The Fire Lightning Tiospaye of the Wounded Knee community denounce the illegal act that attempted to establish a non-Indigenous designation of Wounded Knee as a "National Historic Landmark." This illegal act was initiated by non-Indigenous 'squatters' known as the "Gildersleeve family" who at that time operated a "Trading Post." They along with the non-Indigenous u.s. government agency known as the "National Park Service" took without our knowledge, a unilateral, improper procedure - which blatantly violates the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, to 'self-declare' our Lakota Lands and Community as a "National Historical Landmark." These culprits ignored Article VI of their U.S. Constitution, the 1851 Treaty, as well as remain in violation of the 1988 Genocide Convention.

The Fire Lightning Tiospaye are descendants of Itacan (Talking Expert “Chief”) Fire Lightning who was allotted the very land (held by himself in “trust” for the 1851 Treaty) that the u.s. government slaughtered 463 innocent Lakota women, children and elders on December 29^th, 1890 to establish “south dakota” and where two dozen “medals of honor” were awarded (and have yet to be rescinded) by the president to those butchers of the u.s. military who perpetrated the genocide. Itacan Fire Lightning gave permission to bury those innocent relatives on his estate.

We, therefore, declare the illegal “National Historical Landmark” fiasco as null and void. We vehemently oppose any intrusion or any future assertion of jurisdiction by any branch of the u.s. government, such as its “National Park Service.”

Be it further known that the Fire Lightning Tiospaye maintain their inherent sovereign right as Indigenous Red Nations and Peoples of the Great Turtle Island (misnomer “western hemisphere”) to live peacefully upon their 1851 Treaty Homelands without violations from u.s. government officials and citizenry, as required through the United States Constitution and 1851 Treaty.

In Unity To Protect

Wounded Knee