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Lakota Withdrawal Letter, December 17, 2007
Lakotah | 26.12.2007 16:17 | Anti-racism | History | Repression | World

Lakotah, formally and unilaterally withdraws from all agreements and treaties imposed by the United States Government on the Lakotah People.

Lakotah, and the population therein, have waited for at least 155 years for the United States of America to adhere to the provisions of the above referenced treaties. The continuing violations of these treaties’ terms have resulted in the near annihilation of our people physically, spiritually, and culturally.



Lakotah Unilateral Withdrawal from All Agreements and Treaties with the United States of America

We as the freedom loving Lakotah People are the predecessor sovereign of Dakota Territory as evidenced by the Treaties with the
United States Government, including, but not limited to, the Treaty of 1851 and the Treaty of 1868 at Fort Laramie.

Lakotah, formally and unilaterally withdraws from all agreements and treaties imposed by the United States Government on the Lakotah People.

Lakotah, and the population therein, have waited for at least 155 years for the United States of America to adhere to the provisions of the above referenced treaties. The continuing violations of these treaties’ terms have resulted in the near annihilation of our people physically, spiritually, and culturally.

Lakotah rejects United States Termination By Appropriation policy from 1871 to the present.

In addition, the evidence of gross violations of the above referenced treaties are listed herein.

Lakotah encourages the United States of America, through its Government ,to enter into dialogue with Lakotah regarding the boundaries, the land and the resources therein. Please contact the Lakotah Interests Section, Naomi Archer, at (828) 230-1404 or info@Lakotafreedom.com.

Should the United States and its subordinate governments choose not to act in good faith concerning the rebirth of our nation, we hereby advise the United States Government that Lakotah will begin to administer liens against real estate transactions within the five state area of Lakotah.
Lakotah, through its government, appointed the following representatives to withdraw from all the treaties with the United States of America based on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties entered into force in 1980 and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples 2007:


Teghiya Kte
Heretofore known as Gary Rowlan


Canupa Gluha Mani
Heretofore known as Duane Martin Sr.


Oyate Wacinyapin
Heretofore know as Russell Means


Mni yuha Najin Win
Heretofore known as Phyllis Young


Lakotah


Political and Diplomatic Relations with the United States of America
The first official contacts between Lakotah and the government of the United States of America began in earnest after the United States conducted a commercial transaction with France, commonly known as the Louisiana Purchase, in 1803. Prior to that time, Lakotah exercised complete and unfettered freedom and independence in their territory. According to the fantasy of United States’ history, the Louisiana Purchase was a purported sale by France to the United States of 530 million acres (2.1 million sq.km.) for $15 million. Part of this sale included the territory of Lakotah who, of course never had knowledge of, nor gave consent to, the sale of their national territory.

The first treaty between the U.S. and any segment of Lakotah occurred in 1805, , and various other treaties of “peace and friendship,” between Lakotah and the U.S. As citizens of the U.S. began to invade and encroach on the territory of Lakotah in increasing numbers, tensions and violence erupted. To prevent full-scale war, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was requested by the U.S., to allow a transportation route through Lakotah territory. The treaty did not impair the sovereignty or the independence of Lakotah. In fact, the treaty expressly recognized Lakotah as an independent nation, and the treaty respected “all national business” of Lakotah.

After repeated violations by the United States of the 1851 Treaty, warfare broke out between Lakotah and the U.S. Lakotah defeated the U.S. in the so-called “Red Cloud War,” leading to the U.S. to call for another treaty conference at Fort Laramie. The second treaty agreed for the U.S. to abandon the Bozeman Road, and the accompanying military forts that had been built along it, and promised to keep U.S. troops and settlers out of Lakotah territory.

Almost immediately, the U.S. began violating terms of the treaty, allowing railroad and mining interests to trespass and steal Lakotah resources and territory. In 1874, the infamous U.S. military commander, George Custer, led an invasion of the most sacred part of Lakotah territory, the Paha Sapa (Black Hills), prompting an invasion of gold seekers, and provoking another war between the U.S. and Lakotah. As a result of the war, Lakotah territory was illegally occupied by the U.S., and billions of dollars of natural resources have been stolen from the occupied territories of Lakotah.

The United States has engaged in multiple military, legal and political strategies for more than a century to deny Lakotah our right to freedom and self-determination. In 1876-77, in violations of the treaties that it had signed with Lakotah, the U.S. engaged in a sell-or-starve policy to coerce Lakotah to sell our national homeland. Lakotah refused, and has consistently refused to the present time.

In 1871, the U.S. decided no longer to enter into treaties with indigenous nations, but the U.S. treaty-ending legislation made explicit that the new policy of the United States would in no way impair or limit those treaties already in force between indigenous nations and the U.S. Lakotah have consistently relied on the sanctity of the treaty between the U.S. and Lakotah.

As mentioned above, the United States has consistently violated the treaties between Lakotah and the U.S., resulting in the loss of life, resources, and territory for Lakotah. Although the United States was willing to take the benefit of its bargain (i.e., territory and natural resources) in signing treaties with Lakotah, it was almost immediately unwilling to respect the mutual bargain to the Lakotah. The U.S. began to use U.S. law and policy to attempt to diminish the political, economic and cultural freedom of Lakotah.

After signing the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, the U.S. allowed its military, and its civilian citizens to invade Lakotah territory to steal gold, silver and other natural resources. The U.S. unilaterally violated the 1868 Treaty throughout the 1870s and 1880s by coercing alterations in the Treaty onto Lakotah, without the required 2/3 agreement of Lakotah, as required in the Treaty.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the ongoing freedom and independence of Lakotah in the landmark case of Ex Parte Crow Dog (1883), two years later, the U.S. Congress attempted to steal Lakotah independence through the passage of the Major Crimes Act, that unilaterally extended U.S. criminal jurisdiction into Lakotah territory.
These actions were followed by more arrogant actions of the United States, culminating in the shocking Supreme Court Case of Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903). Although Lone Wolf involved the Kiowa and Comanche Nations in what is now the State of Oklahoma, its impact adversely affected Lakotah. In Lone Wolf, the United States not only said that it could violate, change or abrogate treaties with Indian nations unilaterally, but it also said that the U.S. Congress possesses plenary (absolute) power to legislate in any way in indigenous affairs without the consent or consideration of indigenous nations.

By extension, Lone Wolf has been used to violate hundreds of treaties between the U.S. and indigenous peoples, including Lakotah. Through the operation of Lone Wolf, the U.S. stole the sacred Black Hills, allowed the mining of billions of dollars of gold from them, admitted that the Black Hills were taken in violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, and then offered to compensate Lakotah at 1874 land values. Lakotah have, to this day, rejected the offer of payment, and continue to insist on the return of the Paha Sapa (Black Hills).

An overview of violations follows:

• Homestead Acts
• Allotment Acts
• Citizenship Act forcing United States citizenship upon all
American Indians
• Indian Reorganization Act a.k.a. Howard Wheeler Act (the
first Apartheid Act)
• Forced relocation during the decades of the 1950's over the
1960's.
• Supreme Court decision disallowing our religions.
• Even though we are citizens of the United States of America,
we are denied protections of the United States Constitution
while living on Indian reservations, etcetera, etcetera,
etcetera.

The operation of the United States in the nefarious ways outlined above are a violation, not only of the sovereignty and independence of Lakotah, not only of the solemn treaty signed between the U.S. and Lakotah, but it is a violation of the fundamental law of the United States itself. Article Six of the United States Constitution explicitly states that treaties signed by the United States are the supreme law of the land, and must be respected by every court and by every lawmaker, as such.


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Referenced Documents:


I. Treaties of Fort Laramie, 1851 and 1868 Full text of these treaties can be found at http://www.lakotafreedom.com/portfolio.html


II. Article VI of United States Constitution

Article. VI. - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.


III. Vienna Convention on Treaties 1969; specifically Article 49, Article 60 Parts I and II Article 49- Fraud

If a State has been induced to conclude a treaty by the fraudulent conduct govern questions not regulated by the provisions of the present
Convention,

Have agreed as follows:

PART I INTRODUCTION

Article 1

Scope of the present Convention

The present Convention applies to treaties between States.

Article 2 Use of terms

1. For the purposes of the present Convention:

(a) 'treaty' means an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation;

(b) 'ratification', 'acceptance', 'approval' and 'accession' mean in each case the international act so named whereby a State establishes on the international plane its consent to be bound by a treaty;

(c) 'full powers' means a document emanating from the competent authority of a State designating a person or persons
to represent the State for negotiating, adopting or authenticating the text of a treaty, for expressing the consent of the State to be bound by a treaty, or for accomplishing any other act with respect to a treaty;

(d) 'reservation' means a unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State, when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application


to that State;

(e) 'negotiating State' means a State which took part in the drawing up and adoption of the text of the treaty;

(f) 'contracting State' means a State which has consented to be bound by the treaty, whether or not the treaty has entered into force;

(g) 'party' means a State which has consented to be bound by the treaty and for which the treaty is in force;

(h) 'third State' means a State not a party to the treaty;

(i) 'international organization' means an intergovernmental organization.

Article 60

Termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty as a consequence of its breach

1. A material breach of a bilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles the other to invoke the breach as a ground for terminating the treaty or suspending its operation in whole or in part.

2. A material breach of a multilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles:

(a) the other parties by unanimous agreement to suspend the operation of the treaty in whole or in part or to terminate it either:

(i) in the relations between themselves and the defaulting State, or

(ii) as between all the parties;

(b) a party specially affected by the breach to invoke it as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty in whole or in part in the relations between itself and the defaulting State;

(c) any party other than the defaulting State to invoke the breach as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty in whole or in part with respect to itself if the treaty is of such a character that a material breach of its provisions by one party radically changes the position of every party with respect to the further performance of
its obligations under the treaty.

3. A material breach of a treaty, for the purposes of this article, consists in:

(a) a repudiation of the treaty not sanctioned by the present Convention;

or

(b) the violation of a provision essential to the accomplishment of the object or purpose of the treaty.

4. The foregoing paragraphs are without prejudice to any provision in the treaty applicable in the event of a breach.

5. Paragraphs 1 to 3 do not apply to provisions relating to the protection of the human person contained in treaties of a humanitarian character, in particular to provisions prohibiting any form of reprisals against persons protected by such treaties.


IV. United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights 2007; specifically Article 37

Article 37

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements concluded with States or their successors and to have States honor and respect such treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.

2. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as diminishing or eliminating the rights of indigenous peoples contained in treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.


V. Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903)

Full text of the decision can be found at:

http://www.utulsa.edu/law/classes/rice/ussct_cases/Lone_Wolf_v_Hitchcock_1 87_553.htm

Note: Lakotah precludes all litigation and political intrusions not relevant to Lakotah.



PDF version:

http://www.lakotafreedom.com/121707withdrawal.pdf

Lakotah
e-mail: info@lakotafreedom.com
Homepage: http://www.lakotafreedom.com/



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FREEDOM!

Today is a historic day and our forefathers speak through us. Our Forefathers made the treaties in good faith with the sacred Canupa and with the knowledge of the Great Spirit, They never honored the treaties, that is the reason we are here today...Garry Rowland, Wounded Knee

UPDATES: December 25, 2007

Lakotah delivers introductory Portfolio Packet to State Department and foreign embassies READ THE PACKET

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Many states talk about seceding from the United States but the Lakota Indians are actually doing it.

The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.

“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,” long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.

The Lakota Indians plan to issue passports and driver licenses and say that citizens will enjoy tax-free living. I’m wondering if the doc might want to relocate to his home state of South Dakota.

Lakota Freedom Delegation website is here.

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DECLARATION OF CONTINUING INDEPENDENCE
BY THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY COUNCIL
AT STANDING ROCK INDIAN COUNTRY JUNE 1974
A long time ago my father told me what his father told him. There was once a Lakota Holy man
called Drinks Water, who visioned what was to be; and this was long before the coming of the
Wasicus. He visioned that the four-legged were going back into the earth and that a strange
race had woven a spider’s web all around the Lakotas. And he said, “When this happens, you
shall live in barren lands, and there beside those gray houses you shall starve.” They say he
went back to Mother Earth soon after he saw this vision and it was sorrow that killed him.
Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man
PREAMBLE
The United States of America has continually violated the independent Native
Peoples of this continent by Executive action, Legislative fiat and Judicial decision. By
its actions, the U.S. has denied all Native people their International Treaty rights, Treaty
lands and basic human rights of freedom and sovereignty. This same U.S. Government,
which fought to throw off the yoke of oppression and gain its own independence, has
now reversed its role and become the oppressor of sovereign Native people.
Might does not make right. Sovereign people of varying cultures have the
absolute right to live in harmony with Mother Earth so long as they do not infringe upon
this same right of other peoples. The denial of this right to any sovereign people, such as
the Native American Indian Nations, must be challenged by truth and action. World
concern must focus on all colonial governments to the end that sovereign people
everywhere shall live as they choose; in peace with dignity and freedom.
The International Indian Treaty Conference hereby adopts this Declaration of
Continuing Independence of the Sovereign Native American Indian Nations. In the
course of these human events, we call upon the people of the world to support this
struggle for our sovereign rights and our treaty rights. We pledge our assistance to all
other sovereign people who seek their own independence.
DECLARATION
The First International Treaty Council of the Western Hemisphere was formed on
the land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on June 8-16, 1974. The delegates, meeting
under the guidance of the Great Spirit, represented 97 Indian tribes and Nations from
across North and South America.
We, the sovereign Native Peoples recognize that all lands belonging to the various
Native Nations now situated within the boundaries of the U.S. are clearly defined by the
sacred treaties solemnly entered into between the Native Nations and the government of
the United States of America.
We, the sovereign Native Peoples, charge the United States of gross violations of
our International Treaties. Two of the thousands of violations that can be cited are the
“wrongfully taking” of the Black Hills from the Great Sioux Nation in 1877, this sacred
land belonging to the Great Sioux Nation under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The
second violation was the forced march of the Cherokee people from their ancestral lands
in the state of Georgia to the then “Indian Territory” of Oklahoma after the Supreme
Court of the United States ruled the Cherokee treaty rights inviolate. The treaty violation,
know as the “Trail of Tears,” brought death to two-thirds of the Cherokee Nation during
the forced march.
The Council further realizes that securing United States recognition of treaties
signed with Native Nations requires a committed and unified struggle, using every
available legal and political resource. Treaties between sovereign nations explicitly entail
agreements with represent “the supreme law of the land” binding each party to an
inviolate international relationship.
We acknowledge the historical fact that the struggle for Independence of the
Peoples of our sacred Mother Earth have always been over sovereignty of land. These
historical freedom efforts have always involved the highest human sacrifice.
We recognize that all Native Nations wish to avoid violence, but we also
recognize that the United States government has always used force and violence to deny
Native Nations basic human and treaty rights.
We adopt this Declaration of Continuing Independence, recognizing that struggle
lies ahead – a struggle certain to be won – and that the human and treaty rights of all
Native Nations will be honored. In this understanding the International Indian Treaty
Council declares:
The United State Government in its Constitution, Article VI, recognizes treaties
as part of the Supreme Law of the United States. We will peacefully pursue all legal and
political avenues to demand United States recognition of its own Constitution in this
regard, and thus to honor its own treaties with Native Nations.
We will seek the support of all world communities in the struggle for the
continuing independence of Native Nations.
We the representatives of sovereign Native Nations united in forming a council to
be known at the International Indian Treaty Council to implement these declarations.
The International Indian Treaty Council will establish offices in Washington,
D.C. and New York City to approach the international forces necessary to obtain the
recognition of our treaties. These offices will establish an initial system of
communications among Native nations to disseminate information, getting a general
consensus of concerning issues, developments and any legislative attempt affecting
Native Nations by the United States of America.
The International Indian Treaty Council recognizes the sovereignty of all Native
Nations and will stand in unity to support our Native and international brothers and
sisters in their respective and collective struggles concerning international treaties and
agreements violated by the United States and other governments.
All treaties between the Sovereign Native Nations and the United States
Government must be interpreted according to the traditional and spiritual ways of the
signatory Native Nations.
We declare our recognition of the Provisional Government of the Independent
Oglala Nation, established by the Traditional Chiefs and Headmen under the provisions
of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty with the Great Sioux Nation at Wounded Knee, March
11, 1973.
We condemn the United States of America for its gross violation of the 1868 Fort
Laramie Treaty in militarily surrounding, killing and starving the citizens of the
Independent Oglala Nation into exile.
We demand the United States of America recognize the sovereignty of the
Independent Oglala Nation and immediately stop all present and future criminal
prosecutions of sovereign Native Peoples. We call upon the conscionable nations of the
world to join us in charging and prosecuting the United States of America for its
genocidal practices against the sovereign Native Nations; most recently illustrated by
Wounded Knee 1973 and the continued refusal to sign the United Nations 1948 Treaty on
Genocide.
We reject all executive orders, legislative acts and judicial decisions of the United
States related to Native Nations since 1871, when the United States unilaterally
suspended treaty- making relations with the Native Nations. This includes, but is not
limited to, the Major Crimes Act, the General Allotment Act, the Citizenship Act of
1924, the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Indian Claims Commission Act, Public
Law 280 and the Termination Act. All treaties made between Native Nations and the
United States made prior toe 1871 shall be recognized without further need of
interpretation.
We hereby ally ourselves with the colonized Puerto Rican People in their struggle
for Independence from the same United States of America.
We recognize that there is only one color of Mankind in the world who are not
represented in the United Nations; that is the indigenous Redman of the Western
Hemisphere. We recognize this lack of representation in the United Nations comes from
the genocidal policies of the colonial power of the United States.
The International Indian Treaty Council established by this conference is directed
to make the application to the United Nations for recognition and membership of the
sovereign Native Nations. We pledge our support to any similar application by an
aboriginal people.
This conference directs the Treaty Council to open negotiations with the
government of the United States through its Department of State. We seek these
negotiations in order to establish diplomatic relations with the United States. When these
diplomatic relations have been established, the first order of business shall be to deal with
U.S. violations of treaties with Native Indian Nations, and violations of the rights of those
Native Indian Nations who have refused to sign treaties with the United States.
We, the People of the International Indian Treaty Council, following the guidance
of our elders through instructions from the Great Spirit, and out of respect for our sacred
Mother Earth, all her children, and those yet unborn, offer our lives for our International
Treaty Rights.

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"This is all completely legal."...
"It will be the epitome of individual liberty, with community control," Means said.

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"We are now a free country and independent of the United States of America," Said political activist Russsell Means, founder of the Indian activist organization The American Indian Movement.

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...Flash forward to almost a century later. In 1942, the US congress formed the Indian Claims Commission, which was designed to settle the land disputes. In 1975, thirty three years after it was formed, the ICC finally ruled that Congress's 1877 law was unconstitutional and amounted to an illegal seizure, or "taking," of the Lakota lands. The commission declared that the Lakota Indians were entitled to the 1877 estimated value of the seized lands, plus interest.

The U.S. government naturally appealed this, but in June of 1980, the Supreme Court upheld the ICC ruling. This ruling established the legal basis for the compensation for illegally seized Indian lands and upheld an award of $17.5 million for the market value of the land in 1877, along with 103 years worth of interest at 5 percent, for an additional $105 million.

They did not, however give the Lakota the land back.

Maintaining that the Black Hills are sacred and that no monetary amount could compensate their communities, Lakota leaders refused the settlement and demanded return of the Black Hills.

And so now, the American Indian Movement has taken its latest step to once-and-for-all re-claim the land that was originally theirs in the first place and seized illegally by the US.

According to the AIM, the new Indian country will issue its own passports and driving licenses, and living there will be tax-free, as long as citizens renounce their U.S. citizenship.

"It will be the epitome of individual liberty, with community control," Means said.

Naturally, the State Department has not yet reacted to the Lakota declaration of independence.

We're not really sure why this hasn't made bigger headlines as the only people that seem to be reporting it are such big name news outfits like the Rapid City Journal and the UK's Telegraph.