Lakota Sioux

Independence movement

In September 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand initially voted against the declaration. Then in December 2007, a small group led by American Indian Movement activist Russell Means, calling itself the Lakota Freedom Delegation, traveled to Washington, D.C., to announce a unilateral withdrawal of the Lakota Sioux from all treaties with the United States. Official Lakota tribal leaders rejected the declaration. Rosebud Sioux tribal chairman Rodney Bordeaux stated: "We do not support what Means and his group are doing...They don't speak for us." Additional commentary from Lakota community members and journalists likewise emphasized that the delegation did not represent any tribal government. No elected tribal governments endorsed the declaration, and several issued statements distancing themselves from the movement.