Charmaine White Face: “Clearing up misinformation”

“Clearing up misinformation”

 

By Charmaine White Face Aug. 15, 2021

There is a considerable amount of misinformation going around the neighborhood. As an elder, verbally taught by many elders including my grandmother who was born in 1894, it is my responsibility to try to clear up some of this misinformation. The whiteman’s books and information are not usually accurate.

The first piece of misinformation is the difference between the Oceti Sakowin Oyate and the Peta Sakowin. Just like there is a difference between a bonfire and a campfire. The Oceti Sakowin Oyate is the seven bonfires made up of the seven sub-nations of what is called by the Americans, the Great Sioux Nation. Oyate means ‘nation.’ The Peta Sakowin is the seven campfires or seven bands of one sub-nation, the Tituwan, or Dwellers on the Plains.

The Oceti Sakowin Oyate speak three dialects of the same language. The Tituwan (Plains Dwellers), the largest sub-nation still in existence, who live in the West of the Northern Great Plains, speak the language with an ‘L’ or Lakota. The Ihanktowan (Yankton) and Ihanktowanna (Little Yankton) speak the ‘N’ dialect or Nakota. They lived on or near the Missouri River. The Sissitowan (Sissiton, means Dwellers with the Fish Bones), the Wahpetonwan (Wahpeton, means Dwellers with the Leaves), the Mdewakantowan (Dwellers at Spirit Lake) and the Wakpekute (means Those who shoot in the Leaves) all speak the “D” or the Dakota dialect. They lived to the East and the Great Lakes. At one time, the Oceti Sakowin Oyate lived in 24 states and 4 Canadian Provinces. As all of the nations lived with natural law prior to the invasion of the Europeans, there were many other smaller nations also in these states who traded with the Oceti Sakowin.

The Europeans first met those who spoke with a ‘D’ and called them Dakota. The word “Dakota” also happens to mean friend, or ally. So does “Lakota” and “Nakota”. But we are Tituwan, or Wakpekute, not Lakota or Dakota. Our friends are called Lakota. So those white people, or black people, or Asian people who do help us and are our friends would be called “Lakota” or “Nakota” or “Dakota” but not us. Oglala Lakota county is a misnomer. It should be Oglala Tituwan county. We are Tituwan. We can’t be allies to ourselves.

The second piece of misinformation is about the 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council established by He Dog. At the time, four years after the Wounded Knee Massacre, as He Dog knew how to read and write English, he knew that the people would forget about the 1868 Treaty if something wasn’t established to continue to carry on the information and fight for enforcement of the Treaty. The massacre was a gross violation of the Treaty and the safety that was supposed to be in the Prisoner of War camps (POW Camp 344, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.)

However, the U.S. government did not want the people to know anything about their language, culture, and especially the 1868 Treaty. So anyone passing on this information would be automatically killed, jailed, or sent to Canton, SD, the Indian insane asylum. There the patients had their brains cut out without any anesthesia. (Look it up online if you don’t believe me.)

What He Dog did by establishing the 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council took tremendous courage and had to be done in secret. It has been passed down for more than 127 years. When I was taught about the 1868 Treaty in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it was in secret. My grandmother would have been arrested had the authorities in the /bureau of Indian Affairs known that she was teaching me about who we are.

The 1894 Sioux Nation Treaty Council was established 40 years before there were any Tribal Council forms of government. William Bielecki in a report given to Floyd Hand talks about all the different “treaty councils.” (This report can be found at www.siouxnationtreatycouncil.org.) Most of those Tribal Councils were created by the Wheeler-Howard Act, an American law, also call the IRA, Indian Reorganization Act. At Pine Ridge, the people did not vote for or approve the Tribal Council form of government but it was pushed on them anyway by the U.S. government. They were not given ‘free, prior, and informed consent.’

A third misconception passed on by the forced assimilation is that the Oceti Sakowin Oyate was ruled by men. There is not even a word for “chief” in our language. The Oceti Sakowin Oyate followed the example of their older brothers and sisters, the buffalo. (Remember, there was a time when the people could communicate with the buffalo and other living and nonliving beings.) In a buffalo herd, the leader is the oldest female buffalo. This was the example followed by the Oceti Sakowin Oyate as buffalo were found all over North America, not just on the Plains.

Each tiwahe (family), tiyospaye (extended family), and Ospaye (a group of extended families) was led by the older women, the grandmothers and great-grandmothers, just like the buffalo herds. The men’s purpose was to provide for and protect everyone. The Ospaye were what the Americans called the ‘bands’ such as the Oglala or Sicangu. The Peta Sakowin was composed of seven Ospaye or bands: the Oglala (Pine Ridge Reservation), Sicangu (Rosebud Reservation), Mnikoju, Oohenumpa, Itazipco, Siha Sapa (all at Cheyenne River Reservation), and Hunkpapa (Standing Rock Reservation).

Finally, a fourth misconception is that the 28,000 members of the Rapid City Indian Community do not have representatives to speak on behalf of their Community. In December, 2018, the Rapid City Indian Community installed a Constitution and representatives. The Representatives meet every third Thursday of the month at the Mother Butler Center because that building was estalished specifically by the Catholic Church for use by the Indian Community. From March 2020 to May 2021, the representatives did not hold a general meeting due to the Covid pandemic. Since May 2021, the meetings again resumed on the third Thursday of the month.

The Rapid City Common Council, erroneously led by the U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) on purpose, has been going to the tribes, primarily Pine Ridge and Rosebud, for approval of situations in Rapid City. IHS was invited to the community meetings and the local CEO attended prior to the contract given for the services at the Sioux San Hospital. IHS and the BIA are completely aware of the Native American Indian Community of Rapid City and the Black Hills Area Council of Representatives. This Council of Representatives is recognized by the federal representatives, but the City and the IHS continue to ignore the elected Representatives’ input.

When people know the truth about things, they can make better informed judgments. They cannot be fooled into believing information that is not true. The forced assimilation, often called ‘colonization’ is an effort to make people believe things that are not true. In our case, it has led many of our people into not knowing who they really are. We need to keep helping each other to relearn who we are and rebuild our nation as the Creator made us to be.

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Charmaine White Face (74) is an Oglala Tituwan Oceti Sakowin grandmother and great grandmother. She is also a scientist, organizer, and writer. Her book “Indigenous Nations Rights in the Balance” is coming out in Spanish in mid September, and a second printing in English will be available from Living Justice Press, St. Paul, MN, at the end of August. She can be reached at cwhiteface@gmail.com