Open Letter to Lakota Warriors

Chief Oliver Red Cloud

One hundred and thirty-nine years ago today, warriors from the Great Sioux Nation, led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, defeated the 7th Cavalry in the Battle of Greasy Grass. The gathering of the Oceti Sakowin stretched for miles, tipi poles high in the air as far as the eye could see. The battle was fought after years of broken promises from the white man, and their steady encroachment upon Lakota land proved that the treaties were not written to be honored, but were offered only as appeasement.

There is unrest right now in the Hills area, and the conflict surrounds an unlikely enemy - the Rainbow Family. I always support my Lakota people and rally behind them, but this display of hatred is unacceptable. While I may not agree with certain viewpoints, I understand that everyone has a right to their opinion – unless they are maliciously defaming others. Because I have stated that the Rainbow Family should be an ally and not an enemy, I have been accused of being a Rainbow.

I am Tracy Hauff from the Oceti Sakowin of Oglala and Sans Arc Lakota. I am Sixth Generation of Chief Crow Feather of the Sans Arc (brother to Walks As She Thinks - the mother of Chief Red Cloud.) My relations populate the Cheyenne River, Rosebud, and Pine Ridge reservations.


The founder of the United Urban Warrior Society (U.U.W.S.), James Magaska Swan, sent me this message on Facebook after I called him a bully because of his treatment of the Rainbows. And with this message, he proved that he is indeed a bully. In response, I say, “James, I have no desire to speak with you. I have listened to you shout threats and obscenities at others who disagree with you, and only a fool would volunteer to be on the receiving end of your irrational vulgarity.” You claim to stand with the Lakota traditionalists, but a Lakota warrior would not speak to an elder woman this way.

I could dismiss his intimidation, but in collaboration with the Lakota Strong Heart Warrior Society, he is now attacking my good friend Alex White Plume, a life-long advocate for the protection and preservation of Treaty Rights. Alex has more warrior spirit in his little finger than Swan has in his entire body. Alex has been fighting for the traditional Lakota his entire adult life. He was very close to Chief Oliver Red Cloud, the last recognized chief of the Sioux Nation and former Chairman of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council. In 2012, Alex represented Chief Red Cloud in Geneva, Switzerland at the United Nations Third Seminar on Treaties. In 2013, Alex sat with Chief Red Cloud as the leader’s life slowly waned, and he received a special gift from Red Cloud - the chief told Alex the story of his life. Red Cloud also told Alex that there should be no more Lakota chiefs after he left this world, that the Lakota needed to strengthen their tiyospaye and each family should have a Nancha (interpreter) for his tiyospaye. Do you think Chief Red Cloud would have selected Alex for this great honor if he doubted Alex’s integrity or purpose for the Lakota people?

Video Courtesy of Kent Lebsock

The Lakota Strong Heart Warrior Society posted an article on their website on June 22, 2015 - Standing Together with the Lakota Against the Rainbow Gathering in the Black Hills. “We are asking for the public to call Floyd Looks for Buffalo Hand at 605------- and give him support and encouragement in sanctioning the following individuals who have sold out their people. These people are encouraging division and the disrespect of traditional protocols that protect a nation. Their unwise and unhealthy actions cannot continue to go on without comment.” There are thirteen tribal members on this black list, and Alex White Plume is one of them. When I read this, I was at first stunned, then angry, then sad. What has happened to these young men that they would dishonor an elder who has fought long and hard for treaty rights? Who is guiding them and filling their ears with lies?

They claim that Alex is promoting the sale of drugs on the reservation. This is malicious slander. It is no secret that Alex is an advocate of hemp farming, and he is the only farmer to openly plant, cultivate, and produce cannabis-related crops within the borders of the United States since they were prohibited in 1968. He also owns the only hemp seed that is acclimated in America. He pursues the dream of becoming a legal hemp farmer in the hope of generating income for his tiyospaye and a viable industry for tribal members. He is currently involved in an on-going battle with the Federal Government to lift a restraining order banning him from planting hemp. Alex has told me for years that he is only interested in producing hemp and does not want to get involved in the marijuana business, and I know this to be true because he asked me to help him write a business plan and it was for hemp production NOT marijuana.

I spoke with Alex last night, and he told me that earlier in the day he had a phone conversation with Floyd Looks for Buffalo Hand. Floyd is recovering from a recent heart attack and doesn’t understand why he has been receiving so many phone calls; he is confused by this. To attach an elders name to your cause without his permission is disgraceful. The Lakota Strong Heart Warrior Society also wrote that Looks for Buffalo Hand is the elected leader of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council. This is not true. He is one of three delegates, and one man alone cannot make a decision on whether or not the Rainbow Family can enter the Black Hills. The truth is that the Treaty Council has NOT made a decision on this and Swan and others are fabricating stories to suit their own agenda.

Do the Natives who support the U.U.W.S. petition – “Rainbow Warriors Stay away from The Black Hills of South Dakota” – really believe that the Rainbow Family members are the only people who are violating the 1868 Treaty? Where is your outcry when ALL the other groups invade the Black Hills every summer? And this is a long list beginning with millions of tourists, to the hundreds of thousands of bikers at the Sturgis Rally, to the thousands of Corvette enthusiasts, etc. All journey to the Black Hills to vacation, camp, party, drink and possibly do drugs. Explain to me the difference between the Rainbows and the Tourists and the Bikers - in terms of treaty violation. Why should one group be allowed and another denied? What about the 250,000 inhabitants of Rapid City, Spearfish, Sturgis, Belle Fourche, Deadwood, Lead, Keystone, Custer, Hot Springs, Hill City and Newcastle and the many gatherings that these cities host?

The Rainbow Family has been around since 1972. I had my first encounter with them in Boulder, Colorado in 1971. At age 17, I hitchhiked from Rapid City to Boulder specifically to satisfy my curiosity about the hippies. I saw hundreds and hundreds of hippies. I watched men play Frisbee, strum guitars, sing, and blow on their harmonicas. Small audiences crowded around long-winded poets who were waxing philosophically about peace and love. Women wore halter-tops and ankle-length skirts, swaying to the music, many with a baby propped upon their hip. Older children twirled in dizzying circles, their peals of laughter filled the air and were infectious to everyone near them. Toddlers meandered about wearing nothing but diapers on their bottoms and wildflowers braided in their thin sprouts of hair.

I was fascinated with these strangers and their laid-back energy. Many were having serious discussions about the Vietnam War, but most were jovial, living for the moment. I never asked, but I must have had a hungry look in my eye because I was offered food and drink, which I gladly accepted. There was no animosity from anyone and no drunkenness.

That was my first, and only, encounter with "real" hippies that have now become the Rainbow Family. The hippie subculture came into being because young people were protesting the federal government, the Vietnam War, and the practice of brutal military policing tactics at demonstrations. They held the first organized Earth Day. These are just a few of the similarities I see between the Rainbow Family and the Lakota. I often call myself an "old hippy" because I strive for love and peace, not because I have ever lived the lifestyle.

Rainbow Family members are being accused of panhandling. I have seen many Natives panhandle in Rapid City. It is an unfortunate way to have to get money, but it is not a crime, and it is not exclusive to the Rainbow Family.

Swan called these people the very same names that Natives have been called by ignorant racists - “dirty,” “filthy,” "druggies," “bums.”

“I will say this!” he (Swan) continued. “I have met a bunch of you and do find some of you to be legit. As far as the rest of you … you can burn in hell for all I care! I can handle it and encourage it! Bring whatever you think you got!” Unnecessary inflammatory bullying.

The Rainbow Family does clean up after themselves, they have a system in place, but no one wants to talk about anything positive regarding them. Below is an excerpt from a Utah television station following the 2014 Rainbow Gathering in Utah.

“After the 8,000 people at the Rainbow Family Gathering packed out of the Uinta National Forest, the group left behind a cleanup crew. Thousands of pounds of garbage, trampled trails and plants, temporary kitchens, fire pits and slit trenches were all taken care of. The Forest Service says the Rainbow Family left the 1,300 acres of land they were camping on in great condition. And because of their thorough cleanup, in addition to a lot of rain in the past month, vegetation is growing back better than expected. Officials with the Forest Service said there is no additional cleanup necessary on the land.”

I would love to see a gathering of the Oceti Sakowin at Pe'Sla in the Black Hills. The sight of hundreds of tipis, children playing, dogs cavorting, and Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota men and women coming together would lift all of our spirits. Why do we want to disgrace another group of people who do this?

Certain members of the U.U.W.S. and Lakota Strong Heart Warrior Society are creating division. They are inciting hatred and promoting cultural prejudice. They do not represent me. I am not sure who they work for.

Be a Man and Be a Leader

Debra White Plume's arrest at the White House, August 2011

This is my friend of fifteen years, Alex White Plume. I have known him to be wise, fair, kind, generous, and always, peaceful. He is the proud tunkasila of his ever-expanding tiospaye, and  his wife, Debra White Plume, is a politically active matriarch.

Debra has been opposing uranium mining, tar sands oil mining, and specifically, the Keystone XL pipeline, for many years. She has traveled nationwide to attend protests and was arrested in 2011 at a peaceful sit-in held in front of the White House. She has been steadfast in voicing her concerns about the environment and our water resources. She and Alex created Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way), an organization for the protection of treaty rights.

Debra White Plume, right

More recently, they have also been instrumental in Moccasins on the Ground, a grass roots NVDA (non-violent direct action) organization for directing social change. Both organizations oppose the destruction of land and water resources and encourage the Lakota people to return to traditional ways as a sustainable people, living in harmony with Unci Maka (grandmother earth) and to explore options for survival outside of relying on the Federal Government for their existence.

On May 24, 2013, I read an article in the Rapid City Journal that shocked me. It detailed a mock emergency drill held  in the Hot Springs School District. The exercise, which involved 800 students, the school district, Fall River County officials, and a bomb squad, was held based on a scenario in which the school district received a letter from a group that wrote "things dear to everyone will be destroyed unless continuation of the Keystone pipeline and uranium mining is stopped immediately." The scenario blatantly portrayed the tar sands and uranium activists as terrorists.

This is so wrong on so many levels. When, and why, did activists become labeled as terrorists? When did it become okay to instill fear of activism in our children? Why is it wrong to oppose the rape of our land? For administrators and educators to willingly, and knowingly, encourage children to believe that concerned citizens are evil members of society is outrageous propaganda and a terrible injustice to all environmental coalitions.

We should be encouraging our children to become environmental activists and stand up to corporate greed on behalf of grandmother earth. Activists are some of the most courageous people I know. They have strong moral and political convictions and will defend their beliefs at all costs. They are rarely paid for their long hours and often mistreated by the media and law enforcement. They are guardian angels for our planet and for human rights and to suggest that they are someone to be feared, greatly angers me.

The Keystone XL Pipeline would eventually destroy the already rapidly draining Ogallala Aquifer and other waters along its way, the oil will not benefit the American people, the money will go directly into the bloated bellies of oil and gas corporations, and it violates First Nations rights. Facts.

The Keystone XL Pipeline will be good for the economy and will not harm the environment. Lies.


I applaud all the people who have not, and will not, give up on their opposition of the Keystone XL pipeline. Thank you for your diligence.

Fall River County, South Dakota, you need to apologize. Obama, you need to listen.