Cecelia Fire Thunder Impeached
June 30, 2006 by womensspace
PORCUPINE, S.D. - The first woman elected to lead the Oglala Sioux tribe was removed from office with five months remaining in her first term.
Cecelia Fire Thunder, former president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, met the anti-abortion movement and lost. At a hearing on June 29, Tribal Councilman Will Peters, architect of the complaints against her, said at the outset that abortion was the issue.
”We are here today because of the abortion. We will plan for and fight for all Lakota, including the unborn,” Peters said.
Fire Thunder opened the floodgates of criticism when she suggested opening a women’s health clinic on the reservation in response to the state of South Dakota’s near-complete ban on abortion.
…(Fire Thunder) said the decision violated the constitution and that she would challenge the decision.
…Following a two-hour, closed-door deliberation, Peters in public forum moved to impeach Fire Thunder immediately. On a 9-4 vote, the required two-thirds majority, she was removed. The hearing took place with a reduced council; there are 18 council members from across the Pine Ridge Reservation…
Her opponents accused her of bringing the state and federal government onto the reservation.
”She invited federal and state law onto our sovereign reservation by challenging the new state abortion law, to begin her own abortion clinic under the auspices of the Oglala Sioux Tribe,” the letter of notification of Fire Thunder’s suspension stated.
Fire Thunder told the council that having an idea, or speaking out about issues that go to the heart of her convictions, are not grounds for impeachment. She said the clinic was an idea and that ”ideas and opinions are not punishable.”
…Peters and Councilman Garfield Steele, a co-signer on the complaint, brought six charges against Fire Thunder.
The first charge sited Fire Thunder as organizing the clinic outside of her authority as president and that she didn’t consult with the council about the project and get their permission. The vote constituted the needed majority to impeach Fire Thunder, and the remaining five charges were not read.
Other charges were that Fire Thunder used the media, the U.S. Post Office and the Oglala Sioux Tribe to solicit funds for the clinic. Fire Thunder said she never solicited funds and that all funds were voluntarily sent in and that some media included an address for donations on their own.
She said any money that was not designated for the clinic was, or will be, returned.
…”I can’t look at her as a woman, she is president. She should be focused on the tribe and her duties are first and foremost to the tribe,” Peters said.
Fire Thunder said she had a responsibility to lead the tribe and expand services and a women’s health clinic that educated women and men about reproductive choices was part of addressing health issues on the reservation.
…The scene in the Community Action Program building in Porcupine was of an anti-abortion rally. Packets of material depicting the image of Jesus, a trinket style of rosary and bumper stickers were passed out to the crowd.
Alex White Plume assumes the role of president pro tem and his position of vice president will remain open until the November election.
Oh this is so sad.
-Jeyoani
This is the line that I can’t get out of my mind, spoken by a male council member:
‘’I can’t look at her as a woman, she is president. She should be focused on the tribe and her duties are first and foremost to the tribe,’’ Peters said
To be focused first and foremost on the tribe, I guess, means you shouldn’t expect the fact of your being a woman to be considered or even acknowledged.
Heart
Well, more than half the tribe is female, so God forbid she take care of them, right?
Here’s a piece I wrote on the Fire Thunder impeachment and the rights of women on the Oglala reservation:
http://tiyospayenow.blogspot.com/2006/07/fire-thunder-impeachment-and-rights-of.html
It is written from a Native perspective. My family is Nakota. Forcing women to bear children from rape and incest and then banishing them if they do not want to is NOT traditional.
AhYaTaHey …..
my name is Kevala TateyMani ~ “he who Walks
the Wind Alone” ~ this is my boyhood name and
many know me as WINDWALKER ~ my adult and
earned name is not important here, for our great
GrandFather said, “The Messenger is of NO
Importance, only the MESSAGE is of Importance,
Not the messenger” ~ and of course i like,
“Please Do Not Shoot the Messenger” the funny
one ~ webster TWO HAWK knows me [although i
still will never call him that Wasicun name WEB'
and he knows i can not stand it, for inlike it is too
much like "IKTOMI" the WEB maker, the spider,
the evil trickster] ~ and WAMBLI GHLESKA CIKALA
knows me [Little Spotted Eagle ... aka Gilly, son
of "RUNS WITH" ~ i endured over 2 weeks with a
temperature of 103/104+ degrees, and no one
could fix me ~ no doctor no hospital ~ i was just
about comatose walking in the street in Columbus
Ohio staggering down a sidewalk ~ then i heard
drumming far away and thought, okay GrandFather
this is a good day to die, is it not so ~ [an i most
assuredly was chuckling and laughing that i finally
get to go to our Lakota village in the real world],
but as i followed the sound, [15/20 mins, so too
far to actually hear in the physical world], i found
i had stopped in front of a building where in the
windows i saw a Lakota singing and playing a
drum ~ the walls were thick and barely did a drum
sound escape the concrete and brick, but oh my
head was pounding ~ i entered and sat an hour
not really knowing what the cool looking Indian
was telling the folks of the Lakota culture ~ all
left and i sat there for i could not move ~ then,
WAMBLI GHLESKA CIKALA spoke to me through
my fog, “you are not doing well, come with me”
and we journeyed for many hours ~ i ended up in
the woods next to a river, in a healing Warrior
Sweat-Lodge where the temp’ reached 280dgrs,
and 5 hours later i was brand new jumping in the
river and dancing around laughing that i was not
dead ~ it was a great day ~ now, i build Lakota
Sweat-Lodges at 3 levels of healing, teach folks to
fast for 10/12 or 15/18 or 22 days on Lemon Juice
and Pure Maple Syrup with Cayenne Pepper using
Steam Distilled Water ~ in addition what sounds
and colors heal the Body-Mind-Spirit, in or out of
the Sweat-Lodge ~ NO VIRUS … None, can live
with extended heat at high temperatures ~ a
common cold can be healed with 12/18 rocks [and
perhaps just 9 stones according to size and power
of each rock ... you sort of have to ask the Stone]
with a minimum time of 30/to/90 minutes at a
heat of 180dgrs/to/200dgrs ~ done! the virus will
die ~ with higher body killing temp’s like 99/to101
it takes longer with more heat more rocks ~ and
then there is the 3rd level, the Warrior Sweat and
it takes 36 stones all the greetings and offerings
to the GrandFathers and yes temperatures that
are above the boiling of water 212dgrs ~ there
are ways the GrandFathers have shown me to
survive such sweats up to 280drgs ~anyone can
reach me for any reason {not just for Sweats of
which i do not charge for as we share the building]
at: LakotaHuSweat@sbcglobal.net
this is just an intro, so perhaps i will be listened
to as a “TruthSayer” ~ i am not to “The Message”
yet, for that is to be posted in other areas of
concern for the Lakota People ~ please do not tell
the AMA nor the FDA that i can cure any virus in
30/90/180/300 minutes, for they will hunt me to
extinction or until i am dead ~ that would be way
to many Wasicun doctors out of a job and no need
for there billion dollars of useless medicine ~ also
i am known by KILL STRAIGHT and BAD WOUND,
by the Chasing Horse family {the son is my friend]
known in “Dances With Wolves” as “Smiles Alot”],
and a great Lakota healer “YELLOW KNIFE” up in
the GrandMother land Canada whom also builds a
great and wonderful Sweat-Lodge ~ there are of
course many others that i/we/all of us have made
the same journey and understand walking in each
others moccasins;
i am very old ~ i move like FIRE ~ i come from a
very powerful Lakota family and my responsibility
is great ~ our village is called SAMEYO-HU which
means “World Of Heaven” and my GrandFather is
KELA-TRESSO which means “Trembling Leaf” and
besides being one of the greatest of healers, his
power is so great that he once made a mad Bear
fall over backwards across a log and run back from
where he came ~ my ANEY, Fathers name is,
HU-TA meaning “Running Fire” and my 2nd Father
is OTANEYA-HU means, “Mountain of the Highest”
and my INA Mothers name is SIGNA-WINA, which
means “Woman Of Big Heart” whereas her Heart
is as big as WAKANTANKA ~ a great warrior has
returned/reAppeared/ReManifested from out or the
Light and Sound of the Great Spirit to help us and
he is, I’STA-SAPA means “Black Eye” and he is like
known as ANEYASIWA or GrandFathers of All
GrandFathers ~ inclusive in the way of HunkPappa
is one more well known for in the way of “Relative
by Choice” he has joined our Lakota family in the
real world of our Lakota villiage, to help us here in
the Dream World known as School-House Earth ~
his name is TATANK-IYOTAKE whom is the real
“Sitting Bull” and he is not happy with what’s so
rotten on the Reservation;
i am very old, thus all i know is by true experience
or i would not speak of that which i have not done
i know of sound, before our great Lakota language
today, and was the original language, within this
language, all truth was known ~ only those that
could speak truth VIA DIRECT EXPERIENCE could
teach truth ~ NO EXPERIENCE…NO TRUTH ~ i do
have to mention this with clarity for i have been
a watching too long and kept silent ~ not out of
choice but because it is hard to not maintain the
LAKOTA Laws that i and all my family have vowed
to uphold ~ which laws are the difficult ones that
have caused me to be silent: should a Lakota
steal ….. an arrow is shot into their heart ~ and
should a Lakota lie ….. an arrow is shot into their
heart !!! ~ Obviously, i would not have lasted long
in the Wasicun world with this kind of behavior, for
they do not know this is proper and no example is
needed for look how they and most of the world
treat Women who are really our great connection
to the Great Spirit and have no Value of Life at all
so this is known as they are not “Hu-Man Beings”;
why am i not on the Rez, because when i go there
i cry almost every day ~ what i see is just too
much of too little and that which makes my Heart
the heaviest of all, is seeing the downfall of true
and proper Lakota Ways by a Council of IDIOTS !!
yet i have accomplished much for the Lakota in our
real world, the so-called Spirit World, and that is
okay, but i can see very clearly that such things
have not carried on down/through to this world ~
i am forgiven, so thats okay, but now i am really
on the WarPath for what has been done to this
beautiful Warrior Woman FIRE THUNDER is just
absolutely and totally unacceptable ~ here is
part of the message of what is lost;
when we go to sleep at night, and most all have
been conditioned to believe we dream, we do
things in these spirit worlds, we wake up, and we
can remember so clearly in many ways to even
write our dreams down ~ WRONG ~ another way
out of whack ILLUSION created by the Trickster
IKATOMI the Spider that has weaved its tricky
webs to keep mankind ignorant of all that is ~
so you see, when we put our head on the pillow,
we wake up ~ we exist in our true self our one
spirit our life of reality ~ of course most all do not
and can not remember, for then why would any
body want to come to this world, to dream our
bodys here, for it is the ashcan of the universe in
one view, and there is much beauty with great
Love abounding in other views [and experiences],
BUT, this is SCHOOL-HOUSE-EARTH and it is the
place that Soul must learn its lessons, before it
can return to the real world of Soul and of Love,
and i am not attempting to be poetic, for it is so
lost now this clear reality that when we go to
sleep, WE WAKE UP ~ this would correct much of
the hate and devious ways of man, mostly of our
concern with those on the reservation that have
totally misused power and do not belong in any
such position ~ i would not give them a job to
clean the Wasicun toliets ~ they would find a way
to corrupt their power, like make us pay for each
individual tissue paper sheet by sheet until we
are broke ~ before i start ranting and raving about
our reservation, here is a great example of where
“arrows need to fly into certain hearts” for i am
freind/brother with my Menomminee fellow truck
driver TA-CHONDA [i used ancient Lakota, so i will
not get him attacked in this day of reckoning with
a name that is known ~ the name INA has never
changed for Mother, nor has AhTey {Ate} changed
for Father, but when Lakota now say WAMBLI for
Eagle, we said WAISITA {Wah-EE-Shee-Tah} and
so forth, and if any body could translate CHONDA
then you have real Spirit Traveling ability to learn
this work] ~ i mention Truck Driving for to jump in
a Semi-Tractor-Trailer is an instantaneous great
way to survive and get ahead ~ they give you a
quick $100 and a place to keep your personal stuff
and in those big sleeper trucks you have a home,
so with 3.5 million miles behind me this is proven
to fall back on when i hit poverty ~ i wish to bring
to the Lakota Nation many valid and real training
of truck driver schools, so the young {and old} do
have an instant way to get ahead ~ along with
Nusing {badly needed on the Rez} truck drivers
are needed to the tune of 500,000 every day ~ it
is well known that Nurses and Truckers are in a
never ending daily demand, so these should be in
abundance from schools on the Rez ~ so, okay, i
am zooming through the Menomminee Rez up in
Wisconsin, and i am shocked to see the same old
dry terrible ground without a tree and these Rez’
houses sitting out in the hot sun without anything
around ~ little pint size shack houses without a
school, no stores, no community gathering place,
no medical facilities, no play ground even, just
nothing for children, whereas this translates into
no jobs, no money, no advancement, not even a
horse to ride, and this then translates into people
without hope, probably troulbled kids, and of
course health in a declining status for all ~ i then
checked with whom is on the council, the Leader
all this terribleness ~ it is just as GrandFather
has told me …… not all Indians are of Indian kind
of Spirit ~ they are rotten Souls that have Karmic
burdens and find a way to return to earth in an
Indian body to attempt to gain power back, and
the real Indians are in other bodies in many areas
to learn their next lessons ~ [this is why many of
the Wasicun world have such a love an affinity for
all Indian things ~ it does not matter if Lakota or
Apache or Cherokee ~ they are stronger of the
Indian spirit they are/were/feel/remember and did
like better than, the sluggish white'eye'body they
are in now ~ okay, sorry, not slur for White-Eye
meant, and anyone of now fluent Lakota can help
me with translations, for WASICUN most likely is
meant as "Bearded Barbarian Ones" from way back
as they never bathed and smelled so bad ~ you
see how reality gets changed around, for they said
the red-eyed-savage smelled so bad, which is due
to us smelling so good from jumping in the river
each morning and wearing our tanned CLEAN deer
skin attire, is it not so ~ how can you find a way
of common ground with folks that think and will
kill you over something good that is bad to them?
My mentioning of all this is to bring understanding
that many on these councils, are not of Loving
Indian Spirits with total interest only being for the
People ~ just like this so called leader of the
Menomminee council, for he gets $120,000.00 per
year to do nothing as he drives around in his big
luxury car [i think he has a Mercedes, but it can
be easily checked] and lives in a nice A/C house,
not even close to the poverty living of the People,
and what is not easy to check is how many people
does he hurt, how many women does he abuse???
i am not in a position to put an arrow in his heart
so i jumped in my rig and hit the trail ~ my true
brother TA-CHONDA ordered me no-no-no we can
not do that, and of course i agreed that the jail of
the Wasicun is nowhere to end up ~ all of your
power, or what little power we may have, is like
totally gone ~ has anybody got the POWER to get
LEONARD PELTIER out of prison yet ???? NO and
here are WebSites for that sort of info;
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=PELTIER+IN+JAIL+STILL&spell=1
OR
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=LEONARD+PELTIER+FREE+EVER
So i will not be misquoted, nor misunderstood,
let us make this clear that i AM NOT breaking
anybody’s nose nor i AM NOT going to put an
arrow into some Ikatomi persons heart, for i have
not done all these years and DO NOT INTEND TO
DO SO, for i follow the Way Of The Samurai with
no sword, and i fight now inlike “THE PEN IS SO
MUCH MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD” ~ this is how
FIRE THUNDER must fight and this is how she is
now to get much support and help from the true
GrandFathers ~ never think in delusion/illusion for
even a moment, that the power of our beloved
GrandFathers can not and does not reach directly
into this physical-dream-earth-world and the clear
results can be observed and recorded ~ this then
is such a “Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword” kind of
warning for another council member, and since
their are so many, we will just pick one for now,
for he who uses a Wasicun name Will Peters, his
days are numbered, for he has made many lethal mistakes and lays in false power ~ notice i did
say lies, for if somebody BELIEVES they are doing
good, it is not a lie, just as the barbarians said
we Lakota smell bad, yet can any woman truely
say they will sleep with a man that has not a bath
in 6 months ~ it must be pure disgust to exist in
such a way, just as the GrandFathers have disgust
for these so-called council members that act out
pure greed or ignorance ~ there well fed little fat
bodies are a reflection of their fat minds over
saturated by the blindness of the pain of others;
well, lets get to the “Message” now, shall we ~ i
name … names later ~ who the hell, who in Gods
love of Soul, who do you think you are in your
ignorance to tell another about truth, when you
know nothing ~ afore i get to the plight of this
medical clinic necessity, let us begin with the
true Lakota Council of 12 ~ there is reasons it can
form into a council of 18 or of 36, but the main
foundation of a solid council is always 12, BUT,
there IS ALSO A WOMAN SITTING RIGHT BEHIND
EACH COUNCIL WARRIOR, for men can not rule in
this world without a woman in his ear ~ only a
woman has her entire being grounded wtihin the
Mother Earth we live, and only a woman knows
how to bring balance to decisions that effect all
in the best way to proceed ~ you idiots of these
councils have lost the knowledge and power to
place a woman in your ear ~ your ignorance is
unforgivable and you are causing the ruination or
the LAKOTA NATION ~ should one on the council
not have a wife then a Woman of Power is chosen
to stand in place [or sit in place and whisper the
ear] and now i have learned of just such a woman
for it is FIRE THUNDER {Cecelia} and she has the
total support of all the GrandFathers, more than
she actually knows at the moment ~ her ways of
knowing truth and all that is proper are not to be
denied nor questioned ~ she is an example of how
a council must expand to 18, for not behind shall
she sit, but in the circle with an equal voice and
equal power to demand decisions ~ i said demand
and be heard, for that is correct and just as well
is her sister, who is from i think the Cherokee,
and one such as CheyFire aka Fire Wolf RN, all
deserve and have earned the honor to stand in a
council circle with not just a voice, but decision
making power ~ this is not open for discussion
and non-negotiable for you of wothless councils
have NO SAY-SO SAY-SO;
here is the next Spirit Law: not one human nor
non-human [not our wolf brothers but non-humans
are those of ignorance that doing nothing but hurt
loving human beings] [like will peters of the wierd
name], and this not one person is ever to have a
say-so in the FREE CHOICE or DECISIONS of any
other person ~ this is the Law of Not Interfering
With Anothers Life, nor Invading Their Space, and
that is in direct meaning THEIR BODY, for the
Law Of Choice over-rides any and all other Laws ~
next a council will tell me i can not go out in the
snow and sing my death song later enabling the
Wolves to have at my body ~ this is not suicide,
for that is a made up conditional pharse to have
a control over others ~ it is my God given right,
my Choice to decide how i want to leave this
world and go to my next life ~ [please no body be
silly and EnetMail me saying, well does that mean
a person can just suicide out of life whenever they
want to? hehehehe, of course not stupid, for if
your lessons are not done, you will return to this
School-House earth to live your lesson of critical
experience all over again, untill you get it right ~
how many lifetimes do we live to learn all that is
and most of all to know and be DIVINE LOVE ...oh
about 12 to 13 million lifetimes ~ so, many folks
have a long way to go and that is none of concern
nor our business, UNTIL THEY TRY TO TAKE OVER
OUR LIFE ~ then you see, it is war ~ i still have a
difficult time being friends with OJIBWA or those
ugly face CROW ~ hey, who could blame me, for
we have fought them for centuries and just do not
like the way they act ~ but now, in 2006, they are
welcome if they are not of IKATOMI whom usually
end up with a "Twisted Spirit" ~ now is the time
to mention those Indians that have not at all
faced the REAL TEST for they have been a great
person for many years ~ it could be 10 yrs or even
30 years where all that they did was good, and
even for the people ~ like becoming a Lawyer and
winning millions of acres back for the Lakota ~ yet
this person had not been hit with the hardest test
of their mind and/or heart ~ the worst i know of
and will never understand, for he was a hero to
me with a wonderful warrior image like you see in
the coolest of Indian movies, and yet in the end
it was in his heart all along ~ a bad heart ~ it is
lost that the evil government was dumping their
evil nuclear waste on/in Lakota land, for hey they
said we have accomplished Genocide on this once
strong nation of 325,000 people who are now only
22,000 of no strength to fight us, so lets dump
our poison in their Black Hills, and that was the
start of World War III ~ WHAT you do not think
it was so declared, yet how little you know that to
make it legal to attack Americans, ha, Native kind
of Americans on the soil of USA, war had to be
declared and tanks moved in and fighting soldiers,
and so what happened to my hero???? ~ i just did
not even understand why i talked to his own sons
they want nothing to do with him, for in the end
he turned black ~ the old saying is: if a dove
chooses to fly with a raven, his feathers stay
white, but his heart turns black! ~ i will most
likely have to face this bad face down soon, for he
still has a voice, which must end, and what is he
not to be ever forgiven for???? ~ on the train, the
railroad boxcars that were unknown and on the
way to Wounded Knee II, were all the soldiers an
FBI with weapons of mass Lakota destruction, and
showing them the way sitting right beside them,
there he was leading the way, just like the turn
coat scouts back in Sitting Bulls days ~ why is he
allowed to speak at any council or even exist???
i will be in communique with those of need from
the Lakota Council proper, or those not on the
council but need to be, which of course replaces
all those on all the councils that need not be, so
you see it is all very scientific ~ it is also science,
that a Soul, an unborn Soul, is in complete control
of its life, its existence, its next life ~ all such
Souls that are returning for their next important
life, have the choice and decision of which life is
compatible with or in harmony of, their needed
karmic lessons ~ so this means, a bad life, is a
proper life for that Soul ~ nobody on the earth can
make these choices, NOBODY ~ a greater truth is
a Soul is checking out a life before conception, so
we can afix that time at 12 months afore birth,
and a Soul can and does go in and out of the
provided body {okay the fetus term whatever}
for the 10 months, still checking things out to be
sure this is the life it wants for its highest good ~
and then even about no more than 2 months after
birth, the Soul can still be in the decision stage ~
[that's why there are many still births, for they did
decide nope this is not for me] ~ when it is finally
a yes i stay, then the “Veil Of Ignorance” is put
over the Soul like a blanket, and it is no longer an
all knowing Soul, it is just a baby ~ THIS MEANS
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MURDER NOR THE
KILLING OF THE UNBORN ~that is just more of
the priest crapola to control man in their negative
way of thinking ~ all of this together is the one
rule: A Woman is the only person to decide what
is right for her ~ absolutely nobody else !!!! a foot
note is in order, aye ~ this especially means any
government or men that know nothing of truth or
Spirit to begin with ~ these are not opinions ~ all
Spirit Travelers know these simple truths ~ they
are the ones to give council and advice ~ with
them i would decide that any man rapes a woman
should have his penis removed and as he stands
there with the flow of life bleeding to the ground,
it would finally dawn on him, what he did was so
wrong he will have to return another life and try
to do better ~ in the same light, as i read about
these pregnant rapes or incest or fathercest, it is
absolutely necessary to stop these pregnecies for
these are not good souls trying to get born ~ this
is not a loving family environment to raise a child
and how do you think bad souls get to earth? by
any means they can, especially from a rape ~ thus
all women, all medical reasons or emotional type
or tragic reasons, are a womans decision to not
a have a soul that was NOT INVITED ~ there is no
need of votes or pro’this and pro’that for it is no
of your business nor your choice ~ i caught a cool
term FIRE THUNDER used, “ANTI-CHOICERS” and
this needs to be made Lakota Law that such
individuals never have a voice in council;
i must ride now and i will return, and i need to
find a way to get this message and support to
FIRE THUNDER if anybody can help ~ i most
likely will Google the info later;
WINDWALKER
Cecelia, When a Lakota woman loses this type of decision to a Lakota man(?) is that man truly Lakota? This is a prime example of colonialism at it’s worst. The christian mentality has taken it’s negative grasp upon our people in that Lakota women are now looked upon as objects of ownership.
150 years ago, we were true Lakota, no drug & alcohol inflicted social problems such as rape and incest existed. We didn’t need to address abortion in such a public way as we did have our medicine to deal with such a preganancy. Offenders were dealt with harshly, banishment or death for such a crime.
I admire Cecelia for attempting to deal with the reality of our situations on the Rez. by offering women and young girls an opportunity to make that choice with their own bodies.
Cecelia you stand tall for us all; survivors of sexual assaults.
Pilamiye