Decreasing World Suck for the Lakota Sioux-- Please help!

[Sarah Wilson]

The Lakota Sioux (Native Americans, in case anyone doesn't know!) are in serious danger of losing a huge piece of their culture. Which, needless to say, would make suck levels skyrocket. Taken directly from their indiegogo page:

Pe' Sla is an area in the Black Hills of South Dakota (just west of Rapid City) that is considered by the Lakota people to be the Center and heart of everything that is. It is part of our creation story. It is a sacred place. We perform certain ceremonies at Pe' Sla which sustain the Lakota way of life and keep the universe in harmony.

 

Unfortunately, this land is partially owned by the Reynolds family who are selling nearly 2,000 acres in an auction to the highest bidder private sale (as of Aug. 24th). If the land is sold, it's extremely likely that a road will be built right through it or used for other commercial means. I'm sure South Dakota can build a road elsewhere, but the Lakota can't just declare a new set of lands to be the center of their world. It would be like paving over Mecca and turning it into a parking lot, or putting a shopping mall right in the heart of Bethlehem or Jerusalem, or evicting the Vatican and turning it into a vacation resort. To put it simply-- it shouldn't happen.

As of right now, their indegogo has only $325,00 of their $1,000,000 goal. And with only 3 days left it doesn't look like they are going to meet that goal. While the Rosebud Sioux Tribe has allocated around $1.3 million dollars to the cause, to purchase all of the land it would take somewhere between $6-10 million dollars. That's ridiculous. Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of any demographic and the highest unemployment rate of any demographic (also unfortunately the second highest suicide rate. D:). They cannot pay for this alone.

What can we do? Donate (if you can) & GET THE WORD OUT, FAST. Tweet it (#SavePeSla). Reblog it. Share it. Make YouTube videos about it. Tell everyone you know about it. This needs to get the attention it deserves. Dr. Sarah Jumping Eagle, who started the indiegogo, can be found on Twitter @drjumpingeagle and I'm pretty sure this is the website for her tribe: Oglala Sioux Tribe Site. 

Anyone else who can find more information on ways to support them would be super awesome. :)

---More Information---

 

Native Americans are pretty much the original Ecogeeks! Their entire lifestyle is about being one with nature. They used every part of the animals they hunted, and they never took more than they needed from the earth. The earth is literally sacred to them. 

Two famous Lakota people you have probably heard of: Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull.

The Huffington Post put up an article about it somewhere around two weeks ago, go read it if you like.

ALSO, FUN FACT: Sarah Jumping Eagle, actually funded & helped us Nerdfighters in our quest to build a goddamn Tesla Museum. This woman is a Nerdfighter! Let's help her? D: