Updates from the Land 6/26/15

Updated at 7:50 PM  6/27/15 California Time.  Sorry folks but I went to bed before everyone who is in SD was able to send me their comments. 

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Our confrontation with "hundreds of angry warriors coming to evict us" yesterday turned out, unsurprisingly turned out to be a protest camp on the turnoff to the gathering populated by only our regular detractor friends James Swan and Dwayne Martin aka Chanupa. We brought them some coffee and fruit salad.

The gathering is a few hundred people, things are getting set up slowly, the ovens are arriving, kid village is here.

There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Our fears were put to rest as soon as we got to the road and saw the reality of the protest.

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There are plans to build an Indigenous camp but it hasn't happened yet. So if you're heading into the gathering you can plug into this effort.

It will probably be a 'zero tolerance area' for drugs, nudity, etc. area.

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There are more Lakota inside the gathering participating in what is happening than there are protesting on the road.

Some family from the gathering will be at today's events surrounding the 40th anniversary of Leonard Peltier's imprisonment.  Click here for details. Click here for the video from Leonard Peltier Day. 

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Long and deep conversation is happening with those protesting the gathering onsite.  Good communications are happening. 

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Illegal searches being done by USFS on the way in. 

The NIMT is spending about $250,000 'on managing'... us but they do not spend any money on our cleanup - said on camera at USFS Public Meeting on June 26

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I've heard there are a lot of threats out there. I just wanna tell ya'll that all is peaceful. The only "protesters" at the road are XXXXX  and XXXX XXXX (XXXX ). Other than XXX's wife there doesn't seem to be anyone else with them. Not one person. They keep managing to spread this fear of some invasion, but really, we've been told over and over again that they have no following. They're not even welcome on Pine Ridge. On site everything is super peaceful. We have more and more native support and attendance. Real grassroots AIM members are gathering with us (not fake, blustery ones) and everyone from council members to traditionals and everyone in between seems to be positive about us right now. A video of support will be published momentarily.

So please folks, there's nothing to fear. Come out, bring your love and respect, and pray with us on the fourth!

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Gathering Site Map, click here for larger version.

USFS Meeting

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These comments are from a friend of mine who was in Hill City yesterday and attended the USFS meeting.

Yesterday XXXX and I arrived in Hill City. It's beautiful here! We were eating ice cream at a little parlor downtown yesterday afternoon, when 2 forest rangers came in passing out fliers for the town meeting. They were very nice. I introduced myself as Grateful and one of the ladies touched her heart and said, " I am, too. Namaste." Then giggled and said, "and my name is Hilary." It was cute

We walked from our hotel to the meeting and there were signs up along the way that read "public meeting" with arrows pointing people in the right direction. The meeting was led by forest ranger, Craig Bobzien, and district ranger, Ruth Esperance. The local deputy sheriff was also there and he responded to some of the questions. I counted about 80 people present.

2 local news stations were present as well, rolling film during the meeting and interviewing both XXXX and XXXX. KEVN and News Center 1, which is the NBC for Rapid City.

The forest service began the meeting by stating that they have been working cooperatively with the Rainbow Family and that their goal is a safe and successful gathering. They did an overview of how the process works in choosing the sight location. Then they did an overview of the Operating Plan that has been put into place. They talked about the fire ban situation and explained with all the rain they've had here recently, and looking at a case by case basis, we have been approved for specific fires in our gathering site. They spoke of the daily visits to the gathering location by Resource Advisors to ensure we are in compliance with the Operating Plan. Then, they opened up the floor for questions. The following questions/concerns were addressed;

• Latrines and preventing local water sources from becoming contaminated
• How do we shower in the woods
• 250k spent - national incident management team
• Concerns of increase in violence and crime due to influx of people
• Additional law enforcement presence in Hill City
• Contingency plans in place
• ATV road closures
• Who spends money and time on clean up
• Preventing non-paying guests in town from using bathrooms and showers
• Internet gossip of a conflict between the Rainbow and the Lakota
• Complaints of illegal searches and asked where these can be reported; this question was not answered. They could not provide any info on where to file complaints and said that there were only legal searches going on.
• Local business owners expressed its been good for business. Many spoke up and said they welcome the gathering, not a single person spoke out against the gathering.

There was no one there representing the Lakota or Sioux Nation.

Forest rangers said if there is public interest for another town meeting, it will be scheduled in the near future.

XXX stood up and tried to more thoroughly address the concerns of latrines and online gossip of conflict, but they didn't really let her finish, stating the floor was open for questions, not statements. After that, XXX  announced that the Family would be happy to answer any more questions after the meeting if people had interest. And they did! Many of us Family were approached by community members after the meeting and engaged in constructive conversation and answered more of their questions.

After the meeting ended, I walked around talking to as many community members as I could. I asked people what they thought of the meeting, if their questions were answered, what they thought of the gathering, etc. Out of at least a dozen people I spoke with, not one of them had anything negative to say. It was all positive and uplifting and many said they would like to come visit the gathering. I met one guys named Les, turns out he is one of the Resource Advisors making daily visits to the site. He was so happy to have the Rainbow Family as his assignment! He said he loves visiting the gathering and that we are bunch of, "really neat people."

As people left, XXX and XXX  were handing out copies of Alway Free.

Overall I think everything is going well here. The vibe is peaceful and mellow from my experience so far 

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Kid Village on the land. About 500 people on site . Most folks getting pulled over are not at the site but in other areas enroute to the gathering.

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Such cool things are happening. We're buying the bulk of our food from native-owned stores (though we have to drive super far to do it). Lots of native family are coming to the site, visiting us, and then saying "Wow! You're nothing like we were told you were!" (in the positive sense). The council member from Rosebud XXXXX and his brother XXXX (whom I totally esteem) came out, walked through our gathering and reversed their dismissal of us. After that more Rosebud folks came out and loved it--they'll be back to gather with us longer.

We have a couple of grandmothers with us, our young tocala members are awesome, and there's a great vibe throughout the camp.

Lots of folks coming out in the morning as well (including a treaty council who is happy we're here). Things are great here on the land. Ignore al rumors of violence and cancellation. They're totally bogus!

Love to all!