Indian farmers burn genetically engineered crops - Nov. 1998.
Indigenous Rights
An underlying, and commonly ignored reality is that the people who settled the United States and Canada stole the land through a process of deception and genocide from previously thriving indigenous nations. According to Ward Churchill, every treaty between the U.S. and First Nations’ governments has been broken. In Canada, First Nations’ issues get far more attention than in the U.S. Canadian courts have ruled in favor of the indigenous right to sustenance fishing and hunting. The U.S. needs to recognize that indigenous people are sovereign nations, start a treaty commission, review treaty violations, negotiate new treaties, allow for indigenous self-determination, and give back a land and resource base that is sufficient for First Nations to practice their sustainable culture.

Governments and corporations are still practicing genocide on indigenous cultures. Often First Nations are seen as easy targets because they lack the money to buy political clout. For instance, during World War II, the federal government took land from the Oglala Sioux Nation (in what is known as South Dakota) to use for a firing range. Thirty years later, the government had not fulfilled their promise to return it and was plotting to get it sold for cheap so that they could exploit its rich uranium deposit. When residents resisted selling their sacred land, the FBI sponsored a campaign of terror on the Pine Ridge reservation. An armed standoff led to the deaths of two FBI agents and several American Indians. Leonard Peltier, a leader of the American Indian Movement, got framed to take him out of action and was given a life sentence.