Truthout: Sioux Nation still fighting to protect treaty rights

Friday, May 13, 2011  

"It is often said that the United States of America is a nation of laws. There is a group of Lakota who would disagree with that.

The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council is the traditional governing body of the Lakota Nation. The Council is responsible for the preservation of their lands for future generations and, according to the Council, the "ancient Lakota ways of governance, culture, and spirituality."

Over a century ago, the United States signed the Fort Laramie Treaties, which guarantee the Lakota "ownership" (a foreign concept to the Lakota, who see stewardship over land to be more appropriate than ownership) of the Black Hills as well as surrounding lands through Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota.

Treaties are protected by article 6, paragraph 2 of the US Constitution, which states, "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, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."

But the treaties were soon broken, as was every single ratified treaty that the United States ever made with a Native nation, in order to make way for more settlers, gold mines and railroads in the quest for Manifest Destiny."

Get the Story:
International Court of Justice: The Lakota's Last Stand (Truthout 5/13)