Indians in Dakota vow to stop Lewis and Clark reenactment

Saturday, Sept. 18

Today, tribal members from the Lakota, Dakota, Ponca, Kiowa and Dine'
Nations came to the Missouri River at Chamberlain, South Dakota to
give the opportunity to the Lewis & Clark Expedition to turn back and
cancel their re-enactment journey that began 200 years of genocide,
land theft and resource exploitation from the Plains tribes.

Under highly visible protection from local and federal police, the
Lewis & Clark re-enactors repeatedly stated "they cannot change
history and turn back time", as they stood in their period costumes
along the banks of the Missouri River. Representatives of the
American Friends Services Committee, the Mennonite Church and the
United Nations Council on Genocide in anticipation of the heavy
surveillance joined the tribal resistors by law enforcement.

The Lewis & Clark re-enactors offered a tomahawk pipe to the group of
resistors who refused to smoke it. Strong words were made by tribal
leaders Alex White Plume, Floyd Hand, Carter Camp, Alfred Bone Shirt,
Russell Means and Vic Camp who advised the Lewis & Clark re-enactors
that they were perpetuating the lies of American history.

The spokespersons for the Lewis & Clark Commemoration continually
undercut the demands of the resistors to cease their re-enactment
voyage up the river. A few months after the original "Voyage of
Discovery", Clark wrote of the Teton Sioux, "These are the vilest
miscreants of the savage race, and must ever remain the pirates of the
Missouri, until such measures are pursued, by our government, as will
make them feel a dependence on its will for their supply of
merchandise"

The re-enactment spokespersons alleged that they had no authority to
stop the expedition as the ultimate decision lies with a board of
directors. Initially, they requested three days to respond to the
tribal resistance group's demands. In a subsequent discussion, they
agreed to provide and answer to the group's warrior society on Sunday,
September 19, 2004.

However, Clark, a direct lineal descendent of the original William
Clark stated that it would be unlikely to cancel the expedition
because of the resources invested to carry out the re-enactment and
the future events planned along the river route to commemorate the
original event.

The resistors contend that the original Lewis & Clark Expedition was
the dawn of genocide for the Plains Indian Tribes. The tribal
resistors have committed themselves to stopping the re-enactor's
expedition before they leave Lakota Country.

-----For further information contact Alex White Plume, 605-455-1142;
Floyd Hand, 605-867-5762;or Vic Camp at 605-455-1122
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Lewis and Clark 'genocide re-enactors' told to turn around
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Lewis and Clark opened the door to the holocaust of the West

UN Observer and International Report

CHAMBERLAIN, S.D. (Sept. 18, 2004) -- The American lie of Lewis and
Clark unraveled as Lakota, Ponca, Kiowa and Dine' told re-enactors to
turn back downriver or face the consequences.
"What they wrote down was a blueprint for the genocide of my people.
You are re-enacting something ugly, evil and hateful," Carter Camp,
Ponca, told the Discovery Expedition camped on the Missouri River.
On Sept. 18, an Indian delegation of elders, supported by young
warriors, gave the expedition a stern warning. If they did not turn
around, they would call on all Indians who are not assimilated,
colonized and conquered to join them and stop the expedition.
"You are re-enacting the coming of death to our people," Camp told the
expedition, while seated in a circle with Indian elders and Lewis and
Clark re-enactors, on the banks of the Missouri River.
"You are re-enacting genocide."
Deb White Plume of Pine Ridge gave the expedition a symbolic blanket
of small pox. Another Lakota woman from Pine Ridge said she carries
the DNA of the Lakota women who survived the slaughters that Lewis and
Clark opened the door to. She said she is prepared to die for this
cause.
"I believe in armed struggle," Wicahpi Wakia Wi of Pine Ridge said.
"The act of genocide stops here. We are tired of living poor. We are
not afraid to die. I am willing to die."
She told them they would not proceed up the river.
"You are not going on. I will organize every sister from here to
Oregon to stop you."
Lakota elder Floyd Hand, among four bands of Lakota here, told the
expedition, "We are the descendants of Red Cloud and Crazy Horse."
"I did not come here in peace."
Hand said they would not smoke the pipe today and if the expedition
continues up the Missouri River, the families of the expedition
members would suffer the spiritual consequences of small pox.
Referring to the tribal governments who welcomed the expedition, Hand
said those tribal governments reflect the same type thinking as the
re-enactors and are not the voice of the grassroots people.
"The tribal governments are not a voice for us. They are imitating us,
like you are imitating Lewis and Clark."
"We want you to turn around and go home," Alex White Plume, Lakota
from Pine Ridge, told the expedition
White Plume said Lakota are here on this land for a reason.
"We were put here by the spirits." He said the Lakota never lost their
language or ceremonies and now they are making these requests: Lakota
want their territory back, their treaties to be honored and to be able
to continue their healing ways.
White Plume said many Indian people have become assimilated and
colonized.
"We pray for our own colonized people. We say they are in a prison in
the white man's world."
White Plume said there was no point in the expedition coming here.
"All you did was open up these old wounds."
Carter Camp warned the expedition to halt or they would be stopped. He
said the expedition has been told lies and are spreading lies.
Lewis and Clark are apart of the American lie.
"They had no honor. They came with the American lie. They murdered 60
million people."
Camp said Lewis and Clark said they came in peace. Referring to their
costumes, Camp said, "You guys probably believe that lie. That is why
you are dressed so funny today."
He said Lewis and Clark knew what happened to Indians in the eastern
part of the country and they knew that the missionaries followed the
soldiers. And it was the missionaries who left his people as remnants,
homeless in the streets.
Camp said the young warriors would not be as patient as the elders
seated in the circle. He also questioned whether the re-enactors had
asked permission of the grassroots Indian people to come onto their
territory.
"You chose to come amongst us without permission."
Camp said Sacagawea was a woman struggling to return home. "We feel
sorry for that woman. We don't like the way she was treated."
Camp said Indians here did not like the first Lewis and Clark and they
sure don't like the second ones.
"Take those silly clothes off and come back dressed like a normal
human being. Don't come here to tell me what your grandfather did to
my grandfather."
Referring to the re-enactors "silly clothes," Camp said of the Natives
who came, "This is the way our people dress everyday. We are not
trying to play a game."
"Go home and try to re-enact some truth for the rest of your life."
Alex White Plume said all that is good is being destroyed on the Earth
because of actions like these.
"Our people are dying because our water is no good," he said, adding
that the wolves and bears are disappearing from the territory. Lakotas
have to pay fees to go the Black Hills to pray.
"Today I can not even go up to the Black Hills to worship. We believe
everyone should have access to spirituality."
He said buffalo were once the basis of the ecosystem. Now, he said,
"The whole West is drying up.
"The Earth should be a priority and not your own personal needs."
Referring to the red, white and blue flag flying over one of the
expedition's three boats docked on the Missouri River, White Plume
said, "We want that flag taken down. We honor that flag because we won
it at the Little Big Horn."
He said the flag could be later given back, if their treaty was
honored and sacred lands preserved.
"We would like to ask you to turn around and not to proceed into our
territory. We didn't bring our bows and arrows, but we will continue
to harass you."
Alfred Bone Shirt of Rosebud told the expedition, "This is disgusting.
This is a slap in the face."
Bone Shirt said the Lakota are a people who never quit fighting for
what they believe in. "If you decide to go up river, it is bad, bad
for you and bad for your families."
Bone Shirt listed the town of Chamberlain in a long list of racist
South Dakota towns. He described the testimony of the Indian Child
Welfare Act on KILI Radio the previous day, testimony of Lakota
children being taken away in large numbers and given to non-Indian
families.
"Our prisons are full, our children are being taken away."
Pointing out the absurdity of the re-enactment, Bone Shirt asked if
there would be a re-enactment of Bush and Cheney invading Iraq.
" If you go up this river, we have good warriors who can shoot
arrows.
Bone Shirt was ready for action.
"Let's sink some of those boats out here."
Bone Shirt pointed out that the Indian people knew what the
re-enactors were thinking. "When we leave, they will laugh behind our
backs."
And Bone Shirt said Indians here know this type of racism.
"The state of South Dakota is the most racist state and South Dakota
condones this kind of behavior. We want you to know, it has to end
here."
Russell Means said if the expedition continues up the river, the
Blackfeet are waiting for them.
Means said Lewis and Clark, like the myth of Columbus, are apart of
the great American lie.
And there are many parts to the great American lie. "Even the casino
Indians are not rich, that is another falsehood. They don't ever see
cash," Means said, adding that the money goes to investors and also to
the state, which is illegal.
Means said Indians can't even start a business on tribal land without
waiting an average of eight years, and then it is only if the
paperwork isn't lost.
"What you are perpetuating is part of the big lie," Means told the
re-enactors.
Means said Indians have 40 percent of the nation's natural resources
on their lands, yet they are kept in concentration camps called
reservations and not allowed to participate.
"This is our river," Means said of the Missouri River running past. He
pointed out the water is being used by farmers, cities and power
plants without the permission of Indian people.
"They don't honor anything. This is an insult to our integrity."
While there is no Bureau of Irish Affairs or Bureau of other groups of
peoples' affairs, the Bureau of Indian Affairs remains an instrument
of genocide.
On Pine Ridge, the average lifespan is 44 years. "We are middle-aged at
22."
As Indians arrived at American Creek Marina bay on the river, there
were three police and Sheriff units waiting at the entrance.
Later, seated in the circle, Hand told the group there was no need for
the police to be sneaking in the bushes and taking photos; they could
do it in the open. "That is what the federal government does."
Hand said white people are always looking for identity and always
taking. He told the re-enactors to find out who they are and live who
they are.
Peyton "Bud" Clark, great, great, great-grandson of William Clark,
thanked them for being open and candid. "We will be honest with you."
He said the expedition was called a commemoration because it was not a
celebration.
Clark said people in the eastern United States know nothing about
Indian people and it is nearly impossible to go to a library and find
out any truth about American Indians. Clark said he saw the expedition
as a way of listening to Indian people along the river.
"What we did was create a catalyst for open and honest dialogue for
the healing to begin," Clark said.
"All you need to have is an open mind and an open heart and engage in
an open and honest dialogue." Clark was among 22 re-enactors traveling
on the river with a keelboat and two large wooden pirogue canoes, with
backup support of RVs.
Clark said their "funny clothes" cost a lot of money.
Although Clark said the re-enactors were volunteers and were not paid,
Lakota and Ponca said white people never do anything without being
paid. They pointed out the expedition had received $85 million in
funds, while the Lakota, the poorest of people, had to pay their own
way here to stop them.
Responding to comments by re-enactors who defended the expedition as a
means of education, Camp asked, "Would it be all right if these guys
were dressed in sheets like the Ku Klux Klan?
"Do you know that Clark would not free his slaves?"
Native women told the expedition that they carry the DNA of the
survivors of the slaughters that Lewis and Clark opened the door to
and the diseases they brought.
Ahmbaska, among the Native youths, spoke of the tribes who had become
extinct, their languages and cultures lost forever, and the women and
babies murdered by the U.S. military.
"They stomped their heads to save bullets."
Speaking directly to the re-enactors, he said, "This is not a show,
this is our hearts." His people, the Missouri, were exiled to
Oklahoma. "My people have never seen this Missouri River which was
named after us."
Now, he said, on Rosebud, people are dying from the whopping cough.
Lewis and Clark were the beginning of the end in the West.
"They came and they took and they conquered. That is what you are
re-enacting," he said.
Deb White Plume said for Lakota, halting the expedition is a spiritual
act. She reminded the expedition of the diseases brought by the
invaders.
She presented Clark with a blanket and said, "Small pox. Have it
back." Clark accepted the blanket, a symbol of small pox, cautiously.
Deb White Plume chastised Clark and the other re-enactors for the tone
they addressed the Indians present with. "You are patronizing us, you
are condescending to us." She said their tone of voice said that they
were going on up the river no matter what.
"You hurt us. We don't want you here."
White Plume said they could not allow the expedition to continue up
the river to their sacred Sun Dance grounds.
"How can you willingly want to trample on anyone's sacred grounds?"
One Lakota woman said she has only two children because she was
sterilized
against her wishes. "I have two sons because your government
sterilized me."
"Your government fought my family with guns and I survived and I am
here to tell you about it."
She said Lewis and Clark and those that followed "were the original
terrorists on this continent."
Pointing out they were surrounded by law enforcement here, she said,
police always surround Lakota.
She said to the expedition, "You are here with no respect."