Sep 212020
 
'Honor the Earth' founder

Winona LaDuke, co-founder and executive director of ‘Honor the Earth,’ a group that rakes large amounts of money from extreme left corporations and foundations, has repeatedly turned a blind eye to sexual predators on her staff.

In 2019, a former employee sued Honor the Earth for ignoring sexual harrassment by fellow employee, Michael Dahl, who is a known pedophile. ‘Dahl, according to the lawsuit, has been “credibly accused of using his status as a spiritual leader to commit sexual violence against Native boys” and “The man’s “inappropriate sexual behavior towards boys became an open secret in the White Earth Community.” ‘Honor the Earth’ then engaged in sex discrimination and reprisal against the plaintiff, Margaret Campbell, choosing to protect Dahl and their reputation rather than protect staff and the community.

More recently Nahko “the Bear,” a nationally-known musician who was on the board of ‘Honor the Earth,’ was accused of pedophilia. There are also rumors that LaDuke is protecting accused pedophile Anthony Sul. Disturbingly, LaDuke’s own father, Vincent LaDuke, who claimed to lead his own “tribe,” was once accused of sexually assaulting a minor.

‘Honor the Earth,’ founded in 1993, wants America to switch to a “land-based’ economy, but does not want tribal members to have full title to their property. They want the land to remain in the control of tribal leaders.

LaDuke, who ran for Vice President of the United States in 1996 and 2000 on the Green Party ticket wth Ralph Nader, said in December, 2018, that she wants AOC’s socialist “Green New Deal” to be administered by “Native Americans.” By this, she means only those who adhere to far-left ideology. Conservative tribal members are regularily pushed away by tribal elite who embrace Marxism – not traditional Native American culture and custom. LaDuke said that the “next economy is going to have people like me making decisions. I’d like to be an architect for the next economy. I didn’t like the last one.”

‘Honor the Earth’s’ funding suddenly increased by a factor of 6 in 2016, the year President Trump was elected to office. One grant, $63,000, was given by the Tides Foundation – which recieves millions of dollars from George Soros’s organizations – to interfere with the Dakota Access Pipline. ‘Honor the Earth’ used deceiful propaganda to agitate out-of-state rioters, then transported them to North Dakota to camp on property near construction of the pipeline, which was outside the boundaries of the Standing Rock Reservation. The agitated rioters, who used oil products in one form or another througout their camp, were not told about the oil refinery, pipeline, and oil wells owned by the Three Affiliated Tribes – the MHA Nation – on the Fort Berthold Reservation 125 miles or so north on the very same river. They were only told to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. A few months later, the tribal Chair of Standing Rock told the rioters to leave as they were destroying the wetlands they were camping on, bothering residents, expecting too many freebies, and causing too much crime. ‘Honor the Earth’ helped pay for the legal defense of those who were arrested for crimes.

Honor the Earth is now attempting to block the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline — a $2.9 billion project to replace a 1960s oil pipeline with a newer, safer one.

With regard to the sexual abuse apparently rampant within the organization, Standing Rock tribal member Jacqueline Keeler, journalist for Pollen Magazine, has done a podcast. Cindy Gomez, from the poscast “A Mexican Crossing Lines” has also talked about the sexual harrassment and abuse.

The Daily Caller reports:

In one instance in fall 2014, Dahl allegedly asked Campbell in front of a group environmental activists and funders, “Who’d you fuck last night? … You look like you’ve been fucked,” the lawsuit said.

When Campbell notified LaDuke, she dismissed the complaint and said Dahl suffered from “verbal Tourettes,” according to the lawsuit. The suit details a December 2014 encounter in Denver, Colorado, where Dahl “approached with a phallic object in his pocket” and told Campbell “I have something for you.”

Campbell told an Honor the Earth board member about the incident, who responded that “queens will try to get away with that, you just have to learn to stand up for yourself,” according to the complaint. Gender Justice, a non-profit legal advocacy group, filed suit on Campbell’s behalf.

The lawsuit also alleged Dahl was involved in youth organizing despite him being “credibly accused of using his status as a spiritual leader to commit sexual violence against Native boys.”

At a 2015 meeting with fellow tribal activists, Campbell and LaDuke learned Dahl had been accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy by his mother during a 2012 ceremony on the White Earth Reservation.

“Dahl’s inappropriate sexual behavior towards boys became an open secret in the White Earth Community,” reads the complaint.

Campbell’s complaint also mentions a horseback ride in fall 2014 where Dahl allegedly joked about sharing a tent with two young men, including talking about giving boys a “hand job.” LaDuke was on that horseback ride, the complaint said.

The Brainerd Dispatch reports that Dahl also has a felony conviction for allowing three horses to “die from starvation, exposure and neglect.” One of the horses “was the great-granddaughter of the famed racing horse Secretariat, a Triple Crown winner in 1973.” The other two rode with ‘Honor the Earth’ at a 2015 event.

The filings from the lawsuit expose several abuses and deceptions, including “allegations about LaDuke’s deceased father Sun Bear and pedophilia/sexual abuse, and false teachings,” questioning of LaDuke’s enrollability at White Earth, and allegations by the White Earth Tribe that LaDuke’s ‘White Earth Land Recovery Project,’ which began in the 1990s, has not yet returned the more than 20,000 acres they acquired through donations back to the tribe. Return of the land to the tribe had been the claimed goal and intent of the project as stated to the donors. Tax documents show that as late as 2019, WELRP had at least 1million in funds available.

Tara Houska, campaign manager for ‘Honor the Earth’ as well as the “Native American Advisor to Bernie Sanders” in 2016, abruptly resigned from ‘Honor the Earth’ in 2019, following the filing of Campbell’s complaint involving Michael Dahl.

Campbell’s lawsuit, which is still in litigation, alleges that LaDuke has used her influence to prevent Campbell from being hired elsewhere. Michael Dahl, on the other hand, was hired by the Detroit Lakes public school district in 2016 to teach tribal culture and language.

We hope the courts will hold LaDuke and ‘Honor the Earth accountable for the harm they and Dahl have caused. 

References

Becker County MN: Campbell vs Honor the Earth (Allegations about Michael Dahl pedophilia)

Podcasts concerning Winona LaDuke and Honor the Earth Law Suit (Michael Dahl) and Now HTE Board Member Nakho Bear

Nakho Bear

https://www.change.org/p/music-venues-nahko-and-medicine-for-the-people-sexual-abuse-allegations

https://www.callingallcrows.org/july2020statement

https://jezebel.com/lets-get-to-know-nahko-bear-shailene-woodleys-alleged-1691156574

Articles About Winona LaDuke and Honor the Earth Law Suit (Campbell v Honor the Earth)

https://gainfactchecker.org/anti-pipeline-group-honor-the-earth-has-metoo-reckoning/

https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/08/lawsuit-environmental-honor-earth/

https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/4611481-updated-former-employee-files-lawsuit-against-honor-earth

https://www.inforum.com/news/crime-and-courts/1020617-Former-employee-sues-Honor-the-Earth-over-sexual-harassment-claims-complaints-were-mishandled-by-the-activist-organization

https://www.startribune.com/becker-county-lawsuit-honor-the-earth-ignored-sexual-harassment-allegation/509659492/

https://truepundit.com/lawsuit-details-serious-allegations-against-an-environmental-group-at-the-heart-of-the-anti-pipeline-movement/

https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/3978467-Judge-denies-request-to-dismiss-harassment-lawsuit-against-Honor-the-Earth

https://climatechangedispatch.com/anti-pipeline-activist-group-sex-abuse-allegations/

https://www.westernjournal.com/remember-group-center-dakota-access-protest-caught-massive-lawsuit/

Michael Dahl

https://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/4383710-man-sentenced-starvation-death-three-horses-becker-county

https://www.startribune.com/rez-radio-4-tribal-stations-are-thriving-up-north/253063101/

https://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/Man-has-been-charged-for-animal–421798573.html

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/08/20_robertsont_languagecamp/

https://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/MN-man-pleads-guilty-to-felony-animal-abuse-charge-after-3-horses-found-dead-in-Becker-County-450298563.html

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/08/18_gundersond_spiritualityeigh/

https://www.dl-online.com/community/4119931-teaching-lost-language-new-teacher-ojibwe-learning-and-native-american-culture

Winona LaDuke

Honor The Earth

WELRP

https://studylib.net/doc/6897270/break—white-earth-land-recovery-project

https://www.welrp.org

https://welrp.wordpress.com

https://www.walkermn.com/news/northwest-minnesota-foundation-awards-k-grant-to-white-earth-land/article_4e6b1a58-117e-11e3-892c-0019bb2963f4.html

 September 21, 2020  No Responses »
Sep 162020
 

On August 24, 2020, Oglala Sioux tribal president Julian R. Bear Runner issued a State of Emergency due to a rash of suicides on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

He claimed the rash of suicides and threats of suicide in 2019 and 2020 were a result of the pandemic, as if the pandemic affected youth in 2019, or as if most of the youth have been staying in their homes, isolated from friends and activities in 2020.

While the tribal government may have issued orders for people to stay at home, the reality is that not only have the youth NOT been staying in isolation, he himself has felt free to go pick up children for an evening of his own self-entertainment – molesting a young man.

According to reports, there have been 5 confirmed suicides since the first of this year (were some of these before the pandemic began as well?) and “as many as 14 reported suicides this year,” … (the tribal government DOESN’T KNOW the exact number of suicides??). A third tribal agency, the Oglala Sioux Tribe Suicide Prevention Program, says there has been “nine suicides reported from local agencies this year of people who were 14 through 32-years old.”

President Bear Runner is said to be working “with Tribe officials to develop and implement strategies for combating the high rates of suicide on Pine Ridge.” Will any of those suicide prevention strategies include prosecuting and imprisoning all the adults who have been taking sexual advantage of children? Will it include an investigation of all persons in authority who have turned their back on the sexual abuse of children, leaving the children to feel feel trapped – hopeless and helpless?

Bear Runner “spoke out against the harms of child sexual abuse” in February during the sentencing hearing of a pedophile pediatrician who the Indian Health Service had moved from one reservation to another every time he molested a child. Yet, Bear Runner has been accused this year of both drunk driving and molesting a 17-year-old boy. The molestation complaint, signed by the victim’s father, was sent to the tribal Secretary’s Office on August 19, just five days before Bear Runner issued his ‘concerned’ State of Emergency over suicides. The molestation complaint was then forwarded to the tribal council. The chief of the Oglala Sioux police, Robert Ecoffey, wouldn’t comment on whether the victim had filed a criminal complaint, however, there is an unsubstantiated rumor that the FBI has been asking questions of witnesses.

The father stated that Bear Runner had groomed his son when he was 17 years old – “contacting him over social media, and once rubbing his thigh.” It was also stated that Bear Runner had coerced the 17-yr-old into into oral sex. The boy did not feel able to share what was happening at that time. Sexual intercourse occurred soon after he turned 18.

On August 24, the tribal council suspended Bear Runner without pay pending an impeachment hearing. The impeachment hearing — overseen by a tribal judge — was held on September 14, 2020. The victim, Bear Runner and others were allowed to testify and answer the council and judge’s questions, but neither were allowed lawyers. The now-young-man was very clear the sexual contact was both unwanted and demeaning. His testimony was very emotional.

According to the judge at the hearing, “elected officials can be impeached if two thirds of the council finds they committed crimes, gross incompetency, corruption or malfeasance.”

Bear Runner, who campaigned to ban alcohol, was arrested in May for driving drunk and threatening a man. He had been also been suspended in July after he couldn’t be reached following his issuance of “a 72-hour coronavirus lockdown.”  

Nevertheless, the September 14 vote to impeach Bear Runner failed. While 11 of the council members voted for impeachment, five voted no, and another five were too cowardly or complicit to vote. Therefore, a 2/3 majority was not achieved.

The victim had stood before the council to testify, and the entire reservation now knows everything that happened to him. But no justice was served. According to numerous reports from tribal entities and the Indian Health Service, suicide and the sexual abuse of children are both rampant on many reservations. But most federal and tribal officials repeatedly protect the offenders. Young victims are left feeling trapped with no one willing to help them – especially when the most powerful people on the reservation are the perpetrators.

This isn’t the first time the Pine Ridge reservation has had to declare an emergency in order to get more federal funding due to young suicides. While the pandemic certainly adds to stress, it is not the main cause of the suicides. It is way beyond time federal and tribal officials admit and deal with the real cause.

REFERENCES:

For documentation of the high incidence of physical and sexual abuse on many reservations – read Chapter 4, subhead “Child Abuse” of the “The Philosophical Underpinnings and Negative Consequences of the Indian Child Welfare Act‘ – https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/591/ 

Bear Runner DUI arrest and suspension

https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/oglala-sioux-president-charged-with-drunk-driving-threatening-man/article_256fa4b3-6a80-5292-a4e5-f92a7ce3e699.html

https://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Oglala-Sioux-Tribe-President-admits-to-being-arrested-570165151.html

https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/05/06/president-of-oglala-sioux-tribe-faces-le.asp

https://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Oglala-Sioux-Tribe-president-faces-DUI-charge-570224971.html

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/crime/2020/05/04/oglala-sioux-tribe-president-arrested-saturday/3077687001/

https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/05/04/president-of-oglala-sioux-tribe-admits-a.asp

https://www.capjournal.com/news/tribal-leader-acknowledges-arrest/article_12d7fb4a-8fd6-11ea-9816-33265ee333ef.html

https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/oglala-sioux-president-suspended-8kFfw3seWUOSeUwtL2TLbA

https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/president-of-oglala-sioux-tribe-announces-his-own-arrest/

https://apnews.com/cb63acf32c5890a253ebc11543e4a1b9

https://www.nativesunnews.today/articles/president-of-oglala-sioux-tribe-arrested-and-jailed-on-pine-ridge-reservation/

https://www.newscenter1.tv/oglala-sioux-tribe-president-julian-bear-runner-reinstated/

https://apnews.com/beba351350b97426d44b86ecdee62445

https://www.gowatertown.net/oglala-sioux-president-who-campaigned-in-favor-of-an-alcohol-ban-now-charged-with-dui/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oglala-sioux-leader-charged-driving-drunk-threatening-70535973

https://www.facebook.com/jbearrunner

Bear Runner Improper Conduct (pedophilia)

‘Your silence votes for you’: Citizens of Oglala Sioux Tribe target council over impeachment vote

Bear Runner escapes impeachment despite vivid testimony by alleged victim

https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/oglala-sioux-leader-suspended-following-improper-contact-allegation-2xvrI86Sq06pye5zCmdP7A

https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/oglala-lakota-president-in-limbo-after-sexual-misconduct-allegations-UbJYvQIrXkSIi5HNOjtfeg

https://apnews.com/e6b1f80905c6650a21eef1e4fb835cf9

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/bear-runner-remains-tribal-president/ar-BB192h65

https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/impeachment-hearing-set-for-ost-president-accused-of-inappropriate-contact-with-teen/article_0071a83c-594a-5f65-9119-11273c5a57d8.html

https://madison.com/news/national/oglala-sioux-president-suspended-on-improper-contact-charge/article_d11f0dc3-f686-514b-a57e-e1dfce0bccba.html

https://www.facebook.com/BearRunnerForOglalaNationPresident/

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/south-dakota/articles/2020-09-15/vote-to-impeach-oglala-sioux-tribal-president-has-failed

Bear Runner FBI Investigation Underway?
https://www.indianz.com/w/?p=259

Bear Runner 2018 Inauguration
https://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Bear-Runner-inaugurated-as-Oglala-Sioux-President-502220931.html

 September 16, 2020  No Responses »