Lakota People's Law Project

South Dakota foster facilities are the new Indian boarding schools. After 150 years of illegal child removal from tribes, and daily violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Lakota tribes agree on the solution: Foster/Kinship care run by Lakota, for Lakota. Help us bring the Lakota children home! WATCH & SHARE the new video at www.LakotaLaw.org/Life

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Every year, hundreds of Native American Children in South Dakota are removed from their families and institutionalized, or placed in non Native foster care, in direct violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act​. Innocent Native parents face a racially biased and deliberately obstructive justice system when they try to get their children back.

WE CAN END THIS. WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Sign our petition urging President Barack Obama to end these illegal seizures: lakotalaw.org/action

Read our reports to learn more about the injustices faced by Native families in South Dakota: http://lakotalaw.org/special-reports/overview

Support us in our efforts to expose and end the system of state sponsored kidnapping of Lakota children: lakotalaw.org/donate

Please LIKE and SHARE

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Sign the petition to help Lakota families: lakotalaw.org/action

The bond between a mother and child is precious, strong, and worth fighting for. Help us protect the rights of Native American mothers in South Dakota, who are four times more likely to have their children removed by state authorities than any other ethnic group.

We are working to create on-reservation foster care for Lakota, by Lakota, that will honor familial relationships and existing kinship structures, while protecting children.

You can learn more about our struggle at: lakotalaw.org/reports

become a member at: lakotalaw.org/donate

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Hearts On The Ground: Bring Lakota Children Home

Please sign our petition at www.LakotaLaw.org/action. Hearts on the Ground: South Dakota's Forced Taking of Lakota Children, is a project of The Lakota Peopl...

For 150 years the Lakota have been denied control over their #child care system. The #Lakota have endured genocidal Indian Boarding Schools, #Indian Child Welfare Act violations, and now illegal, racist targeting by South Dakota DSS.

Watch this video to hear from survivors of this corrupt system, please LIKE and SHARE to raise awareness about this situation.

You can learn more about our efforts at lakotalaw.org

Sign our petition to create foster care for Lakota, by Lakota at: lakotalaw.org/action

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If you need help with ICWA here are some sources:

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDHS-ChildYouthFam/CBON/1251589740141

http://narf.org/icwa/index.htm

http://icwa.tumblr.com/

http://dss.sd.gov/cps/icwa/index.asp

http://dss.sd.gov/cps/icwa/designatedtribalagents.asp

http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OIS/HumanServices/IndianChildWelfareAct/index.htm

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Got it ,signed and everything ,and anything to turn this system upside down :-)

Thank you for your support!! <3

[lakotapeopleslawproject]

Apologies for the copy and paste format, I'm throwing the net wide as I don't expect many replies. I'd like to ask you a few questions in reference to being Lakota. First up: Which term do you prefer? I hear many, 'Native American', 'Indigenous People', 'First Nation' Which resonates with you? How does that term differ from your understanding of yourself and identifying as Lakota? What defines you? What makes you different? What makes you the same? Many more to follow if you're willing. Thanks!

Hello!! Thank you for your questions!! We here at Lakota People’s Law Project appreciate your interest :) We are working towards ending the systematic kidnapping of Lakota children by the South Dakota Department of Social Services. You can check out more at Lakotalaw.org. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want! 

As for your questions posed above, the best person to answer those would be Chase Iron Eyes, our South Dakota Counsel who runs the blog @lastrealindians 

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We are proud to report that our South Dakota lead attorney, Chase Iron Eyes​, has been elected Vice President of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

Our collective goal is for the perpetrators of the boarding schools to acknowledge their role in this genocidal policy, and its ongoing devastation in Indian Country, as well as the possibility for real solutions to these problems and meaningful reconciliation.

The Lakota People's Law Project​ is excited to have a voice in this alliance. This is a positive step in our mission, giving us a national platform to protect the sovereignty of Native families.

LIKE NNABSHC on Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/NNABSHC)

SHARE with you friends to spread the word!

[lakotapeopleslawproject]

#TBT to a Native grandmother and her granddaughter <3 

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Please help end the state-sanctioned kidnapping of Lakota children by becoming a member: lakotalaw.org/donate-new

Our report, Native Lives Matter, finds that, "Native American youth are found to disproportionately suffer adverse effects at the stages of arrest, diversion, detention, petition, adjudication, probation, and secure placement in the juvenile justice system."

Please help us in our mission to keep Lakota children with their families and culture, and out of the state system that is failing them.

Become a member at: lakotalaw.org/donate-new

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Do you want to help us raise awareness of the systemic injustices perpetrated against Native American families in South Dakota? Well now you can!

We are announcing the first Lakota People's Law Project design contest. Please submit photos, digitally altered images, memes, designs or any other visuals for consideration. Exceptional images will be displayed in our daily posts, and we will credit the author. You have until Monday October 12th to submit for this round. Get creative, and share this with your artistic friends! Please send artwork in a facebook message at https://www.facebook.com/LakotaPeoplesLawProject

To learn more about our projects to help inspire your art, please visit lakotalaw.org

We would like to recognize Raymond 'Blackbayou' Worrilow for the many outstanding visuals he has created for us, including this one.

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Every human has the natural right to raise and nurture their own children in the traditions of their people. Unfortunately, many Lakota families in South Dakota are denied this basic right.

Every year, the Department of Social Services of South Dakota removes dozens of Native children from their families and places them in non Native foster care or group homes. From 1999-2009, the average number of Native American children entering foster care in South Dakota was 742 per year. These seizures are often the result of unfair profiling due to impoverished living conditions, as well as South Dakota DSS's lack of understanding and respect for Native American kinship relationships and culture.

In 2005, the Lakota People’s Law Project was founded with a mission to end this tragedy and win return thousands of children that were illegally taken from their families and tribes by creating foster care for Lakota, by Lakota. The Lakota People’s Law Project is working with tribal leaders; emerging Lakota leaders; grassroots organizers; and federal officials in the Department of Justice, Department of Interior, and Health and Human Services to finally end this genocide and create the permanent solution of tribal sovereignty.

Share this post with your friends to raise awareness for this important issue!

You can learn more about our mission, and sign our petition to Obama to tell the state of South Dakota to stop kidnapping Lakota children at:lakotalaw.org/action

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Visit our webpage: lakotalaw.org

For 130 years, the government of the United States has implemented forced assimilation policies geared towards eliminating Native American culture. In the 1880s, this objective manifested itself in boarding schools where Indian children were forcibly taken, and banned from learning the language and traditions of their people. Today, a generation of children is once again losing its connection to its culture through state-sanctioned kidnapping under the auspices of the South Dakota Department of Social Services. Every year South Dakota blatantly violates the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 by removing over 740 Native children from their families and community and putting into non-Native foster care.

In 2005, the Lakota People’s Law Project was founded with a mission to end this tragedy and win the return of thousands of children that were illegally taken from their families and tribes by creating foster care for Lakota, by Lakota. The Lakota People’s Law Project is working with tribal leaders; emerging Lakota leaders; grassroots organizers; and federal officials in the Department of Justice, Department of Interior, and Health and Human Services to finally end this genocide and create the permanent solution of tribal sovereignty.

Please take the time to visit our webpage, at lakotalaw.org and learn more about our mission and our successes. You can read our congressional reports on the illegal seizures of Native children, government corruption in South Dakota, and the foster child drug industry. You can sign our petition, join us and become a member, or simply educate yourself on the realities faced by Native American families in South Dakota.

Thank you for you support, please like our page, share this post and visit:lakotalaw.org

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No Sainthood for Serra!

The California mission system subjugated Native Americans throughout the West Coast with forced labor and conversion, with the goal of wiping out Native culture by the coerced acceptance of Catholicism and violent punishments.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis is scheduled to canonize Junipero Serra, the priest who founded this oppressive institution.

In protest of this unjust ceremony and to honor their ancestors, Tatavium descendants Caroline Ward Holland and Kagen Holland are making the 650 mile pilgrimage to all 21 of the California Missions, "As we walk to pay our respects to the ancestors on this walk, there has always been a thought in my mind that maybe the Pope would decide to stand for what he says he stands for, and recant his decision to canonize Serra,” stated Caroline Holland. “If he is who he says he is, then he would realize that this is wrong.”

Pope Francis has made important gestures of humility and regret to the Indigenous people of North America, but has decided to follow through with  canonization of Junipero Serra as scheduled. We stand with Caroline and Kagen and other protestors who are speaking out against this wrongful sainthood. We call upon Francis to reject this ceremony for a man responsible for the death of thousands of indigenous people.

http://walkfortheancestors.org/2015/09/day-of-mourning/#more-275

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Become a member at lakotalaw.org/donate We believe that South Dakota's DSS has created a conception of "neglect" that is severely biased against American Indian families, especially those residing on reservation. First, this conception inappropriately equates economic poverty with neglect. Second, it fails to understand the tribes' kinship system of extended family care, a cultural tradition of the kind that ICWA was actually designed to protect. Under this bias, South Dakota identified neglect as the primary justification in 95.8% of its cases that resulted in removal of children into state custody. The national average is 78.3%. This inflated statistic represents South Dakota's clear discrimination against Native American culture. Become a member to help return Lakota children to their families and communities: lakotalaw.org/donate

[lakotapeopleslawproject]

We believe that South Dakota’s DSS has created a conception of neglect that is severely biased against Native American families, especially those living on reservation. First, this conception inappropriately conflates poverty with neglect. Second, it fails to understand the tribes’ kinship system of extended family care, a tradition that ICWA was designed to protect. Under this bias, South Dakota referenced neglect as the primary justification for 95.8% of its cases that resulted in the removal of children. The national average is 78.3. This inflated statistic represents South Dakota’s clear discrimination against Native American families.

To sponsor foster care for Lakota, by Lakota, please Sign our petition at lakotalaw.org/action 

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Please take the time to sign our petition and create foster care by Lakota, for Lakota: lakotalaw.org/action When asked by NPR journalist Laura Sullivan how important the federal money is for the state's DSS, former South Dakota Governor William Janklow's response was telling: "It's incredibly important. I mean look, we're a poor state...We're like North Dakota without the oil. We're like Nebraska without Omaha and Lincoln. We don't have resources." Are Native children resources for South Dakota? All signs and money point to yes. Help us change this situations. Children are not to be bought and sold. Sign the petition: lakotalaw.org/action

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Please take the time to like the Romero Institute Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/romeroinstitute?fref=ts), share this post, and sign the petition (romeroinstitute.org/petition) appealing to Pope Francis to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery, an antiquated and insidious doctrine that has served as the moral justification to take indigenous peoples lands and resources for hundreds of years!