BBC1 11.25pm the Natives: This is our America: At Standing Rock, helping the Lakota people of the Pine Ridge reservation and the DAPL situation

The sacred symbol of the feather at Standing Rock -

All the American Indian tribes people are children of the feather

What do you know about DAPL, Standing Rock, the Lakota people?

A BBC1 program takes you there, but here's a primer to give you a head start...

Sioux nation

The Sioux nation, of which the Lakota people are one tribe, live near to a place called Standing Rock in North Dakota. This is where the DAPL North Dakota oil pipeline is being installed.

I have learned much about the Lakota culture and it is truly fascinating. The Lakota like many other tribes lived a simple life, but they enjoyed things we today with all our trappings of wealth and consumerism have lost.

A Pine Ridge man surveys the Buffalo

the heritage between Lakota and Buffalo goes back countless years

They had little if any crime, no laws, no taxes, young and old were cared for and safe in their society, we might call this a utopia, until the 1600's for people like the Lakota, this was 'normal.'

The Eagle that arrived at Standing Rock -

a message of support from the Lakota ancestors?

The Buffalo nation - 'Tatanka oyate'

The Lakota Indians refer to themselves as 'Tatanka oyate' the Buffalo people or Buffalo nation, their  lifestyle was on the lines of 'the planet owns man, man does not own the planet'  - they were the 'new age' long before aspects of their lifestyle was 'borrowed' in the 1960's.

The White Buffalo - part of Lakota heritage -

a human woman was said to have shape shifted from a white buffalo calf

and given the Lakota people guidance and told them their purpose.

The Lakota people were corralled into reservations, Pine Ridge being one, Porcupine Ridge another, in the shadow of the sacred Black Hills. The US Government that long ago took the Indian lands, often gave reservations back to the Indians, which contained valuable resources.

For the Lakota people, the Black hills contain valuable resources, but the Lakota out of principal, refuse to sell the hills for mineral wealth exploitation.

All the American Indian people have affinity and regard for the animals in our world that fit in with their beliefs.

The late Russell Means - a great advocate for progress for humanity,

regardless of people's origin - a legend and hero

Famous Lakota people

Famous Lakota people from the Sioux nation have become well known, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse from the past and modern day people such as Russell Means have by their own efforts shown great presence, knowledge and earned a place in human history.

The idyllic looking Pine Ridge, where the Black Snake is headed

The Black snake

The North Dakota Pipeline is an oil transfer pipeline which will send oil across the top of the US to refineries. This pipeline is said to be routed across sacred Sioux burial grounds and the concern is that leakage of oil into watercourses such as the Mississippi river would be catastrophic.

Unarmed people from the Sioux nation and other tribes as well as people

from other countries, came to Standing Rock to peacefully represent their views

The confrontation

The name 'Lakota' means 'peaceful people' and the people who gathered at Standing Rock were certainly that. Yet, they were met by a militarized police presence that sprayed them with tear gas and attacked the unarmed and peaceful people with batons and worse.

People from all nations came to support the Sioux people, tribes that had been hostile to each other for some time also came together to support the Sioux, a situation of reconciliation that was worthwhile, perhaps meant to happen.

Still the stand against the pipeline goes on.

So what is life like at Pine Ridge reservation?

Life at Pine Ridge is grim - but the people are resilient

and trying to make a better life

Many people think that Indian reservations are rich from Casino Dollars, far from it. At Pine Ridge, a situation exists that should shame America, if not the rest of the world.

The Lakota people are living in a situation that if it was Africa, would have fund-raising pop concerts raising money for it and massive relief efforts pouring in by the truckload. However, the Lakota don't benefit from the 'debt to slavery' card being played.

Africa has had trillions of Dollars given to it, by rights it should be a first world country all over, yet we still get media reports of poverty and third world conditions -  so where has the money gone?

If only places like Pine Ridge could get investments of money and materials....

Sadly for Pine Ridge this is not happening and the Lakota people like many of the other tribes are facing great hardship.

I have been working for free with some of the people there to help with advice on building economic growth through responsible commerce going, in line with their respect for resources beliefs and I am hopeful that the Lakota people can help themselves back to a situation that is good for them

The town of White Clay abuts Pine Ridge and has a number of

liquor stores that feed alcoholism - an incoherent man here on the ground is one

victim of this very economically poor area of America

Alcoholism and addiction must be defeated

Sadly, with the despair of the grinding poverty at Pine Ridge, some of the Lakota are turning to Alcohol and narcotics to try and block out the reality of their lot. This situation must be defeated and turned around for the Lakota people to be able to enjoy life and not be poisoned by these vile alternatives.

The Sacred Fireplace project

One man has a vision to turn this sort of problem around, a Lakota man named Pete Catches. He is the grandson of the legendary Lakota Chief Crazy Horse.

Pete V. Catches at home at Pine Ridge

Pete Catches dedicating offerings a the Oceti Wakan site

Oceti Wakan is a Lakota phrase meaning 'Sacred fireplace'  -  the purpose of this project is to provide a cultural centre to preserve the Lakota heritage and culture, also to provide education to the young Lakota people to learn the Lakota language and to provide preventative information on addiction.

You can visit the website here and donate if you wish at http://www.ocetiwakan.org/

There is hope

A new home being built at Pine Ridge from sustainable materials

There is no doubt that the Lakota people at Pine Ridge need help to survive. Their problems include a need to live an authentic life but in a modern world. My advice to them is 'The future is the past, is the future.'

My message is that building on an American Indian piece of wisdom 'you already have everything within you to succeed' that the Lakota look at their heritage which provides them with a wealth of knowledge and free resources that they can direct to ways of creating some wealth, whilst doing the least damage.

To the non-Indian people, we have a lot to learn from people like the Lakota. The ways of consumerism are putting us on a course of running out of planet. We need to modify what we do and redefine our modus operandi.

A number of far-sighted American Indian people have made prophecies that would come to be true - World Wars, telecommunications, railways, to name but a few. They also predicted a time when humans would all have to come together to survive, that time may be with us soon.

The Medicine Wheel  - Coincidentally the colours signify the colours of people -

White, Yellow, Red and Black

From the Clay

A Sioux man told the story of how the great creator which the Lakota call 'Wakan Tanka' fashioned a human 'out of clay'  -  the same is true of the bible in which it is said Adam was made from the Clay.

The Sioux story is that the human from the Clay was baked and three attempts were made to get the colour right, on the fourth attempt, the great creator succeeded in making the Red man.

Adam or 'Adamu' means from the Earth, from the rib is a mistranslation.

The wisdom of the American Indians is amazing -

I would have loved to have met Floyd Red Crow Westerman

Wisdom

One of my great friends was half Commanche Indian and although I knew him for only 12 years, he was one of my great friends. He was a WW2 veteran and was about 40 years older than me at the time.

I came across the American Indian wisdom whilst doing some research for a book on robotics of all things and this coincided about three or so years ago with my own transition of my life.

Suddenly the base of my life shifted and when I started to look into the wisdom, I found much I was already thinking along similar lines too. This wasn't just me, it was others who were starting to re-think what they were doing. Looking into this I found it was happening across the planet.

The conclusion I came to was that we as a species need to change and the people who could help us with that are the American Indian people.

Fake news? People journalism is rewriting the rules of media and is often the 'real deal.'

Standing Rock North Dakota -

a situation that was noticeably under reported by the big 6 USA media outlets?

The recent US elections encountered a new dynamic, that of 'People journalism.' Its been rumbling away quietly  in the background for decades.

People journalism is often written off by the mainstream media and governments as 'conspiracy theory,' a term I dislike. I prefer to call it 'reality' because it often is. If we take for instance the UFO subject, it has been variously talked down, ridiculed and laughed at in a concerted effort to rubbish the subject and anyone who dares utter or publish a word on it.

In my book, that's suppression and those that indulge in that get it coming back to bit them.

In late 2016, there was a situation in North Dakota, USA, where a company wanted to take an oil pipeline over American Indian territory lands of the Lakota, part of the Sioux nation. As a result, many from other tribes assembled to show their disapproval to support the Lakota people.

These were unarmed men, women and children who also attracted support from non-Indian peoples. They were faced and in some cases attacked by militarised Police staff. Yet, this did not make the national media for some time. Why were the big 6 media companies in America rather 'slow' to report this story?

Yet when this reached the greater audience of the world via the Internet, it was the sort of story to which the term 'fake news' may have been applied.

In the run up to the US election around the last quarter of 2016, a number of 'stories' came out through the alternative news network, from outlets such as Next News Network, Infowars and other independents, along with ordinary people's journalistic output.

With stories on the alleged goings on of individuals in government being very hot news, these stories which had some origins in WikiLeaks disclosures, in my view helped some people decide on hope they would vote.

Some of these news stories were on subjects of a very serious nature, you only have to look at the internet to see what these were, to realise that it was the forcing of stories to the surface by this underground journalism, that prompted the mainstream to eventually issue these as news items, but by this time they were often 'olds' by then.

However, the fact that these stories were often ran with in mainstream media outlets outside of the US, meant that the US had to eventually issue something on the subjects, rather than look foolish when they did go big and people wonder why no one had reported them?

Of course I am against false information being reported as fact and stories being warped away from the truth, as we should all be. People journalism is now bigger than the big media companies and they can no longer really control it.

Help American Indian peoples to rebuild and improve their lives

Many people who were non-Indian came to support the Indian peoples

In case you were not aware, the American Indian peoples need your support to just survive. It is not the case that they all have casino wealth on their reservations.

Many Lakota people have to live in trailers that are ill equipped for the cold of the winter

The Lakota Sioux nation people who live at Pine Ridge Reservation endure a life that is difficult. They have low incomes, few have jobs, economically they are poor and problems of drugs, alcohol, depression and suicide are high incidence possibilities that impact on their lives.

Homeless people are also an issue that must be resolved

along with drugs, alcohol, suicide and depression problems

Work is being done but financial aid is required along with outside expertise. The situation is that the Lakota people are wishing to preserve their heritage and culture but they also have a modern world outside of the reservation to contend with.

Donations of basics are always welcome

It is a question of how to reconcile these differing situations, it is essential that the Sioux people do not lose their rich heritage but on the other side of the coin, they should also not lose the opportunity to learn of modernity and to use that as part of their future too.

A new house being built by hand from ecologically sound materials

in line with the beliefs of the Lakota to use resources wisely

So how did the Lakota people end up like this? The situation is largely due to the loss of their lands when America was colonised. The Lakota like the other tribes before that moved around pieces of the country and there were defined areas for each tribe to inhabit.

A modern day Lakota man surveys the Buffalo - The Lakota people have a strong

heritage with the Buffalo and are known as 'Tatanka Oyate' - The Buffalo people.

With the colonisation of their nation from other countries, the Indian peoples were pushed into accepting areas of lands to live on called reservations. These pockets of land were far smaller than the territories that they previously enjoyed.

Whilst outside the reservations people prospered, inside the people largely did not. The Indian people lived a different lifestyle than the incomers, they did not need consumerism and new technology, their way of life and aims were different.

The Lakota people must not lose their cultural heritage or access to their history

The Lakota and the other tribal peoples were likely the first ecologists, they regarded the planet as something to be protected and to only take what resources were required. They did not share the same outlook as the incomers who were fired up by the new industrial revolution for progress and advancement.

Peter Catches offering Prayers and Sacred tobacco at the Oceti Wakan site

But there is hope amongst the bad news stories, one of the Medicine Men of the Lakota people at Pine Ridge, Peter V Catches is part of a project to help his fellow Lakota people by building a communal centre called 'Oceti Wakan' or Secret Fireplace in Lakota language.

Visit the site at:-

http://www.ocetiwakan.org/

Peter Catches the Lakota Medicine Man of the Spotted Eagle - 

Peter is a direct descendant of the famous Lakota Chief Crazy Horse

The centre looks to provide teaching of the Lakota culture and language, it also looks to provide places where Lakota people can engage and learn about their culture and to participate in events. Currently the centre is seeking donations to help this become a reality.

A large Ray Jack made Navajo Silver ring,

Ray is one of the great silversmiths of the Navajo people

It is not all bad news, the American Indians are resourceful people and some have managed to develop craft skills  into jobs that help them to prosper. Notable are the Navajo jewellers, other tribes such as the Zuni and Hopi also have silversmiths too and people from other tribes have also made some amazing pieces learning and being inspired by the original tribal designs, drawn from their heritage.

However, much still needs to be done to help these people and there are many non-Indian people who are coming to aid the Indians, I donate free economic and business advice to help create economic growth and jobs.

I think this is long overdue!

I came across the Lakota culture in depth a couple of years ago during research for a book project on humans and robotics and I am glad that I found out more about the Lakota heritage subject.

I have learned a lot in the last two years and it has changed my life and helped to make a lot of sense of some things. The wisdom of these people which is often many hundreds of years old is as relevant as it ever was.

We must not lose this important cultural part of America's heritage.

View of Pine Ridge from the air

American Indians - you should really find out more about these great people and improve your life

Floyd Red Crow Westerman -

A great man who is no longer with us

Most people have a stereotypical view of what an American Indian is, thanks largely to Hollywood movies. But the truth is far removed from that and its something you should look into this subject for yourself.

How were the Indians part of the UFO and extra terrestrial contact phenomena for millennia? Read on.

What would you like as an ideal society - no taxes, no prisons, no crime, no drugs, no alcohol, no addiction, no consumer society, no laws, where the old and young are safe and cared for, where the community is a community?

You might call that an unobtainable utopia. In your so-called civilised world you might think this is a pipe dream, but you would be wrong

People enjoyed this lifestyle 500 years ago, those people were the American Indians.
To them it was normal. To our privileged world it is unobtainable, unless we change.

This script is what you might call being a good citizen -

for Sitting Bull's Lakota people this was just normal

I was already aware of the American Indian people, I had a late friend who was half Commanche, he was one of my greatest friends for 12 years before he died of old age.

Two years ago I was working on a book project and in the course of my research and came across some Lakota Indian wisdom and quotes. I started to read the information and found it fascinating. It all seemed to make perfect sense and I learned a great deal from that. As I delved into their culture more which I advise you to do, you will find a lot of things that make sense.

Pine Ridge Reservation - look at it for yourself and be shocked

The myth that Indians on Reservations all own casinos and are rich is not so. The majority of American Indian people are living in dire conditions of poverty and America should be ashamed this situation is allowed to pervade in their own back yard.

I have been working with the Lakota Sioux people on the Pine Ridge reservation to help them with business development and economic growth advice.

At the Oceti Wakan site
http://www.ocetiwakan.org/

At Pine Ridge is a project called Oceti Wakan, which is Lakota language for 'Sacred Fireplace' this is a project to create awareness of the Lakota way of life and language and I have donated to this charity recently. I have recently been working with the Oceti Wakan founders to advise on fundraising and with a business plan free of charge. 

The Lakota people are just one of the tribes who are finding survival difficult. They have such great knowledge and they are the way forward for humanity. We are running out of planet, we need to revise what we want from life and where we are going.

The Eagle that landed at Standing Rock on the Pine Ridge Reservation

We would do well to come together with the American Indian people and go forward together in a way that will ensure we are all going to live the best way.

Recently, people stood at Standing Rock to protect the water -

perhaps the Hopi prophecy has started to be fulfilled

Many of the Chiefs had the gift of future sight -

this prophecy could apply now

Many of the tribes have the same message -

we must change or be changed externally - make the choice

Russell Means was along with Sitting Bull

one of the great Lakota people

When it comes to the Lakota people, one of the recent late but greats has to be Russell Means, along with his wife Pearl Means. Some might call Russell Means an activist, he was one who held out at the 1973 Wounded Knee siege, but he was more of a speaker up for his people and hoping to improve their conditions.

Russell Means learned much from his relatives about the old ways and their history and culture and organisations like Oceti Wakan are hoping to educate the young Lakota people to prevent this history becoming lost.

A Navajo / Zuni inlaid Thunderbird Ring

with Katsina 'ET' figure on the band

Hopi Indian Petroglyph of a crashed UFO -

suspiciously like the Roswell UFO

Hopi Katsina doll -these are based on the 'Star People' that visited the tribes

The American Indian tribes have a long heritage of contact with visitors from off our planet, what they call 'Star People.' These visitors are unique to each tribal group. Many

of the Indian people also have enhanced psychic abilities.

The Hopi had contact with what we might call the small grey beings, the Hopi called them 'Ant Friends' and although they spoke no Sumerian, Ant Friends in Hopi is 'Anu naki.'

Of course, the Anunnaki were the prime movers in human establishment in Sumeria thousands of years ago. So how could the Hopi know of the Sumerian language? For them to come up with this sort of coincidence over such a large amount of words is beyond mere coincidence.

A Sumerian tablet thousands of years old found in Chief Joseph's medicine bag

So how did this get there, to North America??

Not only that, many Hopi language words and phrases are near to the ancient Sumerian. Perhaps another strange coincidence, is that the Lakota people believe their origins lie in the Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus, no mere coincidence that the Lakota regard themselves as the 'Buffalo nation' or 'Tatanka Oyate' in Lakota.

Their spirit guide is White Buffalo Calf Woman, a female form that shape shifted from a white Buffalo and appeared to ancient Lakota people and gave them their belief system.

You may not also be aware that the silver and turquoise jewellery created by the Navajo and Zuni people mainly is really quite amazing. Here are some examples:

American Indian jewellery is excuisite

Calvin Begay Micro Inlay Pueblo pendant

A Ray Jack silver and gemstone ring -

similar to the Piet Mondrian geometrical style

So, hopefully you will now have learned more than you originally knew.

As the Lakota phrase has it 'Mitakuye Oyasin' -  which means we are all related.

American Indian style jewellery copies - buyer beware!

Genuine Navajo made Turquoise rings

Something I predicted a while back has sadly come to pass.

I was doing some work advising the Lakota people, part of the Sioux nation, on the importance of protecting their craft work with a recognised trademarking system.

The reason was two fold, so that purchasers could be sure of buying an item genuinely made by someone from one of the tribes and to protect their work, to hopefully prevent mass produced Far Eastern copies being sold as 'genuine' when they were not.

Calvin Begay 'Starry Night' ring

I recently came across some examples of American Indian jewellery which were in the style of Navajo artist Calvin Begay, famous for his Starry Night pieces, amongst other works.

Smaller, 'Starry Night ' ring

His Starry Night pieces pictured here, are exquisitely made micro inlay pieces which are highly valued and prized amongst collectors and followers of his work.

Below are three Far Eastern made examples 'in the style of' which came from the Philippines. They are a third of the price and not as exquisitely crafted.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with this, there is a risk that these maybe passed off as 'genuine' American Indian, somewhere down the line. So is it easy to spot the copies?

Examples of micro inlay Far Eastern made jewellery

in the 'American Indian' style of 'Starry night' pieces

Whilst these examples are in the main nicely made, they are not made by American Indian people with heritage going back hundreds of years.

How can you spot modern copies? Not always that easily.

Horse ring in the Zuni style, made in the Philippines

Nicely made with a 'handmade' feel.

Quite a lot of the genuine ring base units used, are often made from casts, that said, on some individual parts, you will see variances in geometry, say on a Thunderbird, the feathers may not all be exactly perfectly patterned, so you can see a 'handmade' situation. As you will observe on this great ring below.

Genuine Zuni/Navajo Katsina Extra Terrestrial detail on a Thunderbird ring

However, being 'too perfect' may be the giveaway on many reproductions.

Someone like Calvin Begay makes their own ring settings, to suit the inlay work or materials they have decided to use.

The danger to artists like Calvin, is outright copying of existing pieces.

That is where someone takes a genuine piece, disassembles it and outrightly reproduces it as a nuts and bolts copy.

Early style of a genuine Thunderbird ring

Richard Hoskie & Ella Cowboy genuine

Thunderbird ring from my own collection

What we have to guard against is that items being listed with terms that suggest they are made by American Indian artists. It will have to be that the items are referred to as 'Zuni style and design' rather than 'Zuni' which tends to suggest authenticity.

Genuine Zuni made cuff bracelet

As pieces of artwork the reproductions if we can call them that are in the main, nicely made and attractive.

I do personally prefer to buy something that is genuinely made by an American Indian with heritage going back centuries if possible. This also helps to support their art and career in this work.

The downside of reproductions is that they will be seen as a 'price level' object. And this compounds the problem of authenticity, whilst some Indian makers stamp their own trademarks on the rings, many are plain and rely on resalers to say who made the item.

This all goes to prove, if something is good, someone will; copy it!