Defenders of the Black Hills
8 WAYS RADIOACTIVE POLLUTION AFFECTS THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS OF THE USA
The Northern Great Plains lie just below the Canada-USA border, and contain the states of Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska. Uranium - 238 is a naturally occurring element located in all of these states where it has been mined for almost 50 years to today. Â
Sioux Nation Treaty CouncilHello Defenders, Putting on a meeting such as the upcoming Sioux Nation Treaty Council meeting on Nov. 1st is costly. We usually do not ask for financial help from the members of Defenders of the Black Hills (not even a membership fee), but we must do so now. Our coffers are running low so we are not even doing a postal mailing of the announcement, or this request. Please pass on this information to others who might be interested. As you know, most of the Sioux people in South Dakota live in some of the most impoverished counties in the country. For some of the elders of the Sioux Nation Treaty Council, it is sometimes a hardship to attend a meeting. Therefore, we try to help in whatever way we can to make sure as many elders as possible can attend. Please, if you can make a donation send it to Treasurer, Defenders of the Black Hills, PO Box 2003, Rapid City, SD 57709 or online at www.defendblackhills.org April - 2014 Special NewsletterInvitation to an Earth Day Media EventYou are cordially invited to attend an Earth Day Media Event to announce the opening of a Campaign for the Clean Up of all the Abandoned Uranium Mines in the United States. More than 10,000 abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) are located in the United States, primarily in the Western States, and more than 10 million people live within a 50 mile radius of an abandoned uranium mine. South Dakota has at least 272 abandoned open-pit uranium mines. There are 169 AUMs located in the southwestern Black Hills and 103 in the northwest corner near Buffalo, SD. The Northern Great Plains Region of Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota contains more than 2,000 plus AUMs. The health effects are tremendous. Defenders of the Black Hills is hosting a site visit for representatives from a number of organizations: Popular Resistance, Indigenous Action, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and Veterans for Peace. The Cheyenne River is greatly impacted by AUMs as are the people of Red Shirt Village, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Signs will be placed near the bridge warning of this radioactive river. The Event will take place near the Cheyenne River bridge on SD Highway 40 which is 15 miles southeast of Hermosa, SD, beginning at 10:00 AM, Tuesday, April 22, 2014. Plan on arriving at 9:30 and bring your own chairs. A potluck Lunch will follow the event weather permitting. Salads and desserts are needed. Sandwich makings, chips, and water will be provided by Defenders of the Black Hills. For more information contact Charmaine White Face, Coordinator, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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"Defenders of the Black Hills is a group of volunteers without racial or tribal boundaries whose mission is to preserve, protect, and restore the environment of the 1851 and 1868 Treaty Territories, Treaties made between the United States and the Great Sioux Nation."
Speaking about radioactive fallout, the late President John F. Kennedy said,
"Even then, the number of children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones, with leukemia in their blood, or with poison in their lungs might seem statistically small to some, in comparison with natural health hazards. But this is not a natural health hazard and it is not a statistical issue. The loss of even one human life, or the malformation of even one baby who may be born long after we are gone, should be of concern to us all. Our children and grandchildren are not merely statistics toward which we can be indifferent."
July 26, 1963 upon signing the ban on above ground nuclear tests
"The radiation levels in parts I visited with my students were higher than those in the evacuated zones around the Fukushima Nuclear disaster...." Nuclear Physics Professor Kimberly Kearfott, University of Michigan, in comparing the readings obtained in northwestern South Dakota at the Cave Hills open-pit, abandoned uranium mines.
"It must always be remembered that the various Indian tribes were once independent and sovereign nations, and that their claim to sovereignty long predates that of our own government."
Thurgood Marshall, US Supreme Court Justice
(McClanahan v. Sate Tax Commission, 1973)