Hey - if you're here looking for new stuff, you're likely going to be disappointed. Check here instead.
Greetings friends! (A reminder for the impatient ones: more photos and previous updates at http://www.meyerloewen.net). Welcome to another brief edition of your favorite pseudo-monthly periodical, coming to you this time from the beautiful wooded hollows of the Pacific Northwest. Karissa and I are here for a few short days to join in the celebration of the wedding of two friends. We'll be back in Porcupine on Monday, likely just long enough to shower and greet our dogs and cats before returning to Bear Butte to help with the last week of the Gathering of Nations camp amidst the chaos of the motorcycle rally. Many thanks to all of you for your support of us and our partners this summer! Your emails, prayers, and donations have been great support. For those of you willing to take a few more moments for solidarity with our partners, I've pasted below this update an Urgent Action call from Christian Peacemaker Teams with a sample letter and addresses of key decisionmakers. Last Sunday evening we were honored to join in a Christian solidarity walk for Bear Butte. Despite the 110-degree temperatures, one hundred Christians from as near as Sturgis and as far away as Missouri walked the scant two miles from Jay Allen's under-construction bar to the base of Bear Butte. After the walk the Gathering of Nations camp hosted us for a meal and conversation. It felt like a historic moment in Christian-Native relations in South Dakota. We hope that this small beginning will tell of greater changes to come. Gary Nesdahl, executive director of the Association of Christian Churches of South Dakota, walked with us and wrote a short piece about it on the ACCSD website (http://www.accsd.org/bearbuttechurch.html). Many thanks to the Christian Peacemaker Teams volunteers who put in days of hard work networking and organizing the walk; to the disciplined young men from the camp who marshalled us safely along the highway; to those who prepared the meal we shared; to the indigenous headsmen and elders who generously welcomed us as guests into their sovereign territory; to the brave souls who showed up and walked despite the heat; and to all those who have in one way or another sacrificed their personal lives this summer to dedicate themselves to protecting this place of prayer. We've also been heartened this week by increased national attention to the need for protecting Bear Butte. Articles appeared in the past several days in both the Chicago Tribune (http://tinyurl.com/kwqvw - with an audio slideshow at http://tinyurl.com/zkupw) and the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/us/04sacred.html), as well as a brief (though unfortunately one-sided and inaccurate) spot on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" news show (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5602026). Some of you may also have seen that The Mennonite and Mennonite Weekly Review both picked up MCC's news release. Meanwhile, speaking of sacrifices: our lack of attention to our little Porcupine home took on real consequences this week. We arrived home from Bear Butte on Monday afternoon to find that the cattle we share pasture with had broken through the garden fence and ravaged everything green. We spent a sorrowful hour (imagine ethereal violin music and slow-motion tears) mourning the total loss of our summer produce and the days of work we had put into them. Sigh. The next garden fence will include more barbed wire. In better news, we are getting a few exciting applicants for the service positions we've posted, but don't forget to tap shoulders for us if you know of someone just itching to serve with MCC. The job descriptions are linked from the OLN unit website (http://mcc.org/centralstates/program.html). Back to Bear Butte: Since Tuesday our friends at the Gathering of Nations camp have been hosting a Summit of Nations with representation from indigenous nations all across the United States (and possibly some from Latin America, though we haven't heard if they made the trip). The Summit is a forum for sharing about each nation's struggles to protect their sacred sites, and joint strategizing for the future. Today the Summit participants planned to march into Sturgis. We don't yet know how the march went, but they are in our thoughts today. The week-long motorcycle rally officially begins Monday (the 7th). Please pray that our voices will be heard and that bikers at the Sturgis rally this coming week will heed the call: "Don't Ride 79" (SD 79 is the highway that winds around the shoulder of Bear Butte and leads to Jay Allen's new bar). I think that's all the news this time around! Thanks again for all your support in its many forms - we couldn't be doing this work without all of you. The CPT Urgent Action alert is below. many blessings, Carl & Karissa http://www.meyerloewen.net CPTnet 3 August 2006 BEAR BUTTE, SD URGENT ACTION: Protect prayer site from "World's Biggest Biker Bar"; fax Governor Rounds, Congresswoman Herseth today or tomorrow [NOTE: Thousands of motorcyclists are currently converging on Sturgis, SD -- the closest town to Bear Butte. Some cyclists are supportive of the Indigenous encampment at Bear Butte and respectful of sacred sites, but others are spreading frightening and false rumours about the Camp. They say they intend to use the party facilities that are on Indigenous sacred land.] Indigenous people from across the Americas, the Christian Peacemaker Team in South Dakota and others invite you to protect a special place of prayer -- Bear Butte -- from desecration. FIRST, this coalition asks that you immediately phone or fax Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth who plans to be in Sturgis on Monday. Adapt from the sample letter (below, with contact information). SECOND, the coalition asks you to phone Senator Tim Johnson (contact information below) to thank him for publicly supporting the buffer zone around Bear Butte. THIRD, please write a letter and send (via the postal system) to South Dakota's Governor, Mike Rounds, urging him to support this buffer zone and thereby protect Indigenous peoples' spiritual / religious rights in their places of prayer. Copy the letter to Senator Tim Johnson, House Representative Stephanie Herseth, and the local Meade County Commissioners office in Sturgis, South Dakota (contact information below.) Bear Butte is part of the territories belonging to The Great Sioux Nation, as agreed in 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaties, and should require nothing but those nation-to-nation treaties to ensure its protection. Since Euro-Americans and their federal and local governments are not respecting these treaties, additional action is required. IMAGINE THIS SCENARIO For the last few months, Christians in X-town have been walking into their churches to find groups of people drinking, partying, and making lewd jokes-- not only in their foyers, but their sanctuaries. When the Christians confront the "visitors" they find out the government has sanctioned the use of their churches for debauched parties. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Indigenous groups from across the Americas are experiencing something similar. Thousands of Indigenous people pray at Bear Butte every year, and some have done so for countless generations. Their prayer spaces are threatened by developments of all kinds, including the "Sturgis County Line" Biker Bar that businessman Jay Allen is building. Allen's website has boasted that the venue will be "over 150,000 s.f. of asphalt for semi-tractor trailers... 22,500 s.f. of... ice cold beer... kick-butt music & oh yea, hot hot women!" Two miles away from the bar, Indigenous representatives from two continents are gathered at Bear Butte to listen to their elders, teach their children ancient ways, pray and strategize on how to protect sacred spaces across the land. From 3 July - 15 August 2006, CPT is maintaining a small team at Bear Butte, South Dakota at the invitation of an Intertribal Coalition involving thirty local tribes -- including all of the Lakota tribes with whom CPT worked in 1999 near Pierre, SD. The Coalition has organized a six-week encampment to resist nonviolently the continued development and encroachment on sacred territory. The final week of the encampment, 7-13 August, will coincide with the 66th annual Sturgis motorcycle rally that brings 500,000 bikers to the area, creating an enormous impact on the surrounding economy and ecosystem. For further information, see the following websites: http://www.defendbearbutte.org/ http://bikersmag.com/html/sturgis_rally.html (The second site is geared toward Harley Davidson riders and asks them to boycott Jay Allen's enterprises while they are in Sturgis.) ADDRESSES / PHONE NUMBERS The Honorable Tim Johnson D-SD United States Senate 136 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-4103 Fax: 202-228-5765 Phone: 202-224-5842 Representative Stephanie Herseth D-SD 331 CHOB Washington, D.C. 20515-4101 Fax: 202-225-5823 Phone: 202-225-2801 SD Governor Mike Rounds 500 E Capitol Avenue Pierre, SD 57501 Phone: 605-773-3212 Meade County Commissioners 1425 Sherman St. Sturgis, SD 57785 SAMPLE LETTER [Insert Return Address] Governor Mike Rounds 500 E Capitol Avenue Pierre, SD 57501 Phone: 605-773-3212 DATE Dear Governor Mike Rounds, Greetings. I am YOUR NAME connected to YOUR COMMUNITY / CHURCH ETC. Thank you for taking on the responsibility of making important decisions in the State of South Dakota. I will pray for you and your office as you fulfill your role on behalf of many people. I am also writing because I am deeply concerned about the development happening around Bear Butte, South Dakota. I understand that the "Sturgis County Line" Biker Bar and other developments are occurring within one, two and three miles of the Butte. Lakota People and thousands of Indigenous people from across the country pray at the Butte and have done so for countless generations. Many have gone there to grieve dead comrades and seek healing after serving in the US Armed Forces in World Wars I and II, the Korean war and Vietnam War. As a religious person, myself, I would be appalled and insulted by infringements in my church foyer and sanctuary like the ones that are happening in Lakota sacred territories. I recognize that the Biker Bar that businessman Jay Allan is building and other developments are a grave infringement on Indigenous' peoples' religious / spiritual rights, and are a frightening precedent. I URGE YOU to create and enforce a four-mile no-development, no-alcohol-sales Buffer Zone around Bear Butte. This would be an excellent step in respecting the prayer/religious/spiritual rights of many people. The Butte should require no more than the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaties (with the Great Sioux Nation) for its protection. Since the government is not abiding by these important treaties at this time, action at state and municipal levels must be taken. Sincerely, YOUR SIGNATURE cc. Representative Stephanie Herseth, Senator Tim Johnson, Meade County Commissioners
