Self Determination for Indigenous Peoples

September 13, 2010 at 8:03 pm (culture, education, environment, ethics, exploring interconnectedness, history, Indigenous People, journalism, Lakota, Native Americans, photography, Pine Ridge Indian reservation, politics, random, Uncategorized, Writing)
Tags: culture, current affairs, education, ethics, history, Indigenous, Issues, law, Native Americans, news, opinion, people, rant, rights, UN Declaration, Writing

Does everyone really have the right to self-determination? Does everyone in these times have equal rights under that human construct called “the Law”? Why hasn’t the United States ratified the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? I suspect it has something to do with Buffy Sainte-Marie’s references to water rights and uranium rights and all those gas and oil leases on Native American Lands that are at the heart of the Cobell vs Salazar case–and that apparently some folks in the US government consider too expensive to PAY to the Indian people they’re hoping will just die off and vanish according to the photographs of Edward S. Curtis. Oh yeah, we have money to wage war but not money to pay people for what we’ve already taken from them. It’s GOOD to be a member of the rich elite class in the United States. Being rich allows you to hire the best lawyers possible to suit your profit-making agendas.  Yes, Virginia, there are “classes” in the United States. These “classes” are defined by economics. Money gives one power and social identity in mainstream American culture. Poverty will get you nowhere in regard to the American Dream–yes–that dream that is still being foreclosed upon for millions of middle class Americans. See, being in the economic ‘middle’ is still a long way off from being part of the fiscally elite.  We’ve all seen the difference between what happens when the folks of BP destroy the environment–they run public relations campaigns everywhere to downplay their negative image as careless exploiters of everything and everyone.  Now considering that the rate of unemployment on the Pine Ridge Reservation is about 85%–give or take five or even ten percent–just how much political power do those Lakota–or other Indigenous tribes wield? Where’s their public relations campaign? A very tiny tiny piece of it is here. I hope.

Blackfeet Nation Woman versus United States:

http://www.cobellsettlement.com/press/bio_cobell.php

 

Read the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:

http://issuu.com/karinzylsaw/docs/un

Oh this darling document even covers the right to NOT have children forcibly removed from their own families and cultures.

 

NOT!

Edward S. Curtis–Vanishing Race, Navaho

Yes, I am positive it was an elderly Navajo woman and her young female relative I encountered at Arlington Cemetery a couple years ago.  They were definitely NOT vanished.

If you can, please take a few moments to educate yourself about the reality of life for others who are often ‘invisible’ in the corporate media.

Yes, this is a rant–but only partly so. As always, comments, questions and funny stories are welcome.