The Trail of Broken Treaties Redux

Vine Deloria, Jr. famously penned a book, the Trail of Broken Treaties in response to over 150 years of the United States breaking its agreements with Native American Tribes. The current Standing Rock action by thousands of Native American peoples and their allies is another chapter in this trail of broken treaties. The encampment was initiated to call attention to and halt the progress of an oil pipeline from Canada into the United States. The pipeline has now been rerouted several times, the most recent, away from the population center at Bismark, and through the relatively unoccupied lands near the … Continue reading The Trail of Broken Treaties Redux

The Neo-Colonization and Termination of Native Reservations 2017

Standing Rock camp is rounding up this week, after at least 10 months of activation to stop oil pipelines through North Dakota. At stake was the health and welfare of the Stand Rock Sioux who live on the Standing Rock Reservation. The encampment attracted upwards of 20,000 people who rotated in and out of the encampment, who wanted to protect the region from the probability of another oil pipeline breach, a fairly common problem for pipelines in the region. The pipeline was halted just before bridging the Cannonball river. The protectors faced severe opposition with state police and hired guards attacking the protectors … Continue reading The Neo-Colonization and Termination of Native Reservations 2017

Colonization in Native Country 2016: Standing Rock Encampment

Manifest Manners- Manifest Manners are the course of dominance, the racialist notions and misnomers sustained in archives and lexicons as “authentic” representations of Indian cultures. Manifest manners court the destinies of monotheism, cultural determinism, objectivism, and the structural conceits of savagism and civilization. Gerald Vizenor Americans of the United States have accomplished (extermination & deprival of rights) … with singular felicity; tranquility, legally, philanthropically, without shedding blood, and without violating a single great principle of morality in the eyes of the world. It is impossible to destroy men with more respect for the laws of humanity (Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835). … Continue reading Colonization in Native Country 2016: Standing Rock Encampment