Means headed for jail?

Withdrawal from US treaties enjoys little support from tribal leaders

Legitimacy of 'Republic of Lakotah' questioned"That's all our treaty lands," Bordeaux said. "Russell made some good points. All of the treaties have not been lived up to by the federal government, but the treaties are the basis for our relationship with the federal government and also the basis for the trust relationship to our lands. We're trying to recover the lands that were wrongfully taken from us, so we are going by the treaties. We need to uphold them.

"We do not support what Means and his group are doing and they don't have any support from any tribal government I know of. They don't speak for us."Means responds:In a phone interview with Indian Country Today, Means made clear his thoughts on the tribal leaders of the Sioux nations.

"I maintained from the get-go I do not represent, nor do the free-thinking, free-seeking Lakota want to have anything to do with, the 'hang around the fort' Indians, those collaborators with the government who perpetuate our poverty, misery and our sickness--in other words, our genocide. They are part and parcel of that genocide. I couldn't care less what the bought-and-paid-for, 'hang around the fort' Indians represent or what they say. End of conversation," Means said.How Means intends to sustain his "nation":The provisional government plan is negotiating with "foreign investors" to develop the energy resources on the land.

"There's enough wind coming from North and South Dakota to power electricity in every city in the U.S. forever; so, consequently, we are now in negotiations with investors who are going to want to immediately put up windmills and solar because the sun shines on the Lakota in the northern Plains over 300 days of the year," Means said.Comment:  Any investor who takes Means seriously is in for a rude surprise.

Finally, the government responds:"It's not like we haven't had individual groups that have declared independence from the federal government all the way from Montana to Texas; and as long as they want to go out and sit on a hill and play paramilitary and be independent, that's fine. That's every American's right.

"But the bottom line is when they begin the process of violating other people's rights, breaking the law, they're going to end up like all the other groups that have declared themselves independent--usually getting arrested and being put in jail," Garrison said.Comment:  Here we see the outline of three possible outcomes: 1) Means and company succeed, 2) Means and company fail and give up, or 3) Means and company persevere and get thrown in jail. I'm not sure what the outcome will be, but it's a dead certainty it won't be 1).