Free Republic

On July 4, Ben & Jerry’s public relations division made headlines by tweeting, “It’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it.” The tweet was widely criticized. But behind the grandstanding and virtue-signaling, there is a deadly serious movement within American and Canadian liberal circles that holds both of these countries to be illegitimate. ...[T]he cause is so popular on social media platforms such as Twitter and why people need to understand and arm themselves with counterarguments.

In the Northeast woodlands the most feared and hated nation was the Iroquois — especially the Mohawk and Seneca. The Algonquian speaking nations and Iroquoian speaking Huron were particular enemies of the Iroquois. In the 1640s, the Iroquois unleashed a virtual genocide on the other Nations of the region, one that was not quickly forgotten. The Ojibwa defeated a number of the Iroquois incursions and ran the Sioux out of their forested homeland onto the plains. The Ojibwa (Chippewa and associated bands) occupied more land than any other tribe ever has from Manitoba to Indiana and took over smaller tribes...

A statue of young Abraham Lincoln has been splashed with red paint with the words 'COLONIZER' and 'LAND BACK' written below it in Chicago. The statue, which has stood in the Edgewater neighborhood since it was donated to Senn Park in 1997, also had the words 'Dakota 38' written on it. Dakota 38 refers to Lincoln's ordered execution of 38 Sioux, who were publicly hanged for participating in the Sioux Uprising in the US-Dakota War of 1862 in Minnesota.

Cancel culture has now reached President Abraham Lincoln, the man who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation declaring enslaved people “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Democrat Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn (DFL-Roseville) complained about Lincoln’s presence on the House floor this week during a debate on an education bill. “We are asked to serve, we serve in this body, we have to look at President Lincoln every day we are in this space.”

A former business partner of Hunter Biden was sentenced Monday to more than a year in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud a Native American tribe of some $60 million in bonds. The defendant, Devon Archer, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison by Manhattan Judge Ronnie Abrams, who said the crime was “too serious” to let him just walk. “There’s no dispute about the harm caused to real people,” Abrams said, noting that the defrauded tribe, the Oglala Sioux, is one of the poorest in the nation. Archer will also have to...

A sample of hair belonging to the legendary 19th century Native American leader Sitting Bull has allowed scientists to confirm that a South Dakota man is his great-grandson. Scientists took DNA from a tiny sample of Sitting Bull's hair that had been stored in Washington DC. It showed that Ernie LaPointe, 73, is his great-grandson. The new method allows analysis of family lineages with DNA fragments from long-dead people.

Devon Archer was convicted of defrauding the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe out of bond-sale proceeds. Hunter Biden was not implicated in the scheme, which defrauded the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe out of the proceeds of bond sales. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File/AP Photo A federal appeals court reinstated the fraud conviction of Hunter Biden’s former business partner on Wednesday, reversing a lower court judge who had granted his request for a retrial. Hunter Biden was not implicated in the scheme, which defrauded the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe out of the proceeds of bond sales. But the scheme was committed under...

Thousands of bikers heading to South Dakota’s 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will not be allowed through Cheyenne River Sioux checkpoints, a spokesman for the Native American group said on Saturday. The decision to prevent access across tribal lands to the annual rally, which could attract as many as 250,000 bikers amid fears it could lead to a massive, regional coronavirus outbreak, comes as part of larger Covid-19 prevention policy. The policy has pitted seven tribes that make up the Great Sioux Nation against federal and state authorities, which both claim the checkpoints are illegal.

The chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is calling for the removal of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, arguing that it is carved in an area that is considered sacred land to Natives. "Nothing stands as a greater reminder to the Great Sioux Nation of a country that cannot keep a promise of treaty then the faces carved into our sacred land on what the United States calls Mount Rushmore," said Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, where the memorial is located. "The United States of America wishes for all of us to...

Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner is protesting President Donald Trump’s planned visit to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota next week, saying the monument should be “removed” because it is on land claimed by Native Americans. The Argus Leader reported Thursday that many — though not all — local Sioux “want the monument removed,” seeing the faces of four white leaders as an affront — including Abraham Lincoln, who was president when U.S. soldiers executed Indians. Several groups are planning to protest Trump’s visit, and Bear Runner has written a memorandum to Trump opposing his visit. Trump is planning to...

Gov. Kristi Noem sent letters Friday to the leaders of both the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe demanding that checkpoints designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus on tribal land be removed, the governor's office said in a statement. According to Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe checkpoint policies posted on its social media, its reservation residents may travel within South Dakota to areas the state has not deemed a Covid-19 "hotspot" if it's for an essential activity such as medical appointments or to get supplies unavailable on the reservation. But they must complete a health questionnaire when...

Link only for the related New Yorker article, excerpt not allowed. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/23/who-speaks-for-crazy-horse?utm_source=pocket-newtab

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has claimed that the project has encroached on its land, damaged sacred sites and would potentially harm a major source of their drinking water by going under Lake Oahe. [snip] But what continued to throw a wall up in the discussions was the tribe's demand to receive a fee for shipping the oil. "Even though the pipeline never crosses the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, [snip] "But time and again the tribe rebuffed or ignored the company's offers demanding, instead, a toll on the crude that passed through the pipeline, an ultimatum that showed the tribe's...

Okay. The headline is a little premature. But it could happen. Nicholas Black Elk (c.1863-1950) was an Oglala Lakota medicine man, mystic, and Catholic catechist (a member of the laity who assists priests and nuns by teaching the faith to children and to adult potential converts). It has been estimated that Black Elk was responsible for bringing approximately 400 Lakota into the Catholic Church. His commitment to his newfound faith (he converted in middle age), his exemplary life, and his attachment to those aspects of traditional Lakota spirituality that did conflict with Catholic doctrine or practice make him an interesting...

The Native American tribe at the center of the controversy over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has vowed to take legal action against a presidential memorandum by President Trump pushing pipeline construction. After several months of protests led by the Standing Rock Sioux, the Army announced in early December that it would not approve an easement to let construction of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline proceed along its planned route. In a statement then, Assistant Army Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy said alternate routes needed to be explored. Members of the tribe argue that the pipeline, which would carry...

Two green energy companies contributed a quarter of a million dollars to the American Indian tribe spearheading a months-long demonstration against an oil pipeline in North Dakota. Standing Rock Sioux voted unanimously April 5 to accept two $150,000 donations from ConEdison Development and Fagen Inc., both of which have partnered up to build windmills in the North Dakota area, according to internal documents kept by the tribe. ConEdison Development acquired land near Standing Rock’s reservation and began construction on a wind power facility last year. Fagen was a contractor on the project. The $250,000 donations to the tribe were meant...

The Obama administration shocked the oil industry last week, pulling the plug on a major oil pipeline from the Bakken that had become a flashpoint between a pipeline company on the one hand, and a growing coalition of Native American tribes and environmentalists on the other. Everyone was anxiously waiting a Friday ruling from a U.S. federal judge, who was weighing a request from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.8 billion 1,168-mile oil pipeline that would run from North Dakota to Iowa and Illinois. The pipeline would threaten sacred lands and...

BISMARCK, N.D. — A protest of a four-state, $3.8 billion oil pipeline turned violent after tribal officials say construction crews destroyed American Indian burial and cultural sites on private land in southern North Dakota. Morton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Donnell Preskey said four private security guards and two guard dogs were injured after several hundred protesters confronted construction crews Saturday afternoon at the site just outside the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. One of the security officers was taken to a Bismarck hospital for undisclosed injuries. The two guard dogs were taken to a Bismarck veterinary clinic, Preskey said.

The NCAA threatened sanctions against the school, saying the nickname and logo were hostile and abusive and that UND was not endorsed by one of the state's two namesake tribes. The state Legislature put a moratorium on replacing the nickname until this year. The 15 names still in the running: North Dakota, Blaze, Cavalry, Explorers, Fighting Green, Fighting Hawks, Force, Green Hawks, Nodaks, North Stars, Pride, Roughriders, Spirit, Sundogs and Thunderhawks, WDAZ-TV reported (http://bit.ly/1GdnPJr). One possibility that was dumped Tuesday night was Flickertails, which the school used before adopting the Fighting Sioux nickname.

The University of North Dakota has unveiled the complete list of suggestions it received for a new team nickname to replace the "Fighting Sioux," which was retired in 2012. And boy, were some of the names ridiculous. You can check here for the list of 1,172 names still in contention, but let's pay tribute to some of the more amusing monikers suggested -- with shoutouts to Kobe Bryant, "Game of Thrones" and "South Park" -- and promptly missed the cut. And as you can see below, many people who submitted names (UND had to whittle down the 628-page list of...