CPTnet
24 July 2007
BEAR BUTTE, SD: CPT participates in Mato Paha spiritual forum

On 5 August 2007, CPTers John Spragge and Bob Holmes will join the Mato Paha
(Bear Butte mountain) Spiritual Forum in South Dakota. The Forum focuses on
religious freedom, Native rights, and general human rights. Part of a
sustained campaign by an intertribal coalition, the Forum will focus on the
continued development and encroachment on Bear Butte, a sacred site. Every
year, thousands of Native people travel to pray at Bear Butte, located near
Sturgis, SD in the Black Hills. Sturgis is the location of an annual
motorcycle rally that draws hundreds of thousands of biker enthusiasts, and
developers have built campgrounds and bars at the base of Bear Butte.
Organizers of the Forum have scheduled the forum to take place the day
before the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally begins. They hope to build awareness
regarding development near Bear Butte connected with the Rally.

Last summer, from 3 July-15 August 2006, CPT maintained a small team at Bear
Butte accompanying a six-week encampment that resisted nonviolently the
continued development and encroachment on territory the Great Plains nations
consider sacred.

This summer, the Forum will gather Traditional Healers (Medicine Men) and
Spiritual Leaders from the Oglala Band, Sicanju Band, Hohwoju Band of the
Lakota Nation; the Mdewakantonwan Band and Sissetonwan Band of the Dakota
Nation; and Arapahoe and Cheyenne Nations. The Healers and Leaders will
provide ancestral teachings regarding the spiritual significance of Bear
Butte (Mato Paha) to these nations.

Guest speakers also include Chief Oliver Red Cloud of the Lakota Nation,
Chief Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, noted Cheyenne scholar
Henrietta Mann, and stateswoman Rosalie Little Thunder of the Seventh
Generation Fund and South Dakota Peace and Justice. Reverend Gail Arnold of
the South Dakota Association of Christian Churches, and John Spragge of the
Christian Peacemaker Teams, will also speak regarding Human Rights and
Religious Freedom.

The Mato Paha Forum is the first time in decades that Traditional Healers
(Medicine Men) from across many Tribal Nations have come together in one
forum to speak about sacred places and the traditional Lakota way of life.
Sharing the forum with Christian churches from the region and a global
organization such as the Christian Peacemaker Teams is also an unusual
event. The Mato Paha Forum is open to all. Lakota drum groups and singers
will perform and an evening meal will be offered to all participants.

The Mato Paha Forum is sponsored by Bring Back the Way, the Black Hills
Sioux Nation Treaty Council, Horse Owner's Society, and the Seventh
Generation Fund.

For more information, please call Debra White Plume 605-455-2155.