FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
lakotastudentalliance@yahoo.com
1. WE, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Lakota Student Alliance and American Indian Movement demand that all Acts of violence and racism cease immediately against the Native American community and their supporters by the Bennett Co. Commissioners, Martin City Council, Bennett Co. Court House and the Bennett County Sheriff's Office.
2. We REAFFIRM the call for an economic BOYCOTT against the City of Martin and Bennett County by the Lakota people and their supporters with the support of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Resolutions have been passed by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Organizations in support of this economic boycott.
3. We demand an immediate and thorough investigation by the Oglala Sioux Tribe into the conditions of Native Americans residing in Bennett County and the Bennett County Jail.
4. We demand an immediate end to ALL acts of violence directed at certain members of the Native community residing in Martin and Bennett County.
5. We demand Hearings and Investigations into the Land Transactions between Bureau of Indian Affairs and State of South Dakota in Bennett County. Certain Land Records existent at the BIA regarding Bennett County have been inaccessible due to the so-called "Privacy Act". Other Land Records including US Government Subisidies to wasicu ranchers and farmers have been widely publicized. It is our opinion that a Land Audit by an International Non-Governmental Organization be conducted for fairness.
6. Furthermore, we demand that all of Bennett County lands stolen from a 1910 Act be returned to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Bennett County is Lakota land and is within the jurisdiction boundaries outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties.
7. To further see that these demands are met, forces of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, American Indian Movement, Lakota Student Alliance, Human and Civil Rights organizations will be mobilized locally to ensure the protection of human and civil rights and general welfare of the Lakota people within the jurisdiction of Bennett County.
We, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, American Indian Movement, Lakota Student Alliance and Human and Civil Rights organizations charge the Bennett County States Attorney's Office and the Bennett County Courts with failing to enforce the law by not prosecuting members of the Bennett Co. Sheriff's office with the murders, attempted murders, police brutality and other assaults on Oglala Sioux Tribal members as well as other native peoples.
We call upon federal officials to investigate these claims under Article 1 of the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty which is a legal and binding document. Article 1 states: "If bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will upon proof proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States." Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Proof is documented in the complaints submitted by members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe to the Bennett Co. Sheriff's Office, Bennett Co. Commissioners, City of Martin and Bennett Co. Court.
The City of Martin and Bennett County have not reconciled any agreement or compromise with members of the LaCreek District and Oglala Sioux Tribe. Many innocent Indian people have been jailed and countless others have been abused and harassed by the Bennett Co. law enforcement personnel. These acts of violence are willfully perpetrated against Indian people without regards to sex, age, guilt or handicap.
The violence documented is of physical, emotional and mental abuse but there is also a type of racism that is carried out by the judicial and economic system in Bennett Co. There is a dual standard of justice administered in the Bennett Co. Courts. Indian people are not afforded equal protection of the law. Indian prisoners are rushed through the courts and into the jails without regard afforded to mainstream America. Once incarcerated, Indians are kept in a facility where conditions are subject to cruel and inhuman punishment.
The lives and rights of Native Americans residing and travelling through Bennett Co. are considered of little or no value by white authorities. This type of Western Mentality must cease against all Native nations.
The Indian population of Bennett Co. have put up with this authorized abuse for too long. Our Native American sheriff has been politically removed from duty and supporters for the Native community have been forced to resign. This racism does not, in no way, shape or form -constitute a safe and liveable condition for Indian people and our children.
The City of Martin, SD and its citizens must come to a determination of whether they want to continue to participate in this legal racism or enact on a change for the better for both the Indian and non-Indian communities.
Sample Letter
To US Senate and House of Representatives Requesting Congressional Inquiries into Illegal Land Taking of 1910 Homestead Act. A violation of Constitutionally Supreme Treaties Ratified by the United States Senate and the Great Sioux Nation.
Speaker's Bureau:
For those interested in briefing with Lakota Landowners rights and Sovereignty.