Lakota Truth Tour: Speakers highlight malnutirition and food shortages/theft at Pine Ridge

On the 16th of April, The Lakota Truth Tour featuring Lakota grandmothers and several supporting members of the tribe spoke at the MCC church on Ridge St about the ongoing and continuing genocide against their people. The panel included several grandmothers, who in the Lakota tradition are considered the natural leaders.

( Video shows response to my comparison of the outrageous conditions on Pine Ridge shown in the “Red Cry” film to the conditions the Washington Post describes in North Korea)

They first showed the DVD “Red Cry” recounting horrific takes of sexual abuse of women, children taken away to boarding schools, and malnutrition caused by outright theft of already scarce food meant for elders who have few other options. “Cold” food kept warm, sausage turned green-and THIS is what the US expects the Lakota people to eat? The movie also recounted the radioactive pollution of Lakota lands by all the uranium that has been mined there. If the Lakota and Navajo lands are deemed “national sacrifice zones” for nuclear power and weapons, that makes both the Lakota and the Navajo “national sacrifice PEOPLE” at the nuclear altar!

After the DVD, the speakers on the panel took questions from the audience. They then effectively asked the audience: What are you going to do about it? Finally, everyone in the room was invited to participate in a Round Dance, to a most incredible drum.

Grandmothers reclaiming their strength include:

Cecilia Martin

Lorraine Eagle Elk

Bernice White Hawk

Charmaine White Face

Myrna Young Bear

Phyllis Swift Hawk

Clara Lays Bad

Marie Randall

Elizabeth Young Bear

Louise Brown

Martha Two Bulls

Ella Coleman

The conditions described on Pine Ridge, in terms of both the physical abuse many are subjected to and the lingering malnutrition reminded me of Washington Post stories about North Korea. How can the US complain about how North Korea treats its people when the US does the exact same things to the Lakota and so many other Native people?

Background

Wagunpi Woashake Ikickupi (Lakota Elders Take Back Their Strength) is a grassroots movement to end the genocide of the Lakota people and support the full renewal of matriarchal leadership by Lakota Grandmothers on Pine Ridge and across the Lakota Nation. The movement also works to educate non-Natives about the situation of the Lakota, mobilize long-term solidarity networks to benefit Lakota Elders, and build solidarity with other indigenous resistance movements worldwide.

The Lakota Solidarity Project is an all-volunteer group of people and organizations who work in togetherness with traditional Tetuwan Lakota Elders, warriors, grassroots activists, and Oyate (people)- led by the Grandmothers. Click here to learn more at their website: Wagunpi Woashake Ikickupi (Lakota Elders Take Back Their Strength)