Sicangu News

 

While citizens in Nebraska and all over the USA watched and waited for the decision of Nebraskan Governor Heinman regarding his decision to allow or prevent the Transcanada Keystone XL oil pipeline into ‘his’ state, I cringed, as that mentality is damaging and part of the colonial construct. The Ogllala Aquifer does not acknowledge the Governor. Nor does it acknowledge Secretary of State John Kerry, nor President Obama. I also cringed because another chamber of the heart of the matter is where the tarsands oil comes from in the first place, and what that mining is doing to the Boreal Forest, the Athabascan River watershed, and the Red Nations People and all of life in that area.

                       

The dirty tarsands oil is coming from the tarsands oil mine which has wreaked havoc on the lands and waters and all of life there, only to feed the insatiable monster of greed of the fossil fuel industry and the discussion must include the need to get off the fossil fuel train wreck that is ruining the earth to line the pockets of a few, and the discussion must include the realization that the time is now for all mankind to re-evaluate their true needs and wants and decide if they want this pipeline so bad they are willing to wreck the delicate balance we have already impacted so much.

 

There comes a time when it boils down to personal responsibility. We either look at the whole big picture to see the truth or we continue to live in the many levels of denial that we all construct, and make excuses for what the industry is doing with our support as inactive human beings. People need to take courage and take that stand that this fossil fuel industry and the tarsands oil mine is wrong and work to shut it down before it is too late. Letting that pipeline in is not only contributing to the continuation of the tarsands oil mine, destruction of sacred water and all of life, it is actually supporting the continuation of the tarsands oil mine while it risks our sacred water here because it WILL leak and spill and when it does, it cannot be cleaned up, the technology does not exist.

 

We have to be brave and strong and take action to stop that pipeline and shut down the tarsands oil mine. People need to see the bigger picture and realize the kind of government they have that sets up the situation so they have to choose a job over stopping the biggest threat to the Ogllala Aquifer and all our surface water as well. Who will take a stand to defend sacred water? The sacred water must be preserved for our coming generations. IT IS THEIR WATER.

 

I hope everyone in Washington DC tomorrow yells out 4 times “SHUT DOWN TARSANDS” in a combined voice of 30,000. That would make this Grandmother very, very happy. And the Universe may be listening. Hecetuwe.

 

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and several other tribes, recently received money from a tribal trust accounting and management lawsuit. This was a $1 billion dollar settlement which was paid out to several tribes. Rosebud’s share was just over $15 million dollars. The money was placed into a private bank account.

 

This settlement is one of several which the federal government is now distributing to Indian tribes in this country. Another settlement involves money which was distributed as compensation for thousands of acres of tribal land which was flooded by the damming of the Missouri River. I understand this settlement money was paid to some of the tribes currently living along the Missouri River.

 

Anyway, there has been much speculation on how Rosebud’s portion of the settlement money would be spent. Recently, the tribal council did approve a resolution which allocated funds of $50,000 to $100,000 to each of the 20 communities of the Rosebud Reservation. Each community is to come up with a budget for this money. All of this funding is to be disbursed through the voucher system set up by the tribal finance department.

 

In addition, several tribal programs and organizations have submitted resolutions or requests for funding from this settlement money. Of course, the tribal council will have to review all of these requests before any of them are approved.

 

However, this process has now come to an abrupt halt. Apparently, a petition to call for a secretarial election is now being circulated on the Rosebud. I also understand that this petition for a referendum vote involves tribal members who want at least $11 million dollars of this settlement money to be distributed as a one-time per capita payment to all living members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

 

Many of us received a $1,000 payment from the Cobell settlement. I know many of you spent your money wisely. I also know that many of you financed a big party with that money. In any case, I hope your children had a good Christmas.

 

The first Cobell payment, along with the second payment which is supposed to be distributed soon, is basically tax free. The Cobell money will also not affect your eligibility for any public assistance benefits you currently receive. That is, if you currently receive Social Security, Commodity Food Distribution Program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), General Assistance (GA), etc. you will not have to report the Cobell payments as income. Your benefits will not be affected.

 

However, if this secretarial election happens and if the people vote to receive a one-time per capita payment funded by some of the money received by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, that payment will be taxable. This means you will be required to report this as income to SSI, TANF, SNAP, GA, etc. Receiving a one-time payment from the tribe as a per capita payment will affect your eligibility for public assistance. Some of you might lose a portion or all of your benefits.

 

The Rosebud Sioux Tribal Enrollment Department lists 31,585 people as living members. When you divide $11 million dollars by 31,585 it comes out to be about $348.26 per living tribal member. Is it really worth risk the loss or reduction of your Social Security or other benefits to receive a one-time check for $348.26?

 

What about the minors who would be eligible for these payments? Who will be responsible to ensure that our children benefit from their share of this proposed per capita payment?

 

For instance, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe recently issued gift cards in the amount of $150 which was to be used to purchase new clothing for school aged children enrolled with the tribe. This project costs the tribe well over a half a million dollars each year. Are tribal officials aware that some of our adult tribal members sold their child’s $150 gift card for $75 cash? So those children did not receive the clothing which was supposed to be purchased with the $150 gift card. Those children lost out, they did not receive any new clothes.

 

So, back to my question about who will ensure our children benefit from their $348.26 share of this proposed per capita payment. I believe if a per capita payment is approved through a referendum vote, the tribe should either (1) let the money sit in an investment account until our minor tribal members are at least 18 years old, or (2) require guardianship documents to be submitted before any pay-out is made to tribal members who have not yet reached the age of 18 years old.

 

Personally, I believe our children deserve to spend their own money in the way they see fit. So if it were up to me, I would advocate for the money which would be allocated for tribal members who are currently underage to be invested in a high interest account and that they be issued a check, which would include interest, upon their eighteenth birthday. That is only fair, right? It is not fair to hand money over to parents who will not spend on it the children. If this happens, some children will once again lose out.

 

Personally, I am not in favor of any per capita payments. I would rather see the money go to tribal programs which are in place to help those of us who live here on the Rez. There are many poverty-stricken elders, young families and children who depend on the tribe for a variety of services.

 

If I were to compile a figure of all the tribal money which is paid out to numerous tribal members and organizations for assistance with a variety of needs, the amount would be astronomical. These are our people who have no income and no one to turn to for help except the tribe. I would use money I received in a per capita check to help someone less fortunate. Would you?

 

 

 

 

 

October 9, 2011

 

President Barack Obama

The White House

Washington, DC

 

Secretary Hilary Clinton

Department of State

Washington, DC

 

Dear President Obama and Secretary Clinton:

 

Please consider this letter as my written comments on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion. As a human being dependent upon Mother Earth for my sustenance, I oppose the building of this pipeline; and as a fellow human you should too.

 

My name is Viola Waln. My drinking water comes from the Ogallala Aquifer. I have been drinking this water since I was born. I have buffalo, sheep and horses that also drink this water. My plants, trees, flowers and vegetables also depend on this water.

 

I am Sicangu Lakota and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. I am the grandmother of four grandchildren, all of whom are also tribal members. I reside on the Rosebud Reservation. I live by the Lakota way of life. I pray in Lakota ceremonies on a regular basis. My family members and I are all baptized members of the Native American Church. We are very devout in our prayers and way of life. We pray for Mother Earth to heal every day. We give thanks for good drinking water every day. You should too.

 

In my language we say Mni Wiconi, which translates to Water of Life. Without water there is no life. Within all the ceremonies I attend, water has an essential place. This is, we pray with water in every ceremony we have. And as inhabitants of Mother Earth we depend on water to live. We do not need oil to live. There are other ways to create energy.

 

I take it personal that you are considering the approval of a Presidential Permit which would allow the Keystone XL Pipeline expansion to cross my drinking water source. You are threatening the water source of millions, many of them children. The potential for contamination is not worth the risk. Please do not sign the Presidential Permit. Please do not jeopardize my grandchildren’s basic human right to have unlimited access to an uncontaminated drinking water source.

 

The proposed Keystone pipeline expansion will come through my homelands. I have read the project is going to cost $7 billion dollars. Oftentimes, dollar signs will overrule basic common sense. The corporations behind this death project are already buying and preparing land in South Dakota but, in my opinion, they don’t care about Mother Earth. They only care about money. And why are they getting the land ready now when the permit hasn’t even been approved yet?

 

I wonder what goes through the minds of people who make a living exploiting Mother Earth’s sources. I believe every decision we consider as individuals, elected officials or owners of corporations must first measure the lasting impact on our descendants. In the insatiable quest for money, many human beings have lost sight of what is essential to our survival. Mother Earth is all we have. When she dies there will be nothing left.

 

Not only does this project have the potential to contaminate our precious water and air supply, it will likely destroy certain areas. Even though TransCanada chose to build the initial pipeline by skirting around contemporary Indian Reservations, most of the Lakota-Dakota-Nakota view the original territory outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Treaties as sacred land forever ours to protect.

 

We depend on water for life. You and your family depend on water for life. Please do not allow another oil pipeline to be built. Our water is crucial to our survival. Please use your common sense and look seven generations into the future. We cannot risk our water sources for oil. It is not worth it.

 

The project will desecrate the land. I have ancestors buried all over the 1851 and 1868 Treaty Territory. As many people know, we didn’t always bury relatives in the cemeteries we know today. There are many unmarked graves all over this Turtle Island. The bones of our relatives rest everywhere. Some have fossilized into stone. Who gives anyone the right to trample all over these final resting places and physically disturb ancient graves just for a few more gallons of gas or oil?

 

When the tar sands area is fully harvested in Canada, the entire region will surely be devastated. The water supply our relatives in Canada depend upon for life is also at risk. Our First Nations relatives are fighting the expansion also. Every tree, every plant, every water source, and every animal will be sacrificed in the corporate march to move the crude through this proposed pipeline.

 

Like many of my Lakota-Dakota-Nakota relatives, I am deeply concerned about the world our grandchildren and unborn descendants will be left with when we are gone. You should be concerned about your descendants also.  Like the ancestors who have gone before us, many of us pray for the descendants who will soon stand in our place.

 

At the rate we are pillaging Mother Earth there will be nothing left. How will our great grandchildren feel when they learn they have inherited a dead planet? The inhabitants of North America cannot afford the Keystone pipeline expansion. It will surely destroy us. It will destroy everything we are building in terms of culture and spirituality for our children.

 

Also, this proposed expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline will have to cross our precious drinking water sources, including both the Ogallala Aquifer and the Mni Wiconi water line in South Dakota, along with several streams and rivers. The water which comes through these systems serves many residents currently living on our reservations.

 

Our water is our life. We will not survive without water. What will we do when the water supply is forever contaminated by oil? I believe it would be unethical to put the water source which millions of people depend upon for life at risk. Please do not grant a Presidential Permit for this project.

 

A map I saw recently shows the proposed pipeline expansion also crossing the Ogallala Aquifer. This vast, vital water source serves at least eight states. There is never an absolute guarantee of a safe oil pipeline. I don’t think there is really anything we can do to stop oil from getting into our underground water supply.  And when it does, as it surely will, who will clean it up? Where will we get our drinking water when the very source we are dependent upon is contaminated?

 

There have already been many spills from the existing Keystone pipeline. Again, I fail to see how we can we clean up oil spilled into water; especially oil already leaked into our underground water source. I really don’t think a cleanup of that magnitude can be accomplished by average human beings.

 

Proponents of the 1,912 mile pipeline assert there is no real threat of any serious problems impacting our fragile environment. This pipeline will run from Canada to Texas. You can’t expect all of us to believe there will be no serious environmental impact! It will be underground and I fail to see how something underground can be properly monitored.

 

Please do not put the drinking water source of my peoples’ unborn generations at risk.

As a child of Mother Earth, I am against the proposed Keystone pipeline expansion crossing our water sources. I ask you to pray for our water of life to remain pure for our descendants, both yours and mine. Please do not approve a Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline expansion.

 

In closing, here on the Rosebud Indian Reservation we recently had a fire that was 22 miles long and fanned by winds up to 60 mph. This fire burnt 17,500 acres of land and trees. Clean water was essential to putting out this fire. As I write these comments, the fire is 85% contained and I am sure many firefighters will have to stay out in the field for several more days to make sure it is completely out.

 

Please do not approve the President Permit for TransCanada. Without water we will die.

 

 

/S/ Viola G. Waln

 

 

When a family loses a child, it will changes their whole world. It has been nearly 10 years since my Takoja made her journey to the spirit world. Each year, the anniversary date of her passing is always a hard day, no matter how much time has gone by. Her birthday has also always been a difficult day; Takoja would have celebrated her fifteenth birthday on December 13. We still wonder what she would have grown up to be.

 

My Takoja died from Group A Strep, a totally treatable infection. Her death was 100% preventable. Still, the medical staff at Rosebud Hospital lacked the competency to detect the infection in time to save her life. Even when the physician’s assistant referred her case to a medical doctor, neither one of those so-called professionals believed she was sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. She was sent her home to die.

 

It doesn’t matter how your small child dies. When you lose a five or six year old child to death, it is always tragic. The pain is indescribable. We should not have to outlive our children and grandchildren. These little ones are gifted to us so we can learn from them. But sometimes the lessons they bring are the hardest ones of all. Seems like you never really recover from the death of a child, the sadness is always there.

 

There is always something which will remind me of our little girl. There’s a certain brand of candy, every time I see it in the store I think of her. Or seeing a child with an orange will make me remember how she taught her baby sisters to peel their oranges. Or listening to the radio and hearing a song she liked to sing along to. I can almost hear her voice.

 

I don’t even know what to write about last week’s massacre of all those little children. All I can say is I know how those parents, grandparents and families feel. I know the pain they face in the coming days, months and years. I remember the insomnia. I cried constantly. But the worst part of it all was dealing with the rage I felt at the injustice of her death.

 

The Lakota and other tribal people of Turtle Island have witnessed massacres similar to the one last week. Pictures of 19^th century massacres are stark evidence that we’ve already seen groups of our children murdered by men behind big guns. I believe we carry these painful emotions in our genetic memory. The images are locked away in our DNA. Our ancestors knew what it was like to hear muffled gunshots when our people were murdered at Wounded Knee in 1890. The Hotchkiss guns could be heard all the way to the Pine Ridge Agency.

 

Anyway, the massacre in Connecticut could be a reminder to all of us to be sure our children are really safe. How many children will not want to go to school this week? And how many parents will not want to send their children to school ever again? I believe these are questions we all need to consider because no one can convince me that my Takoja are really safe at the schools they attend.

 

Sadly, a friend said something to me which really made sense. We take more precautions in making sure our money is secured than we do to safeguard our children. When you think about this it is true. How easy is it for someone to get into a bank and steal your money? Obviously, it is easier for someone to get into a school to murder a classroom full of children than it is for them to get into the bank to steal your money.

 

Another thing to consider is people who are locked up in jail or prison. How easy is it for a person armed with an automatic weapon to break into those facilities to shoot the people inside? Seems as though that would be a feat which would be nearly impossible; so why is that segment of our population supposedly safer than our children who attend school every day? Our priorities are obviously skewed.

 

What about our children on the Rez? I thought about our wakanyeja all weekend. I do not believe our children are safe anymore, especially not here on the Rez. Look at how many Lakota people have obviously made drinking, drugging or gambling the number one priority in their life. Our children really suffer.

 

Do you ever wonder about the children who are forced to live in a home where there are alcohol or drug parties on a regular basis? What about the children whom must ride in cars driven by drunk drivers? Some children live with pill snorting adults. What about the women who drink heavily throughout their pregnancy? How many of our children are sentenced to an entire life of fetal alcohol syndrome? These are regular occurrences here on the Rez and I really do not see anyone trying to put a stop to it. Our children are not safe, not at all.

 

So, while most people are feeling devastated over what happened in Connecticut, I believe we really need to start here at home to create a safer environment for our children. Nothing is going to change unless we begin living the changes ourselves. How will we help to make our Rez a safer place for our children to grow up?

 

We send our children off to schools everyday where they are terrorized by mean students or staff. The bully is in charge! SCHOOLS ARE NOT SAFE! It doesn’t matter where the school is either. Psychos with dangerous weapons can just stroll in anywhere and murder little children.

 

The pain of losing a child hurts forever. The families in Connecticut have my sympathy. I send my prayer to my Takoja on the other side to help those murdered children complete their spiritual journey.

 

 

 

One thousand, eight hundred and twenty six days adds up to five years. Five years. It has been five years since I smoked a cigarette. I used to listen to people talk about how they quit and how long they had been smoke free. On my first day as a newly committed non-smoker I really didn’t believe my quit would last very long.

 

I couldn’t see many things as a dedicated cigarette smoker. After the toxic blue smoke cleared I saw how extremely disrespectful and selfish I was. My entire life revolved around cigarettes and where I could smoke them!

 

But that is the nature of an addict – the fix is always primary. When you are addicted to a substance, legal or illegal, it rules your entire life along with the lives of your loved ones. Life is secondary to getting the fix.

 

When you are a cigarette smoker you really do not care about the people around you. This is especially true for those of you who smoke indoors and in your vehicles. All the people in your home and vehicle are forced to smoke with you. Let me say that again, when you smoke cigarettes inside your home and vehicle your family is also forced to inhale those poisonous fumes.

 

Children who live with indoor cigarette smokers visit the hospital more often than those of non-smokers. Children who live in the toxic polluted homes with smokers have more upper respiratory and ear infections than other children. Many of our children already cough like they smoke cigarettes.

 

It should be against tribal law to smoke inside our homes or inside public offices and buildings. Sadly, as tribal nations our Indian Reorganizational Act governments are often far behind the rest of the world in terms of creating, approving and enforcing laws promoting good health.

 

For example, I thought it was a fabulous step forward when the voters of South Dakota overwhelmingly voted to ban indoor cigarette smoking. The casinos in Deadwood are no longer filled with cigarette smoke.

 

But our tribal casinos are still hazardous to our health because they are filled with cigarette smoke. Don’t let a designated non-smoking corner in the casino fool you.  The smoke from cigarettes in an enclosed building floats everywhere.

 

Rosebud’s Tribal Headquarters is not a smoke-free building. Tribal employees and elected officials smoke their cigarettes inside the tribal building despite a sign on the door which proclaims a smoke free environment.

 

But until you stop smoking you will vehemently defend whatever right you think to have to force non-smokers to inhale your deadly second hand cigarette smoke. Have you heard about third hand smoke? I knew about third hand smoke long before I quit. It is the residual from your cigarette smoke which is left behind inside your homes, offices and vehicles.

 

I can see it on the walls and windows of homes where indoor smokers live. It is the yellow film that comes off the inside of your car windows when you clean them. It gets in everything and stays there.

 

There are those anti-smoking commercials I watch on the television networks now where children are talking about how they need to quit smoking. These are the children who live with cigarette smoking parents. The one that really hits home is where you can see the child breathing in the second hand smoke in the air inside his own home.

 

90% of the cigarette smoke you inhale is trapped inside your lungs. And 90% of the second hand smoke your child is forced to inhale also stays in their lungs. Does this sound like child abuse?

 

People tell me they need to quit. Others say they want to quit. There are those of you who say you don’t want to quit. You like smoking. I never liked smoking. I never enjoyed being chained to those cigarettes. I was a prisoner in a cloud of blue smoke.

 

Quitting the cigarettes was one of the hardest things I ever did. Like many reservation children I began smoking at a very young age. There was a time when underage smokers could buy their own cigarettes and they were a whole lot cheaper than they are now.

 

It’s funny that people on the rez complain about having no money or no job or no this or that. Yet they come up with enough cash to pay for those cigarettes. I know how it is. Some of you will buy cigarettes before you will buy food.

 

“In South Dakota, 17.5% of the adult population (aged 18+ years)—over 106,000 individuals—are current cigarette smokers. Across all states, the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults ranges from 9.3% to 26.5%.” www.cdc.gov

 

American Indians have the highest rate of cigarette smokers in South Dakota. Nearly half (46.4%) of all cigarette smokers in South Dakota are American Indian people. We all lament the poor health conditions of our people living on the rez but not many will quit smoking their cigarettes. Children who grow up in a cloud of smoke have a higher chance of becoming nicotine addicts.

 

I never knew how much cigarette smokers reeked until I quit. Cigarette smokers stink something awful. It’s very unattractive to see people smoking cigarettes. And when you smoke in your home or car with your children they will stink just like you do.

 

The Lakota people once considered tobacco sacred but those days are obviously gone. People talk about elders and children being precious. I hear all the time how we must treasure the oldest and youngest members of our tribe.

 

But it is hypocritical to say the children are sacred while you are blowing smoke at them in their own home. If you must smoke then do it outside. Designate both your home and vehicle as non-smoking areas. Your children deserve to breathe clear air.

 

Five years. If I can do it, so can you. I’ve saved $9,130 by not buying 36,527 cigarettes.

Justice served for Shirley Schwab and Brandon Taliaferro.

How Not To Be An Activist.

The Calgary Herald is running a Poll (about halfway down the page) “Should Prime Minister Stephen Harper meet with Chief Theresa Spence?” PLEASE VOTE YES!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/index.html

Recently, I read a rant about women singers, specifically, women who sit at the big drum with a drumstick and sing. The man who ranted about those of us who sing apparently thinks we should not be singing because we have a moon time. Or that we should not be hitting the drum because we have a menstrual cycle.

 

This reminded me of a time when my friend and I organized classes which focused on traditional child birthing methods. A man came to the class and proclaimed that he probably knew more about traditional child birthing methods than any woman did. It was laughable. How can a man even think to speak on women’s issues when none of them even have the right equipment?

 

Back to the woman singer issue, I have been to pow-wows, sun dances and Native American Church meetings where I have witnessed women sitting at the drum, holding a drum stick and singing the songs. I saw nothing wrong with it. In fact, one of the most powerful sun dances I have ever been to is where I saw a woman singer at the drum. Her voice did not chase the spiritual powers away.

 

Perhaps you will disagree with me but I do not believe our Lakota culture is static. If it was so, then it would not have survived through all the efforts made to kill us. I do believe our culture has evolved and will continue to do so. The only thing which will halt this evolution is our own people who have a problem with the results of that evolution.

 

Singers are power, pure and simple. We are the medicine. Our voices doctor the people, the Earth and the Universe. The very first note we ever sang is still rippling through the ethers of the cosmos, giving a bit of medicine to everything it permeates. Sacred songs are power too and to me it does not matter whether they were composed 1,000 years ago or 1 month ago.

 

So if you have the desire to sing, then please do so. Women, young ladies and girls, do not let the arrogant opinions of close minded men stop you from taking your power and picking up that drum stick to sing your medicine. They have no right to judge you because of your menstrual cycle. We need all the healing songs we can get. Pray and sing your healing for those ignorant men who would only desire to see us continue to be subjugated as women.