Russell Means Interview: November 30, 2011, Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona

Abstract

means: It started out with, as I mentioned in my talk, the five acts of genocide as defined by the international community.1 The United States literally and figuratively holds us as prisoners. What no one realizes is that federally recognized reservations are considered prisoner of war camps, and that is a fact. In order for the trust status2 to continue, the United States has to legally take the position that a condition of war exists with Indians. The only time when the war ceases is when we leave the confines of the prisoner of war camp. That’s why the Constitution of the United States of America does not apply to Indian people on a federally recognized reservation or on federal trust land. We have no protections, zero protections, and tribal governments are the wardens and gatekeepers. These governments are not charged by the U.S. Constitution to rule, but by a congressional mandate, guided by Supreme Court decisions, to do so. On reservations, we have no protections against illegal search and seizure or any U.S. constitutional rights whatsoever. We have tribal constitutions that mean nothing in law. You cannot take that tribal constitution to a federal court and have it ruled on whether it has been delegated to the tribal government by the U.S. government. I found out through my own cases that federal courts have two avenues of law. One is that Indians are a political entity Russell Means Interview November 30, 2011, Mesa Community College, Mesa, arizona