Yellow Thunder

The struggle of land based people, such as the Lakota, is a sad one especially for those of us who care about the Earth and her children. Yet, the very struggle between the profit motive and respect for the quality of life, has cast us all together in bringing about our collective future that we might, as Chief Seattle said, “Put our minds together to see what sort of future we can make for our children”. If we have a collective future, that future will lie in a change of consciousness from emphasis on priviate ownership to an emphasis on interdependence of all life systems on this planet. Now is the time to forget the differences used so cleverly to divide us and unite hearts, minds, and spirit for the sake of peace, sacred lands, and the unborn generations of all relatives of the Earth.

The struggle between the government/corporate powers and the Lakota is entrenched in the history of this country. From that embattled history we come to the most recent development that spurs this call to unity; the establishment of Yellow Thunder Camp. Yellow Thunder Camp was established by Dakota Aim, Lakota and other Indian people as a return to a way of life that has and continues to prove itself to be sound environmetally, intellectually and spiritually. It allows for a return to a natural state of living in harmoy with the forces of the Earth. Just as all things that nurture are now under attack, so is the existence of Yellow Thunder Camp and the people who live there. In denying a permit to build permaent structures on the land, the U.S. Forest Service cited that it was utopian to think a group of people could live in a completly self-releiant manner. This emphasises the point that if one group of people can be denied the right to live in a self -sufficient manner, then any group of people can be denied that same right. We must support those seeking environmentally sound solutions to difficult problems if we are ever to turn the tide of rampant environmental and consequently human exploitation.

Self determination is an inalienable right of all living creatures. It was the basis of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the United States. If that right can be denied to the indigenous peoples of this continent, can it not be denied to all? With these posibilities in mind, the support of Yellow Thunder Camp has far reaching effects into each and every life; in fact into life itself. We must acknowledge with our actions the concept of interdependence. This concept has long been expressed by Native Peoples in all lands in terms of the Earth as a living whole; and entity unto herself.

The Lakota not only are fighting for their right to exist as a people but for the sanctity of the Black Hills. The Black Hills are sacred monuntains to the Lakota as well several other Indian Peoples. We are all familiar with the struggle for a purer, cleaner environment whether our background is the environmental movement, the anti-nuclear movement, the peace movement, or concerrned and caring Human Beings. Yet, as we find our varous backgrounds and common struggles coming to rest at the feet of indigenous people throughout the world, we are learning that we must concern ourselves with and incorporate a respoct for the unseen forces that move our lives. These sacred sites are the generating points of many of these unseen forces. Even from a Western perspective there is cause to take notice of these sites. New research in particle physics shows the combinations of mountains, air, water, plants, and minerals produce unseen ionic particles that affect the behavior and health of living organisms. Before they are gone, and with them a great unseen factor of our environment and our health, we must respond to and protect these sacred sites so that our children will have the opportunity to understand these things.

Many of the sacred sites are under attack for the riches they contain. These riches are gold, uranium, coal, oil, and water. Ironically, these resources are most often found on land held by Native Peoples. Land once thought irrelevant and worthless. But now that these resources hold great wealth and power, they are being sought out to strip away or pipeline away or ship away. But in order to move these resources you must first remove the people who live, honor and protect these lands. This exploitive process and open human rights violations are taking place in all corners of the Earth – the United States, Canada, Australia, Central America, South America, Africa etc. In the United States as much as 60% of available resources lie on Indian land; more specially these resources lie under those area held sacred by the Native People and who live there.

Mutli-national corporations hold the profit incentive as the highest vaue of life. They care little for the quality of life. In order to change these values, so prevalent in this country, we must start with ourselves. Standing alongside our brothers and sisters of Yellow Tunder Camp and wherever the land and people are being exploited is a strong statement as to where we place our values. As Rex Weyler stated “How long will a civilization defy the whole universe pretending that the energy of life can be equated to gold bullion stacked in guarded forts? Imagine a world without inflation There is no inflation in the amount of sunlight necessary to grow a stalk of corn from the ground, not in a million years. Imagine some planet, blessed by God, where creatures could drink from the rivers”.