ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON – January 19, 2008 – The Alliance for Indigenous Rights has endorsed the actions taken by the Lakota Freedom Delegation on December 19 & 20, 2007 in declaring that it is withdrawing from all treaties between the Sioux people and the U.S. Government and reclaiming its status as a free and sovereign nation legally coequal with other nation-states in the world community. To learn more visit the Lakota Oyate web site at http://www.lakotaoyate.net/
AIR Executive Director Perry H. Chesnut said, "We urge all people who believe in truth and justice to declare their support for the Lakota People in their sacred work to free themselves from the yoke of colonialism, racism, apartheid and genocide that the U.S. government has forced upon them and all other American Indian peoples over the last 230-plus years. It is especially important that members of the dominant national culture (white people) raise their voices in opposition to what our government has done and continues to do to marginalize and destroy the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere and even elsewhere in the world. Silence is complicity."
"Persons, especially young people, interested in joining with AIR in supporting Lakota Oyate and other tribal groups struggling for freedom and independence should affiliate with us on our site at http://think.mtv.com/profile/NativeRights/. They should also email us their suggestions as to how we can rapidly grow this movement." The AIR email address is: staff@indigenous-rights.org