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Reclaming Sacred Sites Saturday August 29th 2009 Mount Rushmore South Dakota
Native Americans to gather in Keystone, South Dakota to Commemorate the 39th Year Anniversary of the Historic Invasion and Occupation of the ''National Shrine of Democracy' Mount Rushmore and to bring awareness to the importance of Protecting our Mother Earth & Demand Justice For Leonard Peltier.
Friday August 28th 2009
For Immediate Release:
Press contacts:
Quanah Parker Brightman- 510-672-7187
Gay Kingman 605-484-3036
Native Americans to gather in Keystone, South Dakota to Commemorate the 39th Year Anniversary of the Historic Invasion and Occupation of the ''National Shrine of Democracy' Mount Rushmore and to bring awareness to the importance of Protecting our Mother Earth & Demand Clemency For Leonard Peltier.
What: Gathering to Reclaim Sacred Sites & Freedom For Leonard Peltier
When: Saturday August 29th, 10:00am to 3:00pm
Where: Amphitheater, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Amphitheater, Keystone South Dakota
Sponsors: United Americans Inc.(U.N.A)
August 29, 2009 marks the 39th anniversary of the historic Mount Rushmore Occupation of 1970. Native Americans representing groups from around the Country will gather to Demand President Obama to Return All Stolen Lands to the Indigenous People's of Turtle Island and To Free Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier after Over 33 Year's of Wrongful Incarceration. Our Mother Earth is a precious resource that has been and continues to be desecrated and abused for money and greed. Action must be taken NOW to save what few sacred sites indigenous people still have and return land that has been Illegally taken by the United States of America.
On August 29th 1970, a small group of young Indians invaded Mount Rushmore, the so-called ’national shrine of democracy' The invasion brought together Indians form different tribes and reservations who converged to help the Sioux Nation in their efforts to reclaim the sacred Black Hills and to force the Federal Government to be held accountable for the illegal taking of their Lands. At 7pm on August 29th, after eluding authorities, the group of young natives reached the top of the mountain near the four faces of the presidents where they hung a large flag with the words: SIOUX INDIAN POWER. The Paha Sapa-The Black Hills-is a sacred place for all Sioux People. It is where all Sioux life began,where our creation stories originate from 'The heart of everything that is'
United Native Americans is sponsoring the gathering and demanding that all sacred sites across turtle island be returned to the First Nations People of America, that The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 be Recognized and Honored by The United States of America. U.S. Courts have recognized the illegality of these actions and offer modest payments, but the Sioux Nation Remains determined to get the Black Hills Returned to Tribal Communities & To Demand Clemency for Leonard Peltier.
UNA inc. calls for President Obama to lead us into the future with an environment that is safe to live in with out having to wear a mask to step out side or to be fearful of the water we drink that pours out of our faucets. We call on the EPA to step up and stop the mass consumption of our natural resources for there will be No future for our mother earth….NO future for our children!
Climate scientists have clearly stated that we need to reduce our emissions by 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80-95% by 2050. If we do less than that, we risk crossing a tipping point that will bring about the worst impacts of global warming — devastating floods, droughts, wildfires, and storms.
Unfortunately, the House of Representatives recently passed a climate bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), that sets targets far below those mandated by science — largely because the fossil fuels industries were allowed a huge amount of influence in revising the legislation. The bill is so weak that it may actually spur a new generation of dirty coal and dangerous nuclear plants
Source:Eco Factory
For Immediate Release:
Press contacts:
Quanah Parker Brightman- 510-672-7187
Gay Kingman 605-484-3036
Native Americans to gather in Keystone, South Dakota to Commemorate the 39th Year Anniversary of the Historic Invasion and Occupation of the ''National Shrine of Democracy' Mount Rushmore and to bring awareness to the importance of Protecting our Mother Earth & Demand Clemency For Leonard Peltier.
What: Gathering to Reclaim Sacred Sites & Freedom For Leonard Peltier
When: Saturday August 29th, 10:00am to 3:00pm
Where: Amphitheater, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Amphitheater, Keystone South Dakota
Sponsors: United Americans Inc.(U.N.A)
August 29, 2009 marks the 39th anniversary of the historic Mount Rushmore Occupation of 1970. Native Americans representing groups from around the Country will gather to Demand President Obama to Return All Stolen Lands to the Indigenous People's of Turtle Island and To Free Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier after Over 33 Year's of Wrongful Incarceration. Our Mother Earth is a precious resource that has been and continues to be desecrated and abused for money and greed. Action must be taken NOW to save what few sacred sites indigenous people still have and return land that has been Illegally taken by the United States of America.
On August 29th 1970, a small group of young Indians invaded Mount Rushmore, the so-called ’national shrine of democracy' The invasion brought together Indians form different tribes and reservations who converged to help the Sioux Nation in their efforts to reclaim the sacred Black Hills and to force the Federal Government to be held accountable for the illegal taking of their Lands. At 7pm on August 29th, after eluding authorities, the group of young natives reached the top of the mountain near the four faces of the presidents where they hung a large flag with the words: SIOUX INDIAN POWER. The Paha Sapa-The Black Hills-is a sacred place for all Sioux People. It is where all Sioux life began,where our creation stories originate from 'The heart of everything that is'
United Native Americans is sponsoring the gathering and demanding that all sacred sites across turtle island be returned to the First Nations People of America, that The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 be Recognized and Honored by The United States of America. U.S. Courts have recognized the illegality of these actions and offer modest payments, but the Sioux Nation Remains determined to get the Black Hills Returned to Tribal Communities & To Demand Clemency for Leonard Peltier.
UNA inc. calls for President Obama to lead us into the future with an environment that is safe to live in with out having to wear a mask to step out side or to be fearful of the water we drink that pours out of our faucets. We call on the EPA to step up and stop the mass consumption of our natural resources for there will be No future for our mother earth….NO future for our children!
Climate scientists have clearly stated that we need to reduce our emissions by 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80-95% by 2050. If we do less than that, we risk crossing a tipping point that will bring about the worst impacts of global warming — devastating floods, droughts, wildfires, and storms.
Unfortunately, the House of Representatives recently passed a climate bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), that sets targets far below those mandated by science — largely because the fossil fuels industries were allowed a huge amount of influence in revising the legislation. The bill is so weak that it may actually spur a new generation of dirty coal and dangerous nuclear plants
Source:Eco Factory
For more information:
http://www.myspace.com/thewashichustolethe...
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Rooted in 1970 Rushmore protest, demonstrators renew land claims
United Native Americans: Goal is meeting with President Obama.
By Pat Dobbs Journal staff | Sunday, August 30, 2009
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/08/30/news/top/doc4a9a059f75174140885455.txt?show_comments=true#commentdiv
Four or five teenage girls from Huntington Beach and a Pueblo tribal member from Colorado, along with milling hundreds, were among an international tourist crowd that Gay Kingman hoped she and other speakers touched Saturday at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
The “Reclaiming Sacred Sites” program featured about 50 participants on the stage in the amphitheater before the giant mountain carving. The event staged by United Native Americans recalled the 1970 occupation of Mount Rushmore by local and national Native American civil rights activists.
Thirty-nine years have not settled their dispute with the federal government and its sanctioned takeover of the Black Hills despite a 1968 treaty. Some of the regional sites – Bear Butte near Sturgis, Harney Peak in the Southern Hills near Rushmore and Devils Tower nearby in Wyoming – that visitors see as picturesque are historic spiritual landmarks to tribal people.
The resources here also are honored, and other Native speakers talked about planned uranium mining that threatens Pine Ridge Indian Reservation water supplies.
Speakers also explained how tribal people are doing contemporary things – organic gardens, using wind power – with renewable resources that honor traditional lifestyles.
It’s that total message that Kingman, executive director of the Rapid City-based Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, hopes reached visitors. She is particularly optimistic about the California girl and the Colorado man and his wife, because they were among visitors who stayed for much of the five-hour amphitheater program.
“I’m hoping the tourists go home and have a better understanding of Indian people and the issues we face today,” Kingman said.
In 1970, she was among those at daily protest programs in the Rushmore amphitheater over several days. The demonstration was not a surprise, announced in advance, including sessions that drew nationally known Native rights advocates Dennis Banks, Russell Means and Kingman’s relative Lehman Brightman, a university educator in San Francisco.
They renamed Rushmore for Lakota leader Crazy Horse, and Brightman and others camped on the mountain behind the mountain carving for days. Others extended the overall occupation for about three weeks, Kingman said, in the longest First Amendment rights protest in Rushmore’s history.
And National Park Service personnel did not attempt to intervene.
According to Rapid City Journal archives, rangers patrolled the mountain carving to keep demonstrators from climbing on the sculpture, and a banner “Crazy Horse Monument, Indian Power” unfurled next to the Lincoln bust was allowed to display for a time.
Kingman said she was not a coordinator of the 1970 protest but did regularly visit the encampment. “There was no animosity and no antagonism,” she said. “In those days, the park just tolerated it.”
Some attending the rally had talked of pouring red paint over the carving or of trying to remove the carved faces. South Dakota State University journalism professor Jack Getz, a Journal reporter who covered the event, said Brightman calmly led the group away from that path.
“I consider Lehman Brightman a national civil rights pioneer,” Getz said. “There were angry voices in the background … and he was the voice of reason.”
Brightman, now 79, did not attend Saturday’s program due to illness after recent dental surgery, his son Quanah Parker Brightman said.
The younger Brightman, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, is vice president of the United Native Americans organization his father started. He said the Aug. 29 program at Rushmore will become an annual event to honor the 1970 events.
That’s unless federal leaders, including President Obama, finally meet with the group and grant return of historic lands to tribal control. Brightman and Kingman said Obama has made overtures about a “government to government” meeting if Natives are united.
“We had young and old activists come together ... and we’re trying to unite all of the tribes of the Plains to have a meeting with President Obama,” he said.
Kingman said the tribal chairmen of the Dakotas and Nebraska also are working galvanizing their groups.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s event sought to spread the message to an audience beyond the state.
“It was pretty solid,” Brightman said of the presentations. “We moved a tier up and will go about telling an international story. We want to tell that story ... and with the Internet there are new ways to get our message out – it’s beautiful.”
For more about the 1970s protest, the Rapid City Public Library has microfilm copies of the Journal.
For more about United Native Americans Inc., go online to: http://www.myspace.com/unitednativeamericansinc
Historical Video Footage Indians Invade Mount Rushmore-1970
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wd1uLgV7mc
For More Information Visit:
http://www.myspace.com/thewashichustolethepahasa
United Native Americans: Goal is meeting with President Obama.
By Pat Dobbs Journal staff | Sunday, August 30, 2009
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/08/30/news/top/doc4a9a059f75174140885455.txt?show_comments=true#commentdiv
Four or five teenage girls from Huntington Beach and a Pueblo tribal member from Colorado, along with milling hundreds, were among an international tourist crowd that Gay Kingman hoped she and other speakers touched Saturday at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
The “Reclaiming Sacred Sites” program featured about 50 participants on the stage in the amphitheater before the giant mountain carving. The event staged by United Native Americans recalled the 1970 occupation of Mount Rushmore by local and national Native American civil rights activists.
Thirty-nine years have not settled their dispute with the federal government and its sanctioned takeover of the Black Hills despite a 1968 treaty. Some of the regional sites – Bear Butte near Sturgis, Harney Peak in the Southern Hills near Rushmore and Devils Tower nearby in Wyoming – that visitors see as picturesque are historic spiritual landmarks to tribal people.
The resources here also are honored, and other Native speakers talked about planned uranium mining that threatens Pine Ridge Indian Reservation water supplies.
Speakers also explained how tribal people are doing contemporary things – organic gardens, using wind power – with renewable resources that honor traditional lifestyles.
It’s that total message that Kingman, executive director of the Rapid City-based Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, hopes reached visitors. She is particularly optimistic about the California girl and the Colorado man and his wife, because they were among visitors who stayed for much of the five-hour amphitheater program.
“I’m hoping the tourists go home and have a better understanding of Indian people and the issues we face today,” Kingman said.
In 1970, she was among those at daily protest programs in the Rushmore amphitheater over several days. The demonstration was not a surprise, announced in advance, including sessions that drew nationally known Native rights advocates Dennis Banks, Russell Means and Kingman’s relative Lehman Brightman, a university educator in San Francisco.
They renamed Rushmore for Lakota leader Crazy Horse, and Brightman and others camped on the mountain behind the mountain carving for days. Others extended the overall occupation for about three weeks, Kingman said, in the longest First Amendment rights protest in Rushmore’s history.
And National Park Service personnel did not attempt to intervene.
According to Rapid City Journal archives, rangers patrolled the mountain carving to keep demonstrators from climbing on the sculpture, and a banner “Crazy Horse Monument, Indian Power” unfurled next to the Lincoln bust was allowed to display for a time.
Kingman said she was not a coordinator of the 1970 protest but did regularly visit the encampment. “There was no animosity and no antagonism,” she said. “In those days, the park just tolerated it.”
Some attending the rally had talked of pouring red paint over the carving or of trying to remove the carved faces. South Dakota State University journalism professor Jack Getz, a Journal reporter who covered the event, said Brightman calmly led the group away from that path.
“I consider Lehman Brightman a national civil rights pioneer,” Getz said. “There were angry voices in the background … and he was the voice of reason.”
Brightman, now 79, did not attend Saturday’s program due to illness after recent dental surgery, his son Quanah Parker Brightman said.
The younger Brightman, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, is vice president of the United Native Americans organization his father started. He said the Aug. 29 program at Rushmore will become an annual event to honor the 1970 events.
That’s unless federal leaders, including President Obama, finally meet with the group and grant return of historic lands to tribal control. Brightman and Kingman said Obama has made overtures about a “government to government” meeting if Natives are united.
“We had young and old activists come together ... and we’re trying to unite all of the tribes of the Plains to have a meeting with President Obama,” he said.
Kingman said the tribal chairmen of the Dakotas and Nebraska also are working galvanizing their groups.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s event sought to spread the message to an audience beyond the state.
“It was pretty solid,” Brightman said of the presentations. “We moved a tier up and will go about telling an international story. We want to tell that story ... and with the Internet there are new ways to get our message out – it’s beautiful.”
For more about the 1970s protest, the Rapid City Public Library has microfilm copies of the Journal.
For more about United Native Americans Inc., go online to: http://www.myspace.com/unitednativeamericansinc
Historical Video Footage Indians Invade Mount Rushmore-1970
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wd1uLgV7mc
For More Information Visit:
http://www.myspace.com/thewashichustolethepahasa
For more information:
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2...
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