February 24, 2010

PSA for Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Publicist Jackie Jacobs writes: "Chaske Spencer, Alex Meraz, Boo Boo Stewart, Julia Jones, Gil Birmingham, Q'orianka, Noah Hunt and other artists....BE THE SHIFT!!!"

Shift the Power to the PeopleMISSION STATEMENT

To Empower people to create sustainable, lasting change in their communities and countries through:

  • Creating Awareness of the current issues and conditions
  • Creating Alternatives that promote Dignity, Justice, Unity, and Accountability
  • Taking Action that supports the creation of these alternatives

  • AWARENESS

    What's happening right now:

    South Dakota's Lakota Sioux--Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 2010 Crisis

  • February 1st, 2010 Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has declared state of emergency after severe ice storm devastates reservation
  • Storm topples more than 3000 power poles
  • 13,000 people without power, heat and water


  • Comment:  I hit the Shift key on my computer. Does that count? <g>

    Nice to see Natives get together for a worthy cause. This is probably more than the We Are the World for Natives project will ever accomplish.

    The call to help the storm-damaged reservation is good. But I'm not clear what the second half of the message means:You can make the difference--To create a LASTING solution beyond the immediate crisis. It will only take you a few minutes and you can impact generations to come. Please click here for more details: BE THE SHIFT.We're supposed to take a few minutes to contact elected officials...and ask them to help the reservation. And what else? Pass a healthcare reform bill...or oppose it? Escalate the wars we started...or end them? Spend more money on Indian services...or cut taxes and reduce the size of government?

    Anyone can call for the government to act. The key question is what you want the government to do. If you can't specify that, you aren't necessarily saying much.

    For more on the subject, see Olbermann Raises $250,000 for Sioux and Olbermann Seeks Aid for Reservations.

    4 comments:

    dmarks said...

    " Escalate the wars we started...or end them?"

    Of course, the wars we are involved in right now were started by our enemies, not us. But it is wise to end them, even if it means escalating them for a time in order to completely defeat the aggressors.

    Rob said...

    No, we started them. Your mistake if you think the countries of Afghanistan and Iraq attacked us on 9/11 or any other day.

    And it's impossible to win a war on "terrorism," a violent technique for achieving one's goals. We can't defeat that any more than we can defeat "poverty" or "drugs."

    Unknown said...

    Rob,
    The letter to representatives spotlights the crisis due to the January ice storm, but goes on to ask them to support the appropriation of $492 million to upgrade the water system for the reservation, thus honoring the promise made to them when they were forced to relocate. So, there is something specific to ask for, rather than assuming awareness will lead anywhere on its own.

    Rob said...

    A comment from Christine Rose on Facebook:

    In my opinion, it will never serve to ask the government to help SD because the state of SD won't help the people there. Without state support, the people in SD will struggle.

    BUT tell the rest of the people in this country, and you get ACTION! It's time for people to join together and ignore the government. The government will always have an agenda based on lobbyists. People care about people. With Changing Winds, that is one thing I have heard loud and clear.

    I am for toppling the government altogether. Wish I could figure out how to do it. LOL