by Dana Lone Hill (crossposted from Just A Rez Chick)
I am 40 years old, while I feel that is kind of old at the same time I feel as I always have. I don’t feel old-er at all. I don’t feel that out of my four children, two are adults. I feel I could jump through puddles and make mud pies, but yet the silver hairs that are gathering and the one wrinkle that won’t go away tell me time goes on. However, I have been here long enough to know there are few things in life that make me want to shout from the roof tops. I don’t mean things that bother me, like Romney sucks and is an arrogant bastard that feels he can buy his Presidency or things like Occupy Wall Street. While I wholeheartedly support the movement, how did middle class folks not know the government has been and was gonna fuck them over? Thank god us poor folks done been there and done that. Trust, anything the government does will not make me want to camp in a city , but I do support you guys. I really do and I hope everyone of you gets your houses, mortgages, jobs, insurance, pensions, and financing back. And I sure hope something will be done about student loans because paying for a damn education or the interest on it for years like I have a degree was NOT in any of my ten years plans.
But what I mean about something that makes me want to shout from the rooftops, something that makes me, forces me to get up and figure out how to do this, makes me pray hard, and makes me want to cry, has me all emotional, actually has to do with my own past and my future. And the past and future of my children, and the past and future of my ancestors.
What I mean by that, is where we come from. Our creation story, our way of life, our Sacred Black Hills. Or as we call them, Cante Wamakaognake- the heart of all that is.
Our ancestors a long time ago were nomadic. But they didn’t just wander as if lost, they lived their lives by the stars. The buffalo taught our people this, as we followed them, studied them, listened to them because they were life givers. We had in depth and very sophisticated star knowledge that many of our ancient ceremonies were based off of. And the Black Hills played an important role.
You see, we knew we belonged to the Black Hills, before the Ft Laramie Treaty of 1868 that “gave” them to us. We knew and know to this day that is the center of the universe. We are taught that all our lives and we teach our children that. Our ancestors fought, killed, and died for this land after the government found gold and “seized/stole” them. Our Oceti Sakowin, Great Sioux Nation was then split into many different little reservations upon the discovery of gold and our Sacred land was strip mined and trashed with tourist spots.
So when I heard one of the most sacred areas was up for auction, I wanted to cry. The area called Pe’ Sla or Old Baldy, the center of our sacred land that was always a ceremonial spot, is up for auction on August 25, 2012.
Now is the time to come together and try to buy this land, our sacred land back. If we wait for the government, we will die first. Our whole future generations need Pe’ Sla, please go to our fund raising site and help us buy back our sacred land. Even a dollar helps, because maybe a million people can afford a dollar.
Keep us in your prayers and spread the word. Time is essential but as long as we have time, we have hope.
This is for the ancestors, for ourselves, and for our children. Honor our land.
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