WE

STAND BEHIND THE LAKOTA GRANDMOTHERS! DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY & SUPPORT

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, demand an end to the ongoing genocide of the Lakota Oyate (People), a sovereign Indigenous First Nation of North America LakotaGrandmothers.org (Turtle Island) who have existed on the continent since time immemorial. Lakota Wagunpi Woashake Ikicupi is Lakota Elders taking WE RECOGNIZE the Lakota Oyate, as represented by their customary back their strength to end the genocide of the Lakota people matriarchal system, have the unassailable natural right to their sovereign and renew matriarchal territory, to political self-determination, and to freely pursue their Grandmother leadership on economic, social, and cultural development without interference. Pine Ridge and across the Lakota Nation. Stand Behind the Lakota Grandmothers! WE RECOGNIZE the Lakota are still in active resistance to the colonial invasion of their sovereign ancestral territory by Euro-American settlers, the Lakota Solidarity Project P.O. Box 881 United States military, and corporations given standing by U.S. law. Asheville, NC 28802 Phone: 828-338-9781 WE RECOGNIZE the Lakota Oyate are traditionally a matriarchal people, led LakotaSolidarity@gmail.com Cantetenza.wordpress.com by the Elder Grandmothers, and this matriarchal leadership has been forced underground by patriarchal systems of the United States Government. Cante Tenza Okolakiciye Lakota Strong Heart Warriors Independent Lakota Oyate WE RECOGNIZE in the past, and continuing into the present, the Lakota P.O. Box 512 Oyate are being deliberately inflicted with conditions of life intended to Hill City, SD 57745 mentally and physically destroy their people and prevent them from Phone: 605-517-1547 Lakota Oyate on Facebook preserving and developing their sovereign culture. Projects WE RECOGNIZE genocidal conditions of life have created a minority of Stand Behind the Lakota traditional and grassroots Lakota Oyate who are the remaining 6000-8000 Grandmothers Lakota language speakers, culture holders, and freedom fighters within a Lakota Elders Truth Tour majority of Lakota forcefully assimilated into American lifestyles. Red Cry Documentary LSP Elder Support Solidarity WE RECOGNIZE the average age of these traditional Lakota language Networks speakers and culture holders is 65 years: Elders. Grandmothers Create the Circle Gathering WE RECOGNIZE that while genocidal conditions of life exist against the Decolonization & Solidarity majority of Lakota people, the traditional and grassroots Elders and Oyate Training face disproportionate levels of violence, abuse, neglect, enforced poverty, and deprivation of basic human needs as retaliation for their continued resistance to forced assimilation, racism, and systemic corruption. WE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE those who bring about these genocidal conditions of life on Lakota Elders and Oyate including: United States Government policies and actions originating from the Office of the President, the U.S. Congress, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. State Department,

STAND BEHIND THE LAKOTA GRANDMOTHERS COMMUNITY TOOLKIT DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY & SUPPORT

LakotaGrandmothers.org

WE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE the United Nations and International Criminal Court for failing to uphold and enforce the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1969 Vienna Convention on Treaties, and the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. WE DEMAND AN END to all policies and practices bringing about genocidal conditions of life against the Lakota Oyate, and by consequence, all Indigenous nations on Turtle Island. WE WILL PRESSURE the United States Government, state governments, and International governing bodies to meet with delegations of traditional and grassroots Lakota Elders, to end genocidal policies and practices, and return stolen Lakota territory. WE WILL SUPPORT the traditional and grassroots Lakota Oyate in the renewal of their customary matriarchal system led by the Grandmothers. WE WILL SUPPORT an immediate end to the systems that abuse, neglect and harm Lakota Elders, so they may be free to share Lakota language, culture, and knowledge with future generations of their people. WE WILL STAND BEHIND THE LAKOTA GRANDMOTHERS with integrity and perserverance, in togetherness with those creating a free and sovereign future for the Lakota Oyate. To sign, visit www.LakotaGrandmothers.org/signon or email lakotasolidarity@gmail.com
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Department of Justice, Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, and others; The failed and corrupt United States tribal government system, represented by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Tribal Council (OST), that was illegally imposed by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 without the consent of the Lakota people; Policies of the U.S. state governments of South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana; The unregulated actions of U.S. and foreign Corporations on sovereign Lakota territory unceeded by Treaty agreements; Missionary Christian churches, religious institutions, and non-profit groups that continue to spiritually colonize Lakota lands and people; All other persons, institutions, and criminal organizations that are complicit in the physical destruction, impoverishment, exploitation, or assimilation of the Lakota Oyate to the complete termination of sovereign Lakota lands, culture, and identity.