Sioux Nation looking to preserve "Heart of Everything" in Black Hills.

[annabanana]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2301702

The Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires or Great Sioux Nation) is seeking to preserve the final pieces of Pe' Sla this November. After purchasing 1,900 acres from the Reynolds family in 2012, the tribes were caught by surprise when the same landowners put the remaining 438 of their ranch up for sale this past August. Like in 2012, the tribes are determined to save Pe' Sla, an integral part of their sacred homelands.

The Tribes revere Pe' Sla as sacred land as it relates to the Lakota star knowledge and serves as a guide to the universe. Pe' Sla means "the heart of everything" and is located in Paha Sapa, the Black Hills.

The official statement by the Oceti Sakowin after the 2012 acquisition of the Pe' Sla lands read in part: "the land of Pe' Sla was once protected by the 1868 and 1851 Sioux nation treaties. The United States violated those treaties and took the Black Hills in violation of the fifth amendment of the Constitution. Today the reacquisition is a historic event for the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people. The tribes will work together to form the Oceti Sakowin Sacred Land Protection Commission to protect Pe' Sla. We will preserve the sacred site for traditional and cultural ceremonies and keep it in a pristine state for our future generations."

I wish them well.

[KittyWampus]

1. Shame the Federal Govt doesn't buy those last few acres as partial recompenses

[newfie11]

2. I hope the Lakota get it

We bought an old stagecoach house 11 miles NW of Custer in 1992.
In 2003 we sold it and bought a working irrigated farm in western NE.
While we loved the great people in Scottsbluff/Gering area, we couldn't take the farm chemicals used on our land. We had it least to a farmer and this was his policy.
So back up to SD Black Hills we went. Holy Cow there are subdivisions everywhere!!!!!
We finely found a place near Hot Sorings with 30acres for our horses. It was built in the 50's so just a youngster.

In just the few years we were gone I'm shocked at all the subdivisions going up. It's hard to believe there are enough jobs as the major employer is Rapid City Reg. Hosp. I'm guessing most of these people are retired or working from home.

[Igel]

3. Meh.

It's become "sacred land" very quickly.

Not Sioux territory in 1600, probably not in 1650, and a recent territorial acquisition in 1700 (in a culture that is widely claimed not to acknowledge land ownership) that was well defended in the next 200 years.

It's like considering eastern Massachusetts as "sacred" to white Americans as part of a narrative that accounts for the entire universe. We know the tribes that were living there when white men first landed, and to say that it could form the basis of an ancient, indigenous white-American culture is to flirt with parody. Tradition's one thing, but elevation to mystical levels is quite another.

It's the kind of thing we cynically tout when it suits us and denounce as atavistic when that suits us. Black Hills, yes, it's important, a homeland, part of a quasi-religious attitude. The Serbs claim Kosovo? Unimportant a claim at best, because such territorial-nationalistic claims are wholly unbecoming a civilized people and should be denounced.

Dang, I'm becoming downright curmudgeonly.

[xchrom]

4. du rec.