Mennonite
Central
Committee

Protecting Bear Butte

July 11, 2006

Victorio Camp, a member of the Intertribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte, gave the following speech on the importance of protecting a sacred space in South Dakota for Native Americans.

 

As Lakota and indigenous people, our sacred sites throughout the Black Hills have been desecrated. Everywhere there's a road. Everywhere, there's homes being built. Everywhere, there are trees being chopped down. We want people to understand and at least set aside this sacred mountain (Bear Butte) for the indigenous people of the land.

There is development to the south of Bear Butte and in Sturgis. We worry about the sound of traffic when there are tens of thousands of motorcycles coming through each year. We also worry about the wildlife refuge across from Bear Butte and how changes will affect the animals. As Lakota people, we always pray for our land and our animals.

I was sent by my chief to the northern Cheyenne in Montana and the Arapaho in Wyoming. Both tribes committed to bringing people to pray on the mountain.

We're coming together in unity to pray and to show the county commissioners and the people of South Dakota that this mountain is very important to us.

You have to remember tribes have different languages and ceremonies. Normally we would be on the mountain at different times.

We're going to have to come together at the same time to show people that a lot of natives worship on this land. It is what our ancestors passed down. If our ancestors told us something, we live by that.

We're trying to preserve Bear Butte right now while we still can before the bars are built, before the stores are built, before the homes are built. We need to stand up and protect it.

What we are pushing for is a 5-mile buffer zone that would be free from commercial development. That way, my children and grandchildren one day can use this mountain to pray as I did when I was a kid. This is about protecting it for the future, the future of our children, the future of our nation.

We're really trying hard to educate the public about this place. It must be respected as a place of prayer. It is the Native American church. It is the Native American school, the Native American hospital. It is the place where worship, the place where we learn, the place where we gather medicine.

We welcome all who want to stand with us on this sacred issue. We need to stand together as human beings, and respect each other, respect each other's language, respect each other's way of life.