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The Official Website of the Grand Chief of the General Council of the Great Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Nation (L.D.N. Nation) KEEPING SACRED WORDS PAGE |
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This is the official
web site of chief Richard Grass Grand Chief of the General Council of the Great Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Nation (L.D.N)
LAKOTA,
DAKOTA , NAKOTA |
 Richard Grass Blood line descendent of Chief Two Strike, Chief Red Cloud, Chief White Swan, Chief Sitting Bull, Old Chief Frost, Chief White Bird, Chief Crazy Horse |
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Chief Richard Grass is the person who spoke for the L.D.N. Nation in rejecting the 1980 Supreme Court Ruling that offered $40 million in exchange for 40 million acres of the sacred Black Hills. Chief Richard Grass' family dynasty has been involved in drafting and signing ALL the treaties. His Great Grandfather, Chief John Grass, (as a sovereign - king-) was the strategist for and went to the Battle of the Little Bighorn to protect his land and people from the deceptive and exploitive policies of the U.S. Government. They won the Battle of the Little Bighorn, thus retaining legally under International Law the lands addressed by the Louisiana Purchase. Click here to read New York Times article from the year 1888 on this subject Setting the stage of events in context of the john grass manuscripts which we hope to soon publish in a book
THE
KEEPING OF SACRED WORDS Webmasters' Notes: There was a gold rush in California. People were coming from all over the world to strike it rich. During the Civil War, California was swaying between supporting slavery or not supporting it. California was desperate for the railway system to be built to tie them to the East for commerce. The government, to solidify Californias' support of non-slavery, agreed to fund the building of the trans-continental railroad, which eventually led to many skirmishes between the plains Indians and construction crews. The Ft. Laramie Treaty was devised, as were so many of the earlier treaties before them with East Coast Indians, to steal the land from the indigenous peoples. This is the time frame and setting of the events written about in the manuscript for the hoped to be published book - John Grass, American Indian Patriot written by Angela A. Boleyn. Other historians have recently published well documented books from "white" perspectives regarding this time frame. The life, perspectives and experiences of Chief John Grass and the Lakota-Dakota-Nakota Nation have yet to be heard, however here are some quotes from some relevant sources that set the stage for the new book to come... "General Sherman was appointed to command the military division of the Mississippi, a designation later changed to Missouri. His headquarters were at St. Louis, Missouri and he had the responsibility for a vast stretch of the territory through which the Union Pacific (railway) would be built. As military commander for the Missouri region, Sherman was responsible for maintaining peace with the Sioux and Cheyenne and other tribes of the plains. He didn't anticipate a great deal of trouble at first. To be sure the Indians got into scrapes with the white settlers but the settlers were usually to blame. The settlers wanted the army to kill all Indians, Sherman told Grant, "and they are trying to force the army's hand."... But the railroad altered the landscape of the Indians' home permanently, and it was apparent that the Indians' way of life was under mortal assault. Predictably the Indians struck back. In time the Sioux and Cheyenne terrorized the construction crews on the railroad. A group of Cheyennes even pulled up the rails on one stretch of the line. In short run the Indian offensive threatened to halt the railroad construction... Sherman communicated to the Indian leaders that if they wanted peace they would be allowed to live in peace, though not necessarily where they desired. On the other hand if they chose war they would get war. In September 1867 Sherman headed by a commission delegated by President Andrew Johnson to deliver precisely this ultimatum. The meeting took place at Ft. Laramie. Sherman offered no false hope that the traditional ways could be salvaged. The one decision left to the Indians was now to accept their defeat. If the Indians resisted they would be crushed. "If you continue fighting you will ALL be killed." H.W. Brand, from book "The Age of Gold" "On the following day the great warrior Sherman addressed the Chiefs, blandly assuring them that he had thought of their words all night and was ready to give a reply. Sherman launched into a discussion into the Indians' needs for a land of their own. Advised them to give up their dependence upon wild game and then dropped a thunderbolt: "We therefore propose to let the whole Sioux nation select their country up the Missouri River, embracing the white earth and Cheyenne River to have their lands like white people forever and we propose to keep all white men away except such agents and traders as you may choose. " After the words had been translated why should they go back to the Missouri to starve? Why could they not live in peace where the game could still be found? Had the greedy eyes of the white man already chosen these bountiful lands for their own?... "In the Spring of 1868 ... Sherman and the same peace commission returned to Ft. Laramie. This time they had firm orders from an impatient government to abandoned the forts of the Powder River road [that went to Oregon] and obtain a peace treaty with Red Cloud. They sent a personal invitation to the Ogalala leader to the peace signing. Only a few days after the agent returned to Laramie, however, a message arrived from Red Cloud. "We are in the mountains looking down on the soldiers and the forts. When we see the soldiers moving away and the forts abandoned, then I will come down and talk." This was very embarrassing to ...Sherman...they managed to obtain the signatures of a few minor chiefs...On July 29, 1868 the war department issued orders to abandonment of the Powder River Country. After two years of resistance...for a few more weeks he [Red Cloud] kept the treaty makers waiting. On November 6 he came riding into Ft. Laramie. Now a conquering hero, he would sign the treaty. For the next twenty years, however, the treaty would remain a matter of dispute. What many of the chiefs understood was in the treaty, and was actually written therein after Congress ratified it were like two horses whose colorations did not match". Dee Brown, from book "I Left My Heart at Wounded Knee" For detailed information please see LEGAL DOCUMENTS In Canada the same issues abound and filmmakers have given us insight to the complexity of the problems involved:
There are some among the Lakota tribes who have recently attempted to make world news by claiming to nullify the treaties and take it upon themselves to gather to set up a "new" Lakota nation outside of the spiritual, traditional and dynastic line of Chiefs. Richard Grass has never accepted grant money or funding from these groups, nor from any political entity on or off of the reservation , and on numerous occasions has spoken to support traditional Lakota,Dakota,Nakota values and the simple traditional people, still living in poverty, who still live by the ways of the ancestors in this complex and modern materialistic world. This is partly why this web site has been established, to raise awareness as well has hopefully raise funding for the work of the Grand Chief and those traditional ones who walk in a sacred manner. Perhaps the negotiations are futile, but it is the only way for a dignified and just outcome of the promises made. Currently, these issues have already reached international (U.N.) level attention, thanks to the travels and work of Chief Grass with the help of International Lawyers who are working without pay to find satisfactory resolution of the Black Hills issue. In response to attempts by several small fractional groups to gain personal material wealth from the injustices revolving around the treaties not kept, who claim to "take over" a long established culture and nation, this webmaster has elected to include the following quote copied from an anonymous contributor from a blog at MySpace...
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Now is the Time for the
whole truth to be known about our culture and traditional
the book -
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
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