Tea Party Will Give Black Hills Back to Lakota?!

[Updated 2010.10.05 to correct Karmelita Plains Bull's name—I apologize for the confusion!]

Listen to this podcast from Indigenous Rights Movement Radio. The organizers of the Tatanka Oyate Tea Party on Pine Ridge says some surprising things about the Tea "Party" movement.

Host "wanbli" expresses surprise, as did many of the chat room participants during the broadcast, that the local folks would invite Tea "Party" folks onto traditional lands.

Karmelita Plains Bull (she also has two married names, Martin and Rowland; Rowland is the name she shares with her current husband, Garry) says her group is in the middle, bipartisan, a watchdog group that is autonomous from the national Tea Party. When a listener asks why organizers would call it a Tea Party if its autonomous, Plains Bull explodes with a lot of treaty talk but fails to answer the question. Host wanbli asks about the failures of the Republican administration that ran the Bureau of Indian Affairs for eight years, and Plains Bull goes off on Al Franken coming to the Oglala Lakota Nation Pow Wow, again utterly failing to answer the question posed.

Plains Bull also says Theresa Two Bulls is an illegitimate leader of the tribe, elected by only 2000 out of 5000 registered voters. By that philosophy, there isn't a single legitimate elected leader on any city council in America.

Host wanbli points out that Plains Bull has announced a speaker from the national Tea Party is coming to speak to the group and asks what the national Tea party's position is on returning the Black Hills to the Lakota. Plains Bull again utterly dodges the question with a discussion of the government creating a culture of welfare dependence. She says the national Tea Party wants to empower Indians... ah, and she finally says the national Tea Party has "no qualms about returning the Black Hills." Really? I think I heard tea-flavored Pastor Steve Hickey suggest giving back the Black Hills is the right thing to do, but is there any evidence that giving the Black Hills back to the Lakota is a major plank of any tea-flavored organization?

wanbli forges ahead, trying nobly to get answers to specific questions that concern Native people. He asks about the Tea party position on pardoning Leonard Peltier. Plains Bull goes off about Obama on Guantanamo and terrorism (this river is chock full of red herrings). Plains Bull says Leonard Peltier should be freed... but she fails to enunciate whether the national movement takes that position. wanbli notes that President Bush denied Peltier's application for clemency on the last day of his presidency, which meant Peltier couldn't apply for clemency for another 18 months.

wanbli tells an interesting story about George W. Bush campaigning on Pine Ridge and being asked about sovereignty for Indian nations. Bush thought about the question for a long time, then said the question should be left up to the people of India.

What does the national Tea Party think about true sovereignty for Indians? Plains Bull rolls out the empowerment/dependency tropes again. She speaks of breaking the Bureau of Indian Affairs control over Indian country, says Reagan rebuilt a Berlin wall of communism and socialism on the reservation (really, she says this). wanbli tries to point out that Reagan was a right-wing conservative.

Plains Bull complains about the lack of funding for Indian Health Service... which I assume means she wants more federal funding for IHS. But before she can complete that thought, she returns to complaining about President Obama appointing "comedian" Al Franken as specialist on Indian issues. Funny—I thought Senator Franken was appointed by the voters of Minnesota.

I must admit, this podcast is a hard listen, because, to be honest, Karmelita Plains Bull sounds like a screaming propagandist with little ability or desire to sit and have a direct conversation. She's all talking points and slogans and little logic. No wonder she likes the Tea Party. Now if she could just make clear whether her group is part of the Tea Party.

Wounded Knee Protest Says No to Tea

Our Lakota neighbors are no fools. The news last week was that Garry Rowland and Karmelita Plains Bull Rowland were organizing something like a Tea "Party" on the Pine Ridge reservation. I found fascinating the prospect of secessionist American Indian Movement veteran Garry Rowland would align his movement with the mostly white whining and xenophobia of the broader bunch of teabaggers.

Yeah, right. I can't find much news coverage of the event, but one blogger reports that 20 to 30 people came to the Wounded Knee event, and only one expressed any desire to form an alliance with the Tea "Party". For more, check out this podcast interview with Autumn Two Bulls and the Tatanka Oyate "Tea Party" organizers at Wounded Knee.

I'm taking notes on the broadcast: I'll move those to a new post, because Karmelita is saying some really interesting things about the Tea Party!

Pine Ridge Tea Party Friday Organized by Secessionist

If the American Revolutionaries dressed up as Indians for the original Tea Party, then what will the Pine Ridge Indians wear for their Tea Party Friday, Glenn Beck suits? Sarah Palin heels?

Some nice Lakota folks are getting together at Wounded Knee Friday to talk about Lakota rights and Second Amendment freedoms. So, some Lakota warriors walk into a bar or a courthouse with semi-automatic weapons and shout, "Hoka hey!"—we're all for that, right, my fellow South Dakotans?

I am amused to see that the Wounded Knee Tea Party is being organized by secessionist Garry Rowland, a participant in the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover and one of the main activists in the Republic of Lakotah. That movement seeks to annul Indian treaties (I think we white folks already did that) and establish Native sovereignty for West River and adjoining territory in other states. Ah, Tea Parties and secession—a perfect fit, right, Gordon?

Rowland was also present with some Lakotah last May who counted coup on some encroaching U.S. Army helicopters that were returning to the scene of the Seventh Cavalry crime at Wounded Knee in 1890. Fellow organizer Karmelita Plains Bull Martin/Rowland (I think this is the same lady) was involved in organizing a tea-flavored rally in Montana to oust some Crow tribal leaders.

Bob Ellis and his fellow conservatives are still reeling from the schism of their little Tea Party in Rapid City. Perhaps they can join up with the freedom-loving patriots at Wounded Knee Friday to fight for their cause. Such cooperation would be a nice Year of Unity gesture.

I'm still scoffing at the prospects of the Tea "Party" to act as a coherent and effective political force. But I agree with Dr. Blanchard that joining Native voices to the Tea Party movement should be good for that movement.

Just remember: when Indians say they want to "take America back!" they really mean it.