BACK TO SCHOOL

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln nearly killed this Indian, and the process intensified when it hired two Wasicu men with multi-million dollar grants from the U.S. Government to lie with statistics about Indians. Specifically, they were to do surveys which were - and are - designed to "prove" that Peoples in particular POW Camps "want" U.S. Government drug and alcohol prevention and treatment centers located ON these "Reservations." Such centers would be based on European/White/Wasicu models of prevention and treatment, and staffed by Whites, with a few token positions thrown in for the IRA Government's nepotistic system. I knew what they were up to from the beginning, and they knew that I knew. Public universities - along with the Prison Industrial Complex - are the primary victims of the budget cuts caused by deficits and the drive to reduce taxes - are now dependent on grants from private corporations and U.S. and other governments. So these two men, with the $10 million grant they came in with, and its guaranteed renewal - because they would produce the "scientific" answers the U.S. Government wanted to here - attacks on me escalated. I became so ill I had to go on medical leave. I was "retired" without my knowledge while on the medical leave. I became more ill, and ended up on Social Security Disability - not enough to survive.

My Wicasa Wakan (Medicine Man) helped me through the next years. I have always spent summers on Pine Ridge. Last summer I asked my Wicasa Wakan for help find something to do that would help the People. Before I left, I found myself enrolled in Oglala Lakota College, and registered for classes. I just completed my first year in Tribal Law A.A. degree program, part of the Lakota Studies Program. I have taken courses in Legal Research and writing, taught by a Judge on Pine Ridge; Lakota Culture; Tribal Law, Treaties, and Government; Lakota Language; Indian Law; and Lakota History. They have been HARDER than imaginable - even for someone who has spent my entire adult life in college and university. And I have LEARNED MORE than imaginable, in class and in doing research, and from the students in the classes - though I thought I knew about these subjects and about life - and death - on the Rez. And I LOVE it PASSIONATELY.

I may stop at the A.A. Degree. I may continue on to the B.A. Degree in Lakota Studies. Either way, I hope to be able to contribute to the Oyate by teaching at Oglala Lakota College, from a Traditionalist, Indian, Lakota perspective; by practicing law, notably to help fight all those who continue to steal the land and all those who continue to irradiate and pollute the land, air, and water: the White farmers with their chemicals leasing land from Indians who need the lease money on top of the land, and the White corporations with their unsafe mining of minerals, including uranium, and their dumping of chemicals and radioactive waste, underneath the land - and into the Aquifer. Finally, I plan to offer all of my education - Wasicu and Lakota - to help those who are fighting for, at minimum, the ENFORCEMENT of the TREATIES (however dubious their validity, due to their being signed by force, mistranslated, altered after they were signed, and signed by...Which Indians? With what "authority" to sign them? By how many actual Indians? Under what conditions?) and the RETURN OF LAND and with it the RETURN OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

Wopila for Oglala Lakota College. Wopila for all the people on Pine Ridge and across "Indian Country" who are struggling to regain Indian land; who are struggling to clean up Indian land, air and water; who are struggling to improve the health of Indians by eliminating carcinogenic chemicals and radiation, improving diets, increasing exercise, eliminating drugs and alcohol; who are struggling to decrease the violence of poverty, addiction, and gangs and domestic violence...to all those who struggle every day in every way to Owe Aku, Go Back to Our Ways.

I am Blessed. I hope to use and share what I know and what I am learning. I hope to be used, by and for the Oyate, by and for the Spirits.

Wopila Tanka.

Mitakuye Oyasin.