President Barack Obama has an unexpected foreign policy problem – in the Western United States. The Lakota Sioux nation has seceded from the United States, according to a story on the anti-American website La Voz de Aztlan.
“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,” long-time Native American radical leader Russell Means said. The move potentially impacts the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
Means has been a well-known Native American radical and actor since 1973 when he and others were involved in a siege in Wounded Knew, S.D. and Means proclaimed: “sometimes there has to be violence.” “In 1973, Mr. Means led a siege of Wounded Knee by Indians who alleged that the tribal leadership was corrupt. Two Indians were killed and one Federal marshal seriously wounded by resulting gunfire, and the episode divided many residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation,” The New York Times reported Dec. 30, 1990.
That siege took place only three years after the publication of the book, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” a saga about supposed injustices against the American Indians in the old West. Wounded Knee itself was the site of the last fight between Indians and the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars. Means described the 1973 takeover as having “captured national attention when he led the 71-day armed takeover on the sacred grounds of Wounded Knee.”
He has continued his push for Sioux independence in the decades since. The Lakota declared independence in 2007, as well, with Means proclaiming: “United States colonial rule is at its end!”
This time, Means detailed reasons for the secession including a long list of problems facing the Lakota, such as unemployment, healthcare and life expectancy as well use of natural resources. In a rambling video, he also added a massive number of reasons for why his new nation would be both strong and lawful – talking about everything from credit card companies to global warming as problems they aim to escape.
Means is also well-known for his long movie career, including playing the role of Chingachgook in the movie “Last of the Mohicans.” He also appeared in “Natural Born Killers” and did the voice of Powhatan in “Pocahontas.”
Editor's Insight: If at first you don't secede...
http://cnsnews.com/blog/dan-gainor/secession-lakota-sioux-nation-leaves-union-again
UPDATE: Apparently cnsnews just yanked the story... this is all the original text though.
Replies