought and died for these treaties; they are the backbone of Sioux Tribes’ legal relationship with the United States,” Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux said. “They protect our remaining lands, our water, our resources, our rights and our sovereignty.”

The Rosebud Reservation is in south-central South Dakota.

Chairman Joseph Brings Plenty of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in north-central South Dakota said, “These are our lands, and the treaties are our strength.”

Means and friends had planned to unilaterally withdraw from treaties with the United States government and create their own sovereign nation. If I remember correctly, his little group had even met with leaders of foreign nations about establishing diplomatic relations.

But apparently they hadn't consulted with tribal leaders, and this announcement had not been sanctioned by tribal leadership.

Bordeaux said he agreed that the U.S. government had stolen lands from the Lakota, said this left the tribes in abject poverty on the reservation, and even agreed with asking foreign countries for foreign aid to "rehabilitate" the reservations.

However

“The Lakota Freedom Delegation does not have any authorization from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to speak on its behalf,” he said.

It can be difficult to sort through all the conflicting stories dealing with the Indian Wars and the dealings of the U.S. government with Native peoples (especially with hate-America-first liberal revisionists muddying the waters), but it looks like Native Americans did get railroaded many times.

However, I don't think "foreign aid" is going to help any more than the tons of taxpayer dollars that have been rolling into the reservations for decades. In fact, much of this "free money" takes on a socialistic flavor that, as we've seen around the world and across non-Native American cities, tends to erode human dignity, ambition, and the drive to care for ones self. Congressional candidate Bruce Whalen said something to this effect during his 2006 campaign, that socialism had devastated the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Despite the bad blood between Native Americans and the U.S. government, I think the best chances for "rehabilitating" the reservation is not in more free money from the U.S. or any government, but a move by the tribes away from government dependence toward free market enterprise.

Imagine what could happen to unemployment and so many of the problems on the res if the tribes worked to open call centers, manufacturing plants and other businesses there. Poverty could be reduced and self-respect for accomplishments could provide not only a fiscal shot in the arm, but boost the spirits of some of the most depressed areas in America.