Russell Means secedes from the US

Russell Means, an activist with the American Indian Movement, met with the US State Department today and announced that the Lakota nation was renouncing its treaties with the US and essentially seceding.

Unfortunately, Russell Means is not an elected official of the Lakota nation and does not appear to speak for anyone but himself.

"I want to emphasize, we do not represent the collaborators, the Vichy Indians and those tribal governments set up by the United States of America to ensure our poverty, to ensure the theft of our land and resources," Means said, comparing elected tribal governments to Nazi collaborators in France during World War II.

Rodney Bordeaux, chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said his community has no desire to join the breakaway nation. Means and his group, which call themselves the Lakota Freedom Delegation, have never officially pitched their views to the Rosebud community, Bordeaux said. |Lakota group pushes for new nation - Argus Leader |