Countdown to Change – The Peoples Climate March Starts in the Sacred Black Hills of South Dakota

Countdown to Change – The Peoples Climate March Starts in the Sacred Black Hills of South Dakota

On September 13th and 14th, 2014, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, known to the great Sioux Nation as the “Heart of Everything That Is”, thousands of people will converge for a UNITY CONCERT — bringing together Native American tribes and allies of all nations in support of returning the guardianship of the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation.

“This is the grounding prayer from the heart of America to clear the way to stand in UNITY for the Earth, ” says Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook Lakota, an elder with the Paha Sapa Unity Alliance and one of the organizers of the UNITY CONCERT.  “Many of us are going straight from the Black Hills Unity Concert to New York City to be a part of the People’s Climate March. We are dedicated to the honoring of the treaties and protecting the sacred. We must all stand together to say no to fracking, uranium mining, and the XL pipeline.”

The climate crisis is a symptom of a deeper problem: an economy based on extraction and exploitation of resources and people. This economy benefits few, at the expense of communities and the planet. The history of the Black Hills and the U.S. relations with the Sioux people is a glaring example of the same exploitation that has ruined the climate. The Unity Event will move us toward healing our relationship with the earth and its people.

Climate Action must be rooted in justice. Like the transformational marches of the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam war era, the UNITY CONCERT is free and open to the public and will weave together music, art, ceremony, and activism in a two-day event to be held at the Elk Creek Lodge and Resort in the heart of the Black Hills.

Orchestrated by a coalition of elders of the Great Sioux Nation (the Paha Sapa Unity Alliance) together with allied environmental, spiritual and social activists, the concert features celebrated Native and non-Native artists and brings together tribal representatives, spiritual elders, performers, and concerned global citizens, to return the guardianship of the as yet undeveloped parts of government controlled lands in the Black Hills to The Great Sioux Nation.

“It is time to set the past right so we can build a future together. We know what needs to happen we just need our governments and global leaders to catch up with the people on the ground,” says Wes Gillingham, Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper and a member of the organizing team for the UNITY CONCERT.

The weekend will begin with a traditional ceremony to wipe away the painful past between the United States and America’s First Nations and a prayer for the return of sacred sites to their rightful guardians to help us through the climate crisis we are facing.

“As one of the founders of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Oyate Wahancanka Woecun (Shield the People), we join with all members of the Lakota Nation in protecting Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth). We maintain that the Black Hills are not for sale. Our mission is to protect the land, air, water along with natural and cultural resources of the Oceti Sakowin (7 Council Fires) and we have taken a stand by establishing our spiritual camp on Rosebud Sioux tribal land located on the corridor of the proposed KXL pipeline,” said Russell Eagle Bear, a featured speaker at the UNITY CONCERT who will also be bringing a small tipi encampment to the event.

The UNITY CONCERT will bring together a star-studded roster of deeply dedicated performers that spans three generations including the legendary Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary), Arlo Guthrie , Buffy Sainte Marie, Paul Winter and Joanne Shenandoah as well as new revolutionary artists such as Nahko Bear, Xavier Rudd, Supaman, Earth Guardians (a duo of Aztec brothers, 14 and 11)  and 13 year old Ta’kaiya Blaney, Sliammon First Nation from B.C.   They will be joined by an amazing line-up of Native American artists from across the country, including members of the Lakota, Navajo, Cree, Apache, and Oneida nations.

For more information about the UNITY CONCERT and their efforts check out http://www.theblackhillsarenotforsale.org/ and http://www.theunityconcert.com/