The Lakota People Today

The Lakota People Today

The descendants of a few thousands of Lakota who survived from the massacres and the others, maybe more subtle of the current century, are today a little more than 50.000 living subdivided in 9 reservations between South and North Dakota. The reservations are in the limited sovereignty under the control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, divided in 13 area offices in the whole US territory.

In 1934, the Natives achieved the following: the reservations had their own organization and could elect their tribal Council at least partially. During the 50s, a reaction and opposition to the politics of “Termination act” by Washington, that primarily aimed to reduce the financial aid to the native minorities and cause the slow death of the reservations and to integrate the ones who had survived, gave rise to a period of hard conflicts. During the 70s some Natives that moved from the reservations to the cities, initiated the American Indian Movement, a movement that had as primary aim to inform and make the Natives as well as the public opinion aware of the problems of the Natives.

One of the most important events in the long pathway for the conquest of rights is the Longest Walk to Washington in 1972 called the “trail of broken treaties”, organized to protest against the Government that had never honored the conditions of the treaties with Native Nations, and took place with the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In 1973, Wounded Knee was occupied with arms as a protest against the tribal government of the Oglala Reservation of Pine Ridge (where almost 20.000 Oglalas live, descendents of the tribe of Red Cloud and Crazy Horse). The occupation, in which participated many members of the American Indian Movement, lasted 93 days, but at the end, they came in agreement with the federal marshals.

In November 1978 with the Indian Freedom Religion Act, the Natives obtained the freedom to practice their own spirituality and religion, that is, to return to the traditional religious ways of their ancestors, such as the Sundance, famous from the film “A Man called Horse”.

In 1978 took place the Longest Walk as a protest for the legal claim of the principal rights of Native Peoples, always tread upon by the politics of Washington, the restitution of the Sacred Black Hills area, at the western part of the Oglala Pine Ridge reservation, rich in gold. Black Hills is the sacred area of the Lakota People. In 1981, a new movement was held and members of the American Indian Movement occupied a part of the Sacred Hills.

In 1990 the Lakota organized a great walk of peace at Wounded Knee, for the 100 years from the Great Massacre. In 1994, the leaders of all reservations were admitted by Clinton to the White House. But, there is still much to be done for the achievement of the whole sovereignty of the Indian Nations.

Currently, in the Lakota reservations the traditionalists, that is the Natives who intend to restore the rituals and traditions of their ancestors, seek to free themselves from all of the issues of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which impedes and does not sustain the autonomous development of the reservations, and also the aid decided by the Government. However, in order to obtain this, it is necessary that the Lakota Nation becomes recognized also by foreign governments. Thanks to the initiatives realized by the Wambli Gleska Association, the realization of this dream does not seem that much distant.

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