Longest Walk 2

SACRED RUN 2006
Dennis Banks, one of the founders of A.I.M (American Indian Movement) lead a group of activist in a journey across the United States to bring attention to indigenous and environmental issues. The Sacred Run came to the gulf coast to see first hand the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to stand with the United Houma Nation in our recovery efforts.

LONGEST WALK 2
On the 30th anniversary of the original 1978 Longest Walk, Dennis Banks again lead a delegation that walked across America to raise awareness to indigenous issues. As in 2006, Dennis made sure that the United Houma Nation was included in his route and that the cause of Federal Recognition for the tribe was a part of the manifesto that the Longest Walk II delivered to the U.S. Government.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE LONGEST WALK 2:

1. Support an Environmental Bill of Rights To Decolonize Mother Earth and to
Stop Environmental Racism
2. Ratify the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
3. Enact Legislation Concerning the Consultation of Native Americans and the Right
to Free, Prior and Informed Consent
4. Enact Legislation to Provide the Highest Level of Protection for All Native
American Sacred Sites
5. Halt the Expansion of and Use of Recycled Wastewater at the Arizona Snow
Bowl Ski Resort on San Francisco Peaks Sacred Site
6. Halt All Casino Construction, Mining and Other Development Plans On or Near
Avikwalal (“Pilot Knob”), Quechan Sacred Site
7. Halt All Development On or Near the Glen Cove Burial Ground
8. Halt the Expansion of the Peabody Coal Mine in the Sacred Territory of Black
Mesa
9. Halt the Desert Rock Coal-Fired Power Plant in the Dine’ (“Navajo”) Nation
10.Fund the Development and Carrying Out of an Action Plan Concerning Water
Pollution With the Participation of Tribal and Non-tribal Communities
11. Halt the Contamination of the Colorado River and Establish a Participatory
Inquiry Into Past and Present Pollution of Water Sources in the Colorado River
Area and its Detrimental Effects on Tribes Along the River
12.In Support of Ending all Non-Sustainable Waste and Encouraging Reducing,
Reusing, Recycling and Restoring
13.Establish Federal Recognition of the United Houma Nation of Louisiana
14.Free Leonard Peltier
15.Develop and Fund a Participatory and Integral Action Plan for Native
Community Health, Including Access to Traditional Foods and Medicine, and
Funding for Wellness Centers
16.Allocate Funding to the Indian Health Service to Cover the Absolute Cost of
Superior Health Care Coverage

The Longest Walk 2
“All Life is Sacred. Clean Up Mother Earth.”
Resolution # LW2-08-13

TITLE: Establish Federal Recognition of the United Houma Nation of
Louisiana

WHEREAS, the issues of Yakni Houma or Houma recognition and land rights go
back to the advent of American occupation of the Louisiana territory; and

WHEREAS, under the colonial administration of the French and Spanish
governments, the Houma’s rights to land and self-determination were officially
acknowledged; and

WHEREAS, the Houma tribe, culture and villages were well-documented in the
1600s and 1700s by various explorers, landowners, and government officials; and

WHEREAS, Louis C. DeBlanc wrote in 1777, ”…claims of the Indians were
always recognized by the Spanish government and no act thereof was considered
necessary to their validity”; and

WHEREAS, after the United States established control in the area in the early
1800s, the Houma tribe filed a petition with the U.S. government for 7680 acres of land
on the Bayou Black/Bouef, which, although rejected, demonstrates the presence,
organization and need for a land base of the Houma tribe in the face of European settler
expansion; and

WHEREAS, Over 58 years ago, an Indian Affairs Sub-Committee of the United
States House of Representatives passed Resolution #66, serial no. 30, on June 13, 1950.
The resolution declares, “Houma, a Choctaw tribe living on the east bank of the
Mississippi River in Louisiana, during the 17th century. Later they established themselves
at the site of New Orleans. At present (1950) they live along Bayou LaFourche in the
neighborhood of the present Houma, Louisiana”; and

WHEREAS, the United Houma Nation of eleven thousand is recognized as a
Tribe by the state of Louisiana and is the largest tribe in the state; and

WHEREAS, the Houma filed for federal recognition with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs in early 1980s, but had their petition for tribal status rejected by the federal
government in 1994; and

WHEREAS, the lack of recognition by the United States government denies the
United Houma Nation the right to enact their own tribal laws, policies and judicial
system, a violation of internationally recognized indigenous and tribal rights; and

WHEREAS, this lack of federal recognition created serious obstacles and delays
in the arrival of humanitarian aid to the 3500 Houma tribal citizens in the lower Parrishes
of Plaquemines, St. Bernard and Jefferson gravely affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
as well as to the 4000 Houma citizens whose houses in the communities of Dulac, Grand
Caillou, Montegut, Pointe-aux-Chene, and Isle de Jean Charles were flooded and
destroyed by the storms accompanying Hurricane Rita;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Congress and
all federal government agencies recognize the United Houma Nation, of Lousiana, as a
tribe at the federal level.

CERTIFICATION

The foregoing resolution was adopted unanimously by the National Committee of the
Longest Walk 2 on July 10, 2008.

ATTEST:
______________________________________
for the National Committee, Longest Walk 2

______________________________________
for the National Committee, Longest Walk 2