Hau Pahanna and Flip... Thank you my friends.

“Some Native Americans believe the problem is that Native children who are placed in foster care with non-Native families, as most are in South Dakota, lose connection to their culture, traditions and tribes,” the NPR report stated.

http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/61208/

In the old days this would have been called Genocide... in modern language and current understanding of such things this is called ETHNIC CLEANSING. These bureacratic assaults by the People of the united states upon the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota Worldviews and Lifeways in an attempt to colonize and assimiilate our children are clear violations of International Laws and Agreements on human rights.

UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE (UNDRIP)

Article 5
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their
distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions,
while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in
the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

Article 6
Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality.

Article 7
1. Indigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and mental
integrity, liberty and security of person.
2. Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom,
peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to
any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly
removing children of the group to another group.

Article 8
1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be
subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.
2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and
redress for:
(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them
of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values
or ethnic identities;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing
them of their lands, territories or resources;
(c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim
or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;
(d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;
(e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite
racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them.

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/doc ... IPS_en.pdf

"For Indigenous Peoples U.S. colonialism meant the invasion and subsequent large-scale theft of our lands and continuing domination over the meager lands we retained. It meant the systematic interference in Indigenous ways of being and assaults on all aspects of Indigenous life including our physical bodies, our means of sustenance, our spirituality, our languages, our gender relations, and our kinship, economic, and educational systems as well as both natural and human laws."

Waziyata Win - Dakota

Colonialism on the Ground
Waziyatawin, Ph.D.

"At one time our ancestors would have had difficulty imagining living in a state of unfreedom. Now we have difficulty imagining living in a state of freedom. This is perhaps the most profound impact of colonialism in our lives. It reveals a limitation in thinking so severe that it prevents us from reclaiming our inherent rights as Indigenous Peoples of this land, even in our dreams.

Colonialism is the massive fog that has clouded our imaginations regarding who we could be, excised our memories of who we once were, and numbed our understanding of our current existence. Colonialism is the force that disallows us from recognizing its confines while at the same time limiting our vision of possibilities. Colonialism is the farce that compels us to feel gratitude for small concessions while our fundamental freedoms are denied. Colonialism has set the parameters of our imaginations to constrain our vision of what is possible."

http://waziyatawin.net/commentary/?page_id=20

Our ancestors that were free would have been upset to no end, to know what has happened to their families.I hate all the controlling rules that are set before us.Their rules don't make sense to me,only it makes sense to them in their crazy borderline personality disorder, narcissistic ,schizoid, bipolar, delusional minds.I would love to be free,to roam where ever I want to,without someone telling me you can or you can't do this or that.I would love not having a money system only just helping each other by trading our work or our goods.I would love to have a culture where we could share and love each other as one big happy family.I hate the way things are.One day things will change. It is an animal world now and people have acted like animals with no conscious only caring about themselves for their personal gains. One day we will be in a world that is the human world where people will come together as one.The bad people will be spit out.The people that will make it through the change are people who are close to the Creator, knows the Earth and are one with the Earth and they are also of people who see no racial differences in others.I will be glad when that happens.In the meantime we must fight for our rights. Jennifer

The Creator wants us to fight for the rights of others and ourselves because we are fighting for him and his cause.He made us free and everything on this Earth free and he wants us free and certain people took it away and we gotta get it back. Jennifer

"We do not separate the people of each nationality into schools exclusively for themselves... [But] we provide that the youth of all of our people go into all schools. We shall not succeed in Americanizing the Indian until we work on him exactly the same way...By means of public school, Native Americans would take their place in the mainstream of American culture."

General Richard H. Pratt - Carlisle Indian School - 1879

"As a savage, we cannot tolerate him any more than as a half-civilized parasite, wanderer or vagabond. The only alternative left is to fit him by education for civilized life. The Indian, though a simple child of nature with mental facilities dwarfed and shriveled, while groping his way for generations in the darkness of barbarism, already sees the importance of education."

United States Board of Indian Commissioners - 1880

I don't understand why things had to be this way.None of this has been fair.By what has happened, the white man didn't give the Indians a chance and they will never truly know the ways of the Indians.They don't understand them and not that they really care. Because of this, Indians have lost a part of themselves that may never come back.My family was assimilated and I will never know the old ways and traditions first hand.I can only learn by books or the internet.I am hurt by this.Jennifer

Hau, Ghostwarrior,

Are you familiar with this play, Carlisle...http://www.absolutepunk.net/journal.php ... ry&e=25755

Hau Molly i was not aware of this play. It looks interesting my friend have you seen it?

Hau, Ghostwarrior,

No, my friend, I have not. From what I can gather there were readings, and maybe it was performed, but that was all I could find out at the time. I had hoped maybe to find out more but other than the few posts online, nothing...I had done a search on the author but it was mostly bio stuff.

I really think the accompanying photo says a lot. I have been to that location and I felt a lot of odd uncomfortable feelings at the time, like there was a lot of history there. I don't know if that explains it well; I just don't go looking for things, if that makes sense.

Gwen D. Caldwell

I am the Founder and Director of Voice of Women, a family rights advocacy group with a focus on the Indian Child Welfare Act. I support the provisions presented in HB 1217 as The State of South Dakota makes no reasonable effort to be in compliance with Federal law regarding Indian children. The South... Dakota Supreme Court has ruled many times against the State in ICWA cases. The Department of Social Services continues to arbitrarily terminate the parental rights of Indian children calling it substantiated abuse, when in fact if the abuse or neglect were substantiated the parents would be charged under criminal codes and prosecuted in a Court of Record rather than by an Administrative Hearing process. That would afford the parents of these children the right to a jury trial and the opportunity to present evidence and witnesses on their behalf before their parental rights are terminated. However, since this isn't happening we need to protect the children, their heritage and their culture by mandating the Department to comply with the laws that protect Indian children from becoming orphans with the swipe of a Judge's pen and then the state reaping adoption bonuses from the Federal government to commit genocide against South Dakota's families. South Dakota by definition, has for years been in violation of 3 of 5 United Nations Crimes and Punishment of Genocide Act. This is unacceptable! HB 1217 would provide a tool to correct this tragedy. Indian children are not the responsibility of the State and the State should not be allowed to violate the law in order to maintain gross financial incentives to warehouse Indian children in group homes or foster care, destroy families and decimate a culture of a sovereign people within their own Homeland per the Treaties of 1851 and 1868 which are still the Law of the Land according to Article 6 of the United States Constitution which each and every one of you took and Oath of Office to Protect and Defend. It is with all due respect that I request you support this Bill by voting yes on HB 1217.

Gwen D. Caldwell My testimony for tomorrow in front of the SD House Judiciary Committee regarding Indian Family Preservation Act

Hau molly... it is my understanding there are those who work with the tribal cultural historic preservation programs trying to identify and bring the bodies of those Dakota, Lakota and Nakoda children who were taken from their homes and communitites and died in united states government boarding schools in far away in places like Carlisle Indian School. Its a cultural imperative my friend that we do not leave our dead behind if it all possible.

Yes molly i do understand this feelings you speak of...it was like that for me at Wounded Knee, Ft Snelling and Mankato and sometimes in Crow Creek where unspeakable acts of violence and depredation were committed upon the People.

Hau, my friend,

It is good to know there are people working to help these children to come home. I found this article http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/09/c ... -home.html

It is good we are spiritually aware of these places, I think, Ghostwarrior, so that even if we come on an unmarked place we still are made to feel the reverence...I am a humble person, not gifted with any special abilities or powers, but yet I could feel these things.

The continued dialogue in this thread has helped me to understand that day several years ago when I stood in the bright sunshine and felt a misery like never before. I must admit, I had forgotten about the Indian School, but I never forgot those feelings. (Please understand I am not claiming to be any sort of psychic or ghosthunter which is so popular in this part of the country).

I know the technology exists to find these unmarked graves. If someone reading this could donate time or effort to help, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?

It was not until I began reading this site a few years back that I began to remember these atrocities again. I must ask for forgiveness for forgetting about these things I am very much ashamed to admit that. We should never forget.

Talking about the unknown children's graves makes me want to cry.I cried for a solid week after I found out some of my family were in the "Trail of Tears". One of my grandmothers who was 78 or 79 went through it and made it,but died the following year afterwards.In my eyes she was a strong lady. Another one of my grandmothers didn't go through the Trails of Tears,but had children,grandchildren and great-grandchildren to go through it.Her brother's wife died there along the trail and is in an unmarked grave.Her name was Lucy Bolen Blackfox.This grandmother also died the following year afterwards.I feel like she died of a broken heart.I honor both of them.During that time Governor Sevier of Tennessee said that Indians are like" lice having nits". I have been angry about that ever since.We should never forget about those children in those boarding schools just like I won't forget about the Trail of Tears.There are lots of unmarked graves along that trail,too.I also had family members that went to Brainerd Mission boarding school but I have yet to find out about them.One day I will.Jennifer

Hau my friends... This summer my son Dakotah and i took part in the community ceremony at Crow Creek to rebury "artifacts" repatriated from some university thanks to the Crow Creek Tribal Historical Office and its Director who is a good woman and my friend. It is a good feeling to know that these things that never should have been taken from the land have been returned because in truth these items are not "artifacts" but the personal property of our Ancestors and deserve to be treated with respect.

Ghostwarrior, it is good your family honors those passed in such a way.

I was wondering whether there a national organization that assists with such matters that you might be aware of?

Native Foster Care: Lost Children Shattered Families.October 25,2011 Listen to the story http://www.npr.org/2011/10/25/141672992 Jennifer

Hau mollydee i know of no such organization most of the work now being done is through THPO offices under the NAGPRA Act.