{"id":39683,"date":"2026-01-09T15:38:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/oceti-sakowin-leaders-gather-for-annual-treaty-conference\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T15:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:38:11","slug":"oceti-sakowin-leaders-gather-for-annual-treaty-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/oceti-sakowin-leaders-gather-for-annual-treaty-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Oceti Sakowin leaders gather for Annual Treaty Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/div>
\"Bill<\/a><\/p>\n

Bill Means was gifted a star quilt by the International Indian Treaty Council and the Oceti Sakowin Treaty Council for his many decades of advocacy for Indigenous people throughout the world. (Photo by Darren Thompson)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The<\/span> 5th<\/span> Annual<\/span> Oceti<\/span> Sakowin<\/span> Treaty<\/span> Conference<\/span> convened<\/span> at<\/span> the<\/span> DoubleTree<\/span> Hotel<\/span> in<\/span> Rapid<\/span> City,<\/span> during<\/span> the<\/span> 48th<\/span> annual<\/span> Lakota<\/span> Nation<\/span> Invitational.<\/span> The<\/span> conference<\/span> brought<\/span> hundreds<\/span> of<\/span> participants<\/span> to<\/span> hear<\/span> from<\/span> some<\/span> of<\/span> Oceti<\/span> Sakowin\u2019s<\/span> most<\/span> dedicated<\/span> leaders,<\/span> scholars,<\/span> culture<\/span> bearers,<\/span> spiritual<\/span> leaders,<\/span> elders<\/span> as<\/span> well<\/span> as<\/span> tribal<\/span> leaders<\/span> from<\/span> other<\/span> nations<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

RAPID CITY\u2014December 16-18, 2025, leaders from the Oceti Sakowin gathered for the 5th annual Oceti Sakowin Treaty Conference to discuss Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota history, culture, and their treaties with the United States. Organized by the Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council, the annual three day conference is hosted during the Lakota Nation Invitational (LNI), an annual gathering of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota student athletes and their families that began 48 years ago to combat racism against Native families in the 1970s. The conference aims to build community, and brings some of Oceti Sakowin\u2019s most dedicated minds to discuss tribal sovereignty, climate change, and revitalization of Indigenous cultures.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s theme was \u2018Listening to the Chiefs,\u2019\u201d said Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council Executive Director Phil Two Eagle. \u201cThis also means listening to the voices of our old treaty elders\u2014 those grandfathers and grandmothers who carried this work when it was dangerous, when it was lonely, and when the pressure to give up was constant. Many of those elders are not with us here today. But their work did not end with their passing. It lives in us, and it is now our responsibility to carry it forward. Our treaty grandfathers understood clearly what was happening when the Indian Reorganization Act governments were imposed on our people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a conference to express oneself,\u201d said Wendell Yellow Bull, the conference\u2019s eyapaha. \u201cWe have a lot of historians, some of our council, our treaty council members from various groups and they\u2019re all getting older now. It\u2019s time that we start to involve the young men, and young women to start thinking about coming together, and it\u2019s really difficult, and this world today is really difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three day conference included dozens of speakers, discussing many different topics including cultural revitalization, treaty rights, data centers, repatriation, climate change, mining in the Black Hills, the Doctrine of Domination, the Dawes Act, welcoming back the buffalo, and included an honoring of Bill Means\u2014one of the founders of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) who has had a lifetime of advocacy for treaty rights and Indigenous self-determination throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not a religion, we\u2019re a way of life, but we still have to realize the manmade laws\u201d said Chief Arvol Looking Horse at the Oceti Sakowin Treaty Conference on Tuesday, Dec. 16. \u201cWhen I became that sacred bundle keeper in 1966, I was put through ceremony. Then after the ceremony, I was told that the elders were going to honor me and that I had to pick up that bundle and take care of it. In 1966, the elders told me to not use foul language to stay in an altar, and that people will say things to you, let it go. Some day they\u2019ll come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frank Star Comes Out, Oglala Sioux Tribal President, also addressed the conference and discussed his role as a tribal leader, the challenges it brings, uniting as a people, and the stance the Oglala Sioux Tribe recently took to withdraw their membership from the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT). \u201cIt is an honor to be up here before you and there\u2019s a lot of talk of what\u2019s going on in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd for me, the role I play, as a tribal leader is a tough one with this administration because as you all know, this current administration doesn\u2019t align with tribal nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI took stance on some of the wellknown organizations, national organizations,\u201d Star Comes Out said of the Oglala Sioux Tribe withdrawing from participating with NCAI and COLT. \u201cIt was difficult, but when it doesn\u2019t align with our treaties, our traditions, our culture, our way of life, we need to stand on our treaties, because I believe they\u2019re stepping on our toes, inching their way into our sovereignty, and I\u2019m not gonna let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eugene Little Coyote read a prepared statement from Northern Cheyenne Vice President Ernest Little Mouth Sr.: \u201cI remember a few years ago, a ceremony was conducted by my friend Arvol Looking Horse, in which the ancient alliance between the Cheyenne and the Lakota was renewed. It was a powerful ceremony that stays with me to this day, and I\u2019ll carry it forward for the rest of my life. It is in this endearing spirit that Northern Cheyenne is proud to be present here at this conference and we proudly stand with our brothers and sisters at the Oceti Sakowin Treaty Council.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the conference\u2019s second day, participants discussed efforts to build hyper\u2013data center projects near tribal lands\u2014projects that require massive amounts of water and energy, as Honor the Earth, an Indigenous led environmental nonprofit, emphasized in their remarks<\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous communities worldwide disproportionately bear the front of and contamination to supply earth and rare earth minerals,\u201d said Honor the Earth Executive Director Krystal Two Bulls on Dec. 17. \u201cIndigenous people make up 20% of the world\u2019s population, but we provide 80% of the world\u2019s biodiversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s estimated that more than 70% of the known uranium deposits are on Indigenous lands, right?\u201d said Two Bulls. \u201cBut we are not consulted from that, we don\u2019t give consent, and we don\u2019t benefit from those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two Bulls also discussed the energy industry\u2019s effort to create a situation that justifies demand for energy. \u201cThe United States has the most data centers in the world,\u201d she said. \u201cSo even places like Japan that are known for the technology, and being technologically advanced as they are, they do not use the same amount of energy, nor do they have the same demand for hyperscale data centers, because they have learned how to do things officially and effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conference attendees voted to pass a resolution calling for the abolition of the General Mining Act of 1872 and the permanent protection of He S\u00e1pa. The resolution declares that the Mining Act of 1872 was enacted without the consent of Indigenous Nations and has enabled more than a century of mineral extraction on Oceti Sakowin treaty lands, which is in direct violation of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe S\u00e1pa is not for sale. It is not a resource colony,\u201d said Phil Two Eagle. \u201cIt is a sacred place guaranteed to our people by treaty, unlawfully taken and repeatedly exploited. This resolution affirms that laws imposed without our consent have no legitimacy on our treaty lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resolution calls for the full repeal of the Mining Act of 1872, the immediate cessation of mining permits and claims issued under its authority within Oceti Sakowin treaty territory, and the development of a new legal framework grounded in treaty compliance, Indigenous consent, and environmental protection. The Oceti Sakowin Treaty Council announced it will pursue coordinated advocacy at the tribal, federal, and international levels to advance repeal of the Mining Act of 1872.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis resolution is about protecting the land, the water, and the future of our people,\u201d Two Eagle added. \u201cWe carry a responsibility to the generations yet to come, and that responsibility demands the permanent protection of He S\u00e1pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three day conference was attended by many including tribal leaders, elders, youth, and many other members of the community. Sponsors of the conference include Honor the Earth, WILD Foundation, the International Indian Treaty Council, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and Peta Omniciye, Inc.<\/p>\n

Two Eagle shared that there are three efforts that can change the way of life for many in treaty territories: tribal banking, tatanka restoration, and Lakota language revitalization. In the next few years, he wants to draft legislation that would prioritize these issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cTatanka is not livestock; the Tatanka is our relative,\u201d Two Eagle said. \u201cRestoring the buffalo advances food sovereignty, climate repair, grassland and soil health, and our economy. Over time, Tatanka can replace dependency on beef cattle systems imposed on our lands and return us to a food system aligned with Wolakota.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are beyond language revitalization and preservation,\u201d Two Eagle added. \u201cWe are now in a time of rescue. The Lak.\u00f3ta language carries law, ceremony, science, and worldview. When a language disappears, a way of thinking disappears with it. A Language Rescue Act would support immersion, intergenerational transmission, community-based speakers, and the conditions necessary for Lak.\u00f3ta to be spoken in homes, ceremonies, and governance \u2014 not only classrooms. Together, these three efforts \u2014 banking, Tatanka restoration, and language rescue \u2014 form a foundation for a renewed Lakota way of life grounded in treaty rights, responsibility to Unci Maka, and accountability to future generations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Darren Thompson is the Managing Editor of Last Real Indians Native News Desk and the Director of Media Relations for the Sacred Defense Fund, an Indigenous-led nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He\u2019s an award winning multimedia journalist enrolled at Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, where he grew up. He can be reached at darren@sacreddefense.org.<\/span> <\/p>\n

The post Oceti Sakowin leaders gather for Annual Treaty Conference<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Bill Means was gifted a star quilt by the International Indian Treaty Council and the Oceti Sakowin Treaty Council for his many decades of advocacy for Indigenous people throughout the world. (Photo by Darren Thompson) The 5th Annual Oceti Sakowin Treaty Conference convened at the DoubleTree Hotel in Rapid City, <\/p>\n

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