Green Grass, United States
Six weeks covering Native Americans at Standing Rock, North
Dakota, protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline presented a unique
opportunity to get to know many of the people who took a stand there.
Lakota medicine man Ivan
Lookinghorse from Cheyenne River Reservation south of Standing Rock
Reservation was one of them.
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Jake
Frazier (centre wearing blue), circles up after a day of riding,
along with other Fort Laramie treaty riders, in Harrison,
Nebraska.
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In 2018, Ivan invited
me on a ride by the Lakota (Sioux) people to mark the 150th anniversary
of the Fort Laramie peace treaty between the Sioux Nation and United
States government.
Under the treaty, the
federal government recognized the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory
as part of the Great Sioux Reservation and hostilities ended between
the Sioux and white settlers.
The ride of some 400
miles (640 km) would start in mid-April at Green Grass, South Dakota,
home to the spiritual leader of all the Lakota, Arvol Lookinghorse,
Ivan's brother. It would end in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, where the
treaty was signed.
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Ivan
Lookinghorse (centre) and other Fort Laramie treaty riders
meet in the kitchen of the Rockyford School gymnasium on the
Pine Ridge Reservation in Rockyford, South Dakota.
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Getting to Cheyenne River
Reservation and its main town, Eagle Butte, entailed flying to Rapid
City, South Dakota, then driving three hours to Eagle Butte. Despite
a snowstorm, Ivan was waiting to greet me.
The security team for
the ride, some of whom had worked security at the protests, were
with him. After Standing Rock, some of them moved down the Missouri
River to the Lower Brule Reservation, where they could live
like their ancestors, except with Netflix, Alton One Feather
Sr. explained.
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Some
of the Fort Laramie Treaty riders help Arvol Lookinghorse
brand some of his horses in Arvol's corral on the Cheyenne
River Reservation in Green Grass.
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The next morning, Ivan,
his friend Uma, the six-member security team and I drove the snow-packed
roads to the tiny community of Green Grass.
Other organizers from
the Standing Rock and Pine Ridge Reservations arrived. We climbed
a hill and, hand in hand, formed a circle, turned to the four cardinal
directions and shared a pipe while Ivan sang a Lakota song. Lakota
ceremonies cannot be photographed or taped because they are sacred,
so documenting various aspects of the ride could be difficult. Ivan
said not to worry.
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One
of Arvol Lookinghorse's horses, ridden by the Fort Laramie
treaty riders, is put in a trailer for transport back to Green
Grass.
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Some people brought horses
in trailers. They said Arvol had 100 horses, some wild, some broken.
He offered several to relatives and others for the ride. I would
not be simultaneously riding and photographing so a car was also
needed.
Everyone reconvened at
Arvol's place early the next day. The sun glinted off snow-covered
hills as the cadre of riders grew.
After a prayer, a motivational
speech and song, the riders headed up a hill and out of sight. There
was great pride among them.
The treaty is kind
of all we have," said Wes Redday. "Its what gives
us what little we still have."
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Fort
Laramie treaty riders return from crossing a creek in the
tribal area on the grounds of the Fort Laramie National Historic
Site in Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
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The treaty is often fodder
for conversations among the Lakota, many of whom say they are descended
from one of the chiefs who signed it. Some even have a painting
or photo of that chief.
If you look deep,
a lot of people are related to them. When our father was alive,
when our grandfathers were alive, they kept it going, they talked
about it in Lakota, said Allen Flying By of the Standing Rock
Reservation.
It means the world
to us because it maintains our sovereignty, it maintains our identity."
Horses, sacred to the
Lakota, eat before people, so early each day they were fed and watered.
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Fort
Laramie treaty rider, Austin Warrior, 11, and his sister Delores
Warrior, 19 months, both from Pine Ridge Reservation are covered
with burning sage smoke in Harrison, Nebraska.
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Dawn and dusk found riders
and horses in a circle waiting to be smudged. A person
would pass with sage, a sacred herb thought to cleanse, smoking
in a coffee can lashed to a pole. Everyone pulled the smoke over
themselves and the horses.
Afterwards a prayer,
maybe a song. If it was morning, the riders would set out single
file behind one rider carrying a sacred staff. At night, horses
were corralled before dinner.
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Mahto
In The Woods jumps over a small creek on foot while his cousin
Jayden Lookinghorse jumps over on his horse on the Cheyenne
River Reservation in Green Grass, South Dakota.
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We rode from Green Grass
through the Cheyenne River Reservation to a Native American settlement
called Bridger. People in each community brought food for the riders.
In Bridger, we ate fry bread, chicken soup and buffalo stew. Later,
we rolled out sleeping bags at the community center.
The first stop outside
the reservation was Wall, South Dakota, where the riders stayed
in cold and rain for three days at muddy rodeo grounds behind budget
hotels and an Interstate highway. Despite the bleakness, spirits
were high.
The Cheyenne River Reservation
cook, a salty man named Kermit, pitched a tent and cranked out meals,
helped by a few rider volunteers. Others did what they called Hollywood-ing,
got a shared hotel room where they could shower.
As it moved through Indian
Country, the ride picked up Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Arapaho and
Cheyenne, all related tribes, all signers of the treaty. Some boys
from Bridger joined with just the clothes on their backs.
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Dave
Swallow (centre), an elder and headsman of the Oglala Lakota
Nation stands with Ivan Lookinghorse (right) on the Pine Ridge
Reservation to discuss treaties and the treaty ride in Pine
Ridge, South Dakota.
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Next stop: Pine Ridge
Reservation, where so much has happened. In the shade of a tree,
Dave Swallow explained, "We may be poor in the white mans
way but we are not poor in the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota ways because
we are connected to this earth and connected to above and everywhere."
For two nights in Pine
Ridge, accommodations were a middle school gym and campsite beside
a reservoir.
Moving on meant leaving
Lakota land for Nebraska, where riders primarily rested
on roadsides and relied on camp cooks for food.
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Two
people taking part in the Fort Laramie treaty ride put up
a teepee for an overnight stop in Fort Robinson outside of
Crawford, Nebraska.
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Then one evening at a
rest spot they found Santee Sioux from the Santee Reservation and
Dakota from the Lake Traverse Reservation, known colloquially as
Sisseton, waiting to join, and spirits soared. A ceremony honoured
them and those who had ridden so far.
As the sun set, smoke
rose from two kitchens, the flags of various groups were displayed
and their leaders spoke. Later, children played with lassos.
With Fort Laramie two
days away, people excitedly wondered which other Native groups would
be there and who would represent the federal government. There were
ceremonies and drumming, tepees were pitched, people visited around
fires.
Reaching Fort Laramie
was a triumph given the long, arduous ride and momentous occasion
being celebrated. Riders circled ceremonial tepees and crossed a
river to the site of the signing.
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Harold
Frazier, (centre) Chairman of the Cheyenne River reservation
wears his Lakota head dress and holds a staff just outside
of Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
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But Harold Frazier, chairman
of the Cheyenne River Reservation who rode almost the entire way,
still felt disappointed that while Wyoming Senator John Barrasso
attended no other federal senior officials were there.
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One
of Beatrice Lookinghorse's grand daughters, Rozelynn Whitebull,
plays near an abandoned house in the backyard of Beatrice
Lookinghorse's trailer on the Cheyenne River Reservation in
Green Grass, South Dakota.
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