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[source: Native News; Tue, 25 Jan 2000 17:00:07]

From: "Kent Lebsock" <ailanm@flash.net>
Kent Lebsock, 4448 Jupiter St. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107, 505-341-4230,
505-344-8366 fax, ailanm@flash.net,
http://www.americanindianlawall.orgC/o>www.americanindianlawall.org
Tony Black Feather, Spokesman, PO Box 48, Pine Ridge, SD 57770, 605-867-5938

Black Hills
Teton Sioux Nation

Tetuwan Oyate

MEMBER RESERVATIONS

Pine Ridge
Lower Brule
Cheyenne River
Standing Rock
Rosebud
Fort Peck
Crow Creek
Santee
Canadian Sioux

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 25, 2000

PINE RIDGE TAKEOVER

Statement of the Tetuwan Oyate, Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council

The occupation of the tribal council offices at the Pine Ridge Agency
(Bureau of ndian Affairs) continues as of this afternoon. Since 1894, the
Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council has advocated for the sovereignty of
the Lakota Nation, the traditional Tetuwan Oyate, as preserved in the
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 with the United States. Since 1984, that
advocacy has been extended into the international forums of the United
Nations, wherein the elders and leaders of the Tetuwan Oyate believe
that true justice must be sought, separate from the control of the United
States federal system.

>From the headquarters of the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council at Wolf
Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Tony Black Feather issued this
statement relative to the occupation at the Agency:

"My name is Tony Black Feather and I am the Spokesman for the Tetuwan
Oyate, Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council, at the United Nations on behalf
of the Lakota Nation. Since 1984, we have participated in international
forums, seeking justice for our Lakota people. As a United Nations
delegate, I have been closely following the events where I live on the
Pine Ridge Reservation at the Tribal Council offices. My observations
will be filed in detail with the Working Group on Indigenous Populations
under the UN Commission of Human Rights.

The grievances about the Tribal Council on my Pine Ridge Reservation
are a result of the imposition of the white man’s federal U.S. system on
our territory. If we turn back through the pages of history we will find that
the United States has conceived corruption and violence in our Lakota
country and this has affected the mentality of our Lakota people. It is why
our people mistakenly believe that justice can be found in the ways of
the colonizer. But this is not true. We must listen to our elders. We must
return to the Natural Laws of our traditional Lakota system. The presence
of the United States on our territory is still our problem today. As long as
our people seek a solution in the American federal system, we will be
subject to the corruption the system imposes. If the United States is not
going to honor the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, it is time that they pack up
and leave our country. Mitaku Oyasin."

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