Lakotah Indians Declare Independence from the United States of America

By Jason Brown

“After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative. That alternative is to bring freedom back into existence by taking it back - back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway.” Canupa Gluha Mani

On December 19th 2007, delegates from the Lakotah Nation held a press conference to announce that “the Lakotah formally and unilaterally withdraws from all agreements and treaties imposed by the United States Government on the Lakotah People.” Representatives stated that they were now a sovereign nation, and, bolstered by the recent UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, have sought recognition from the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and others.

Russell Means, the Native American actor/activist stated that "we are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us.'' The Lakota Sioux are the tribe of famous chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, and are spread throughout the states of Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana. They do not intend to force Anglo residents to leave the vast swath of claimed territory, but said they would begin to issue liens on properties that they dub illegal, because, according to Lakotah spokespersons, the U.S. government has encouraged illegal homesteading on Lakotah lands in recent years.

The Lakotah cite numerous injustices committed against them after what Means calls the “U.S. invasion and occupation of Indian lands,” beginning in 1803 when the U.S. made the 828,000 square miles Louisiana Purchase from France, which included Lakotah territory. In subsequent years, Native populations were subjected to Homestead Acts, which allow whites to settle on their lands; Allotment Acts, which forced private property ownership; and the Citizenship Act, which effectively made all Native Americans citizens of the United States, but according to Means, without the same rights. Means compares actions by the U.S. government to those of Israel against Palestinians, Nazi Germany, and apartheid South Africa, suffering forced relocations and a reservation system that resemble labor camps.

The new Nation of Lakotah will issue its own passports, driver’s licenses, and will allow anyone to live there tax free provided they renounce their citizenship to the United States. Means describes the new Republic as designed to save the rural lifestyle of America, one that will emphasize “individual liberty though community control.” Each community will be a mini-state, ruled by consensus and public assembly, linking rural and urban communities in a federation.

The Lakotah declaration comes with robust legal support. The Vienna Convention of Treaties and Article Sixth of the US Constitution, makes treaties binding law of the land. The Lakotah entered into treaties with the United States government after several violent skirmishes over Lakotah territory. The Treaty of 1851 and the Treaty of 1868 at Fort Laramie which sought to build a road through Lakotah territory, expressly recognized the Lakotah as an independent nation, and promised to treat them as such. These treaties were repeatedly violated, and when gold was found in the Black Hills, billions of dollars in gold have since been mined from Lakotah territory. The Lakotah have been waiting since the treaties were signed for the U.S. to comply with their stipulations and have grown tired of waiting, said Means. It remains unknown what form this newly declared autonomy will take, but since the declaration, millions of people have visited their website to express concern, outrage, and solidarity.

Here are some shocking facts about the Lakota available at the website www.republicoflakota.com

• Lakota men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, lowest of any country in the World (excluding AIDS) including Haiti.
• Lakota death rate is the highest in the United States.
• The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.
• More than half the Reservation's adults battle addiction and disease.
• The Tuberculosis rate on Lakota reservations is approx 800% higher than the U.S. national average.
• Alcoholism affects 8 in 10 families.
• Median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
• 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricity.
• 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.
• 97% of our Lakota people live below the poverty line.
• Unemployment rates on our reservations is 85% or higher.
• Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar foods that kill Native people through diabetes and heart disease.
• Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S. national average for this group.
• Our Lakota language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction.

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