Are we a vanquished 'tribe' or an independent 'Nation?'

Thursday, October 10, 2019  

I think often about what the Euro-Americans encountered when they arrived here on the Great Plains. Based on my self-study of my language, culture, and history, I am confident that the settlers did not meet a group of unintelligent, sub-human, wild, half-naked “savages” running around killing righteous God-fearing settlers and miners, otherwise known as colonizers.

Most contemporary Euro-Americans believe they declared war on their “savages” and defeated them in honorable battle. They did engage in war-like activities against the mostly peaceful natives here on the Great Plains, but war was never officially declared. Enduring many cowardly massacres, the natives were forced to defend themselves against the ruthless onslaught and were never militarily defeated.

The Oglala secured a peace treaty and have honored it since 1868 which is evidence of a high level of intellect and civility. The United States violated it as soon as it was ratified by congress. The newcomer’s inability to honor their “Indian” treaties speaks for itself. Their deep yearning for gold and land, even if it is not theirs to have, has promoted an unheard of savagery on the planet.

So, I ask who the real savage is. Contrary to what I was taught in school, I believe my ancestors were a stable organized group of people. They had their own language, history, ethnicity, or psychological makeup all manifested in a common culture. They had the essential elements of nationhood, meaning population, territory, government, and sovereignty. Also, their economy was closely tied to the land.

As such, every tiospaye (extended family group) member respected and lived by optimistic nature-based laws. They had no need for jails and poverty or homelessness was controlled. They also offered honorable relations to the newcomer. However, the settler’s primary interest was wealth and land and perceived my ancestors as obstacles in the path of their “God-given” destiny to that wealth.

Thus the new government tried to erase our ancestors off the face of the earth while their politicians stole the treaty-assured land and replaced tiospaye government with a new colonial system. For example, they promptly instigated war on the Great Plains people when they “discovered” gold in the He Sapa (Black Hills) in 1871, the heart of the 1868 treaty territory, and promptly stole it in 1877.

All that remains of the 1868 treaty lands today are five small reservations in western South Dakota. Contrary to popular belief, the United States’ desecration of the treaty did not nullify the treaty, just as a criminal violating a law does not nullify the law. These reservation lands were not benevolently “gifted” to us. In fact, western South Dakota has always been Lakota territory and still is.

Realizing they could not physically wipe out our ancestors, they proceeded to restructure the minds of the survivor’s children. They forcibly separated them from their parents and thus ended the family unit, the base of any society. The children were sent to distant government residential schools where, under a militaristic regimen, their languages as well as their histories and culture were forcibly denied.

Next, the new government concealed its fraudulent dealings with the Great Plains people. A subhuman “Indian” was cleverly fabricated, even using children’s books. A biased Euro-American history was written instead and presented to the people of the United States. All this was designed to crush the humanity and sovereignty of the Great Plains people.

Today, I see the descendants of the sovereign Okaspe Yamni (Three Groups, refers to dialect), also called the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Fires), now enrolled members of a federally recognized “Sioux Tribe,” proudly using that demeaning monikers.

Anyway, according to modern-day scholars, the name “tribe” originated in the Old World. It is described as “a political, ethnic, or ancestral division of ancient states and cultures, especially any of the three divisions of the ancient Romans.” Also, it refers to any of the 12 divisions of ancient Israel.

Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at P.O. Box 147, Oglala, South Dakota, 57764; via phone at 605-867-2448 or via email at mato_nasula2@outlook.com.

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today