Sicangu News

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.

Recently, I witnessed an unhealthy incident which made me think again about how some human beings evolve while others do not. Remember, evolution isn’t just about the physical body; it also includes our emotional, mental and spiritual selves. I believe the evolution of our inner selves is a conscious choice. You either choose to evolve or you don’t.

 

I know a lady who has told me many times about how she is regularly stalked by another woman. Usually the stalker woman is accompanied by one or two other people. This group will follow the lady I know around in public places. Now there is no law against being in a public place. Still, there are times when the stalker woman seems to materialize shortly after the stalked lady does. So, does this mean that someone who works in a certain public place is telephoning/texting the stalker gang to come follow this lady around a specific area?

 

Specifically, the gang of stalkers appears out of nowhere when this lady is at the federal facility known as the Rosebud Hospital. Is there an Indian Health Service policy against stalking? Maybe I should call Dr. Yvette Roubideaux and ask her. And while I am at it, I think I will tell her about what goes on in terms of stalking at the Rosebud Hospital.

 

In any case, according to the Law and Order Code of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, stalking is a crime. So in essence, tribal members, or anyone for that matter, who choose to stalk other people in public or private are criminals. See the following for clarification.

 

“5-6-4 Stalking: Any person willfully, maliciously and repeatedly follows or harasses another person or who makes a credible threat to another person with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury is guilty of Stalking. Stalking is a Class A crime. [History: Ordinance 97-03]

 

“5-6-5 Harasses – Defined: For the purposes of this chapter, “harasses” means a knowing and willful pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose, directed at a specific person which seriously alarms, annoys, or harasses the person and which serves no legitimate purpose. [History: Ordinance 97-03]

 

“5-6-6 A Credible Threat – Defined: For the purposes of this chapter “a credible threat” means a threat made with the intent and the apparent ability to carry out the threat. A credible threat need not be expressed verbally. [History: Ordinance 97-03]

 

“5-6-7 Stalking a Child Twelve or Younger: Any person who willfully, maliciously and repeatedly follows or harasses a child, twelve years of age or younger or who makes a credible threat to a child twelve years of age or younger with the intent to place that child in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury or to reasonably fear for the child’s safety is guilty of stalking.

 

“5-6-8 Order of Protection: Upon the filing of a complaint under this chapter, the victim shall immediately be issued an Order for Protection from the actor named in the complaint.”

 

Now, this lady I am referring to is often stalked when she has her children with her. These children are under the age of twelve years and they see these people who follow their mother around. I doubt the stalkers actually stop to take some time to think about what kind of distress they are subjecting these children to.

 

I also doubt that these stalkers realize they are committing a Class A crime because all of their attention is focused on following this woman around. Their personal energy is spent committing the act of criminal stalking. Obviously, they have no time to reflect upon their own unhealthy behavior.

 

People who stalk others are showing their children how to act. Essentially, they are teaching their children that it is okay to follow someone else around with the intent of harassing them. Remember, the RST Law and Order code states: “A credible threat need not be expressed verbally.” Children mimic everything we do. Don’t teach your child how to be a criminal stalker.

 

People could find more meaningful ways to spend their time. Is your whole life focused on someone else’s whereabouts? Do you sit in the privacy of your own home and constantly wonder where the object of your stalking is? Seems like a lot of wasted time and energy, don’t you think?

 

Consequently, the stalking also extends to this gang following the lady around in a vehicle. I don’t believe any evolved humans would behave like this. Stalking is actually the behavior of dangerous psychos. Anyway, I would not be one to waste the gasoline I pay a lot of money for by following another person around in a vehicle. Or maybe they don’t have to pay for the gasoline; perhaps a person with a job is buying the fuel.

 

In any case, personal evolution will not happen when your focus is on what another person is doing. The choice to evolve is a conscious one. Do you choose to think on a higher level or do you choose to focus on someone else’s life? Are your days/nights spent burning whole tanks of gasoline in order to follow someone around?

 

Finally, the Rosebud Hospital has a sign posted near the turn off from BIA 9 which reads “Rosebud Comprehensive Health Care Facility.” The word comprehensive means everything. It means all levels. If our hospital is really a comprehensive health care facility, shouldn’t the employees who work there also emulate comprehensive health? When the employees and administration condone unhealthy, even criminal, behavior – such as stalking – it really doesn’t surprise me that our health conditions are the way they are.

 

What good is a hospital staffed with unhealthy employees? Perhaps some training on what constitutes criminal stalking and privacy of patients is needed. Our people deserve better. Our women and children shouldn’t be stalked, especially at a health care facility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I send kudos to the Rosebud, Crow Creek and Yankton Sioux Tribes along with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community for recently closing the deal on the purchase of several tracts of land in the Black Hills area known as Pe Sla. There were many of us who were anxious over how this land acquisition was going to happen. This is a sacred site. There were many people concerned about what type of development would take place if this land wound up in the hands of an individual or a corporation who would only think about profit.

 

I also appreciate Chase Iron Eyes and all Last Real Indians activists for their tireless efforts in bringing about global awareness on this issue. Those of us who blog or use Facebook, Twitter and You Tube know these sites are an effective way to bring lightning fast attention to issues we are passionate about. Last Real Indians initially kicked off the fund raising efforts and collected a total of $900,000 to contribute toward the land purchase.

 

A big thank you is sent out to all of you who donated money. Even if you sent one dollar, please know your generosity came at a crucial time. It is not every day that we are provided with an opportunity to secure land in the sacred HeSapa.

 

And I especially want to acknowledge the Kindergarten students from Rosebud who made national headlines with their cash donation which they presented to the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council. Obviously, they were also concerned about the purchase of Pe Sla.

 

I went to a few meetings where the topic of this land purchase was discussed. To be honest, I really didn’t think our tribal leaders would unite long enough to secure the money and put this deal together. I appreciate the determination of the leaders who worked it all out. The Black Hills is an area which is very important to many of us.

 

On the other hand, there were many Lakota people who really didn’t care if the land was purchased at all. I did listen to numerous reasons as to why the tracts should not be bought. $9 million dollars is a lot of money to sacrifice. We are not faced with the best of economic conditions on the Rez. There were many tribal members who believed that this money could be better spent by funding social programs, building houses, paying utilities for elders and low income families, establishing youth programs, etc.

 

I also heard from Lakota naysayers who were against the whole idea. More than one expressed concern about how he or she believed the tribes did not have a concrete plan in place for how the land would be used. Um, excuse me but hasn’t the plan essentially always been to get the Black Hills back for the Lakota people? Anyway, it was quite enough for me that the people who donated and/or raised money were primarily concerned about the purchase of land which contained a site sacred to our people.

 

I cannot stress enough how Pe Sla is a very sacred area. The Black Hills have an essential place in Lakota Star Knowledge. This area is linked to our creation stories and our spirituality. For me, it is crucial to keep the area free of any development. I appreciate that we now have a say in what will happen there. I am sure there are lots of ideas about how to use the land in a way which will guarantee its return to a pristine condition.

 

Many of you believe we should not have to buy what is essentially already ours. There is a mountain of money sitting somewhere collecting interest because our people maintain the Black Hills are not for sale. I agree the land was taken from our people illegally in 1877. Still, I do not see any effort by the federal government to correct the theft of land. In their eyes, the money allocated to the Black Hills docket was the end of it. So in reality, the only way we are going to get any land back is to buy it when we have the opportunity.

 

Arguing over what is the right or wrong way to secure ownership of land in the Black Hills won’t get us anywhere. Holding on to the hope that the federal government will return land to us by refusing the Black Hills settlement money isn’t realistic either. I’m not advocating for an acceptance of the settlement because I realize refusing the money is all about principle, I just don’t believe the federal government will return any stolen land.

 

I have to also say wopila to Leonard and Margaret Reynolds. They willingly took the land off the auction block last summer in order to allow the interested tribes an opportunity to secure enough money to make the purchase. I thank them for their patience as they waited for the day of the sale. I also want to express my appreciation to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe for presenting a satin star quilt to the Reynolds couple on the day the deal was closed.

 

Finally, I have to say wopila to Leksi Leonard Crow Dog and all of the other spiritual people continually offer their prayers for the land. It was very appropriate to have spiritual leaders pray at the same sacred site our ancestors did. I appreciate all of our medicine people.

 

I would love to see the site left undisturbed for a time. It would be great if there was nothing done with the land except to enjoy that we can now have unlimited access to it. Pe Sla is a sacred site and should be treated as such.

 

Our ancestors were the epitome of environmental stewards. Thus, I believe they would view it as disrespectful to graze cattle on a sacred site. They would want many ceremonies to celebrate our reconnection with one of our most important sites in HeSapa.

 

 

As human beings we are all born with the ability to evolve. You might associate evolution only with physical attributes. After all, the discussion surrounding evolution normally involves how animals have physically adapted over the eons. I believe a human being has the inherent ability to also evolve on emotional, mental and spiritual levels.

 

Our ancestors were highly evolved spiritual beings. I would even venture to say our Lakota ancestors were at an important pinnacle of their spiritual existence when that lost Italian washed ashore. Sadly, we have been on a gradual descent from that spiritual pinnacle ever since. Each generation seems to depend on the one behind it to save us all.

 

Even so, we still have our way of life. Lakota still go to ceremonies which are conducted to ensure the renewal of seasons so our children can continue living on our Earth Mother. But even though we still have all of this, there was much which was lost or forgotten under the wasicu influence. My late Grandmother used to stay that the ceremonies we see today are merely a shadow of what our ancestors once had in terms of spirituality. I believed her.

 

Still, sometimes when we are in prayer or in ceremony we are offered a glimpse of what our spirituality was like before the coming of the wasicu. I have learned those spiritually revealing moments are offered to the human beings who have learned how to become open to their own personal evolution. Some Lakota people have special abilities which are intensified when we are in ceremony. Individual clairvoyance, clairaudience, premonitions and other supernatural or psychic gifts are often magnified when we participate in a powerful ceremony.

 

When you have done the work to process the negative things which keep you stuck, you have a much better chance of opening your inner self to the many dimensions of human evolution. Those things which can hold you back are dark emotions, judgment, prejudices and the like.

 

Personal flashes of evolution are amazing. Have you ever had moments when an extremely profound thought suddenly comes into your mind? Sometimes, I would wonder why I never saw clearly some basic truths of life sooner. Now I realize that I could not have attained the ability of entertaining higher level thoughts unless I had undergone some processing out of certain things which no longer served me. Anger, hate, bitterness, resentment, victimhood, drug addiction, alcohol overdosing and similar behaviors, will only work to further imprison the mind, emotions and spirit. Thus, you will continue to functioning at a very low level of spiritual awareness. When I clung to my own inner darkness, I made a conscious choice to remain locked out of my own evolution. Does that make sense?

 

Our ancestors were very strong on all levels. They were physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually prepared for most anything. They were not prepared, however, for the level of destruction brought by the wasicu. The wasicu taught us how to engage in many negative things. The wasicu influence has been effective in shutting down many of our Lakota people to their own innate ability to evolve as spiritual beings. We are locked out of our own individual power and even though we have the key we do not know how to use it to unlock our own spiritual gifts.

 

Still, it will do absolutely no good to our descendants if we continue to blame all of our problems on the wasicu. The wasicu also brought many things which improved our lives. But, the negative things which they pushed upon our ancestors hundreds of years ago are regrettably the same issues which many of our people choose to carry on in their lives today. As an individual human being, you will never evolve if you continue to engage in the substances, emotions and behaviors which keep the key just out of your reach.

 

I know of many instances where my own people overdose on alcohol and then when their inhibitions are all washed away in the drink, they will attack members of their own family. Human beings who cannot find their way past a bottle of booze will probably not find their way to their own innate keys to evolve as a spiritual being.

 

It’s pretty sad when you have Lakota grandmothers who are my age or older regularly overdosing on alcohol any chance they get. I know of one woman on the Rosebud Rez who is a little bit older than me who recently began receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). She received a decent check from SSI which was probably a retroactive payment.

 

And not too long ago, this grandma showed up at her community center highly intoxicated. She proceeded to harass the people who were working there over items which were being distributed to all the members of the community. Law enforcement officials were called but they failed to respond in a timely manner so the workers at the community center finally had to shut the place down because she refused to leave. Sadly, Unci made a public spectacle of herself through her indulgence in alcohol.

 

When people drink enough alcohol, they become very belligerent. Booze enables them to summon enough false courage which they will use to attack innocent members of their community. Sometimes, these vicious attacks are not done face-to-face. Some people who overdose on alcohol will drunkenly babble malicious rumors about others. They will also engage in cyber bullying. They will even invent horrible gossip stories about their own family members or in-laws.

 

This is not the life our highly evolved, spiritual ancestors envisioned. This is one example of how alcohol has robbed many of us of our ability to evolve as spiritual beings. When the Takoja see their Unci having a rough life affected by her own alcohol overdosing, it’s a dismal picture.

 

I always pray for the Takoja to evolve into highly spiritual humans just like our ancestors were.