Dakota Fishers To State: "Obey Your Own Damn Laws"

Video by Bill Sorem Cedar Lake, Minneapolis, MN, 8:00 AM, May 13, 2011. Treaties should be kept. Dakota Indian fishers today netted a date in court to make their point about broken treaties. This morning Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officers confiscated fish the Dakota caught and cited them with breaking the law since the fishing season had not begun. The sealed bag of fishy evidence that would make any angler proud was to be delivered to the Hennepin County Attorney. The netting of fish the day before the opening of the Minnesota walleye season was a deliberate action by the Dakota people. Spokesman Chris Mato Nunpa, retired Southwest University Professor and Dakota Nation activist, said enforcing Minnesota fishing laws against the Dakota is a violation of the 1805 treaty between the Dakota and the U.S Government.Article 3 of that treaty says, " The United States promises on their part to permit the Sioux to pass, repass, hunt or make other uses of said districts, as they formerly have done, without any other exception but his specified in the article first." "When some of the legislators say 'we are a nation of laws', my reaction is 'well obey your own damn laws then'," said Nunpa. "Obey the treaties which over 400 have been made and broken by the United States of America and private US American citizenry. Honor those treaties because its the supreme law of the land. The objective of today's action is to get this issue into the court system for resolution. The DNR had been informed in advance and it was a non-violent demonstration said Nunpa. "This guy with the short hair said 'there'll be no violence or anything like that, but unless things change' he said. And that's when my daughter told him that 'You guys are the ones with the guns, we don't have any weapons. It was very peaceful. A group of Dakota Indian fishers retrieved the net that had been set in the early hours of Friday the 13th and put the captured fish in a cooler. The DNR officers showed up, cited the state law violators and confiscated the fish as evidence. Clyde Bellecourt, AIM (American Indian Movement) co-founder and long time Anishanabe activist was present to support the action. He recalled the struggles of the Ojibwe to secure fishing rights in Mille Lacs beginning in 1990. In closing, Chris Mato Nunpa promised a hunting expedition later in the year in Fort Snelling, land that was also ceded to the Dakota in 1805.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• indian fishing rights
• cedar lake
• dakota indians
• treaty of 1805

[rockeycc]

Just let them do what they used to do. Let them hunt, fish, have commerce in their area. There are no words to describe how horrible a devistation this is to them.

[flanz45]

Those who do not respect these actions depicted in this video are not only historically ignorant but also wasteful. First, the treaty of 1805 gives the Dakota "the right to to pass, repass, hunt or make other uses of the said districts, as they have formerly done, without any other exception" In addition, those bass, walleye, and sunnies would have made a great lunch!

!

[RastaBot]

Dakota & Hawaiian Tribe face the same enemy! The end part of the video makes my blood boil!!!

[chigeeng]

They should have asked the DNR men if they know that the only reason they have a right to live on Dakota land, to raise their children there is because the treaties make it legal for them to do so. So if the treaties right to fish is not there then the rest of the treaty is not valid either. They should go back to therir peoples land and leave us alone.

[FoxDavidson]

Leave them alone for God's sake, this has to stop.

[FortQuestKnowledge]

The red man just can't get away. They always get burned. I hope one day the red man considers working with the black man. We could really do a lot together.

[leadhorsechoctaw]

only through threats of violence and the use of weapons do they take.. although they only do things to people in certain areas. their own people wont stop what the few as they say is the problem but if they dont stop their own people then the whole is exactly all bad... some want to live in peace but doesnt want peace for all .. so .. send them all back.. title's and deeds are illegal, just like everyone of them .. all illegal ..

[mrwizardweb]

Another example of the US government agencies breaking laws by ignoring the treaty rights of the Native Americans.

[JSeely218]

The hate has to stop...the negro, Mexican, Laotian, Jewish, french, latin, chinease, hmong, sumoan, what ever the race we are all of the same KIND...Human and a few "bad" people make it bad for everyone else and it's like a disease that speads out of control and at what point do we say "enough" THE HATE HAS TO STOP!

[JSeely218]

@grizzzlyjoe -- So the question in my mind is ..they have every opportunity TODAY to get land and equipment and money to have HUGE parcels of land for what ever they wish...but they would rather whine and cry and throw a fit on how unjust the government did them so wrong instead of just getting past it and making a life for thier families and building thier wealth like everybody else. gimme gimme gimme, do you think they are uniqe in unfairness and injustice?.well thier not this is earth welcome