Our Commmunity and Awareness

 WE ARE FIRST NATIONS! Please be aware: watch this video:

I’ll cut to the chase, as they say. I’m now on the ground in Minneapolis, representing our team on the frontlines and doing what I can to help build a defense amid the ongoing occupation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.). I can gratefully report that the section of the city where many Native people live is no longer experiencing quite the same level of infiltration by I.C.E. personnel as it had been over the past days. That said, we remain on high alert. The federal government recently sent more officers here, and its attacks on this brave community are clearly far from over.

As part of my activities on the ground, I’m networking with local Native leaders and press outlets. Today, I sat down for an interview with host Robert Pilot on Native Roots Radio to discuss the situation. I encourage you to take a few minutes and watch our highlights video of the conversation right here. And, if you have the time, you can watch the entire, nearly one-hour broadcast on the Native Roots Radio Facebook page.

Watch: I discussed the ongoing I.C.E. attack on Minneapolis on Native Roots Radio.

It should go without saying that we’re now at a critical moment for the survival of our democracy as we know it. The echoes of historic fascism — from the brazen attacks by militarized I.C.E. agents on people it considers undesirable to Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem’s new podium slogan (”One of ours, all of yours”) echoing the Nazi fervor for mass retaliation — are striking and deeply disturbing.

You may recall that we’ve been sounding the alarm about all of this for quite some time. The Project 2025 agenda clearly laid out the administration’s aims, and its subsequent attacks on birthright citizenship were another giant red flag, ultimately giving rise to our Original Homegrowns series of videos laying out the danger to Native — and all — people of this land.

Now, we’re here. But we, as Natives, know that even this can be overcome — if we stand together. As things progress, it will remain extra important to continue speaking truth to power, building alliances and a united front, and taking action where and when appropriate to protect one another, halt the tide of fascism, and restore sanity. Please stay locked in with us. Watch and share our video. We’ll have much more to say, and we plan to provide opportunities for you to make a difference going forward. Are you ready?

Wopila tanka — thank you, always, for supporting our ability to assist.
Chase Iron Eyes
Executive Director
Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund

 

 

The Real Rapid City, Vol. 1

Lakota Law and Sacred Defense Fund director Chase Iron Eyes visits so-called "Founders Park" — an obvious misnomer, since Native People have occupied the territory now known as South Dakota for millennia — and dissects some of the real history of Rapid City.   

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/ZsyVpi8ip-U 

As I think you’d agree, the state of our nation — and the world — is also troubled, to say the least. That’s why we’ve dedicated so much time and energy over the past months to creating content and action opportunities aimed at tackling pressing, society-wide issues.  We can’t stand idly by and watch, for instance, while our (mostly southern) relatives are harassed, deported, and abused without due process or respect to their human rights and dignity.

That said, I believe it is always worth taking time to explore the conditions — and the colonial history and systemic barriers put in place to keep our people subjugated and subject to those conditions — within our own homelands. Taking a good, hard look at the real history of Rapid City as a microcosm for communities across our territory is an excellent lens through which to explore these difficult but important topics.  And, of course, the struggles of Indigenous People locally, nationally, and globally are interrelated.  They share so many of the same causes and effects.

Our plan is to release several more of these over the coming weeks, using the setting of Rapid City — often called “Racist City” around here — as a jumping-off point to look at other Native perspectives on history. You’ll hear more about my family’s struggle, the boarding school era, and much more.

So I hope you’ll watch this video and the ones to follow, think on the context and lessons they provide, share with your friends on social media, and even write to tell us your thoughts.  Whatever community you call home, we think of you as a relative, and we value your input. We are all in this together, and by staying connected and aware, we will persevere through the challenges we face.  By acknowledging and learning from our past, we can create the future we need for ourselves, our children, and the generations to come.

Wopila tanka — thank you for your attention, your voice, and your solidarity
Chase Iron Eyes
Executive Director
Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund

 

2016 Pivotal Year

The rights of Tribes and Native American families face a pivotal year in 2016.  

In the last year of Barack Obama's presidency, we are redoubling our efforts to build on our historic victories before the transition to a new administration. Please become a member and a donor, and make 2016 a breakthough year for Native families and Tribes.

In December, Lakota People’s Law Project released a report detailing the need for the United States government to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to acknowledge the brutal crimes against Indigenous communities during the Indian Boarding School Era. The report focuses on the continuing intergenerational trauma and destabilization created by the Boarding School Era, a period from the early 19th century into the 1970s when the federal government undertook a program of forced assimilation, ­attempting to rob Natives Peoples of their culture, language and heritage.

Read the report and related press releases.

In addition to our report, the Lakota People’s Law Project is building a coalition to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Boarding School Era in the United States. We recently sent a delegation to the NCAI conference in Washington DC and the National Reservation Economic Summit in Las Vegas to recruit support for our Truth and Reconciliation project. Our close ally, the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, NABS, has a similar effort, and we are working with them to maximize the effectiveness of both campaigns. We have more collaborative meetings with NABS and NARF, the Native American Rights Fund, planned in the next few months.

We are collecting endorsements from tribes, individuals and aligned organizations, and we need your help. We have begun a petition calling for the U.S. Government to convene a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The more signatures we can gather, the more pressure we can exert on elected officials. Please take time to sign the petition.

Sign the Truth and Reconciliation Petition here.

“The history books are awash with the atrocities leveled against the Indigenous peoples of North America since European settlers first arrived on this continent in the 15th century,” said Chase Iron Eyes, attorney for the Lakota People’s Law Project. “Despite this consensus among historians, the United States federal government has never formally acknowledged how its policies directly led to the near eradication of the Native inhabitants of this land. A formal acknowledgement needs to occur. Healing for all parties begins with the truth.”

Also in December, a campaign by the Adoption Attorneys Association of America (AAAA) to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act sustained a significant setback as a federal court judge threw out their case that attempted to argue that new ICWA guidelines violated the civil rights of Indian parents. The lawsuit, filed simultaneously with other AAAA federal cases in Minnesota and Arizona, bizarrely argued that ICWA violated the civil rights of Indian parents who wanted their children removed by state­-run social services departments and placed with non­-Natives. Not only did Judge Lee dismiss the case on technical grounds, i.e. lack of court jurisdiction, but he also confirmed that the ICWA guidelines are non-binding interpretive rules and are thus not subject to adjudication.

“Rarely does one see a legal complaint so utterly crushed by a federal court,” says LPLP Chief Counsel Daniel Sheehan. “To see a case get dismissed, without any oral arguments, on both technical grounds and the merits demonstrates not only the flimsy nature of the legal grounds cited, but also the clumsiness of the crass legal maneuverings and utter lack of moral clarity on the part of those who were behind this ill­advised legal gambit.”
 

Read more about this case in our press releases.

Bring The Lakota Children Home: Lakota Law and Chase Iron Eyes Need Your Help Before Time Runs Out

South Dakota State facilities are the new Indian Boarding Schools

Lakota leaders agree on the total solution: tribal foster care programs, run by Lakota, for Lakota.  However, we need your help to start the process before time runs out!  If we do not seize this opportunity, we may have to start from scratch with new federal and state appointees.  
    Lakota children are ten times more likely than their White counterparts to be forced into state foster care, and 90% of them are illegally placed with White families.  
    With your help, these children will no longer endure the state's culturally biased foster care system.  New programs set up within the tribes will be funded through a direct federal relationship, allowing Lakota families to heal and thrive, and creating decent paying jobs in the very poorest communities in the United States.  CONTINUE READING