On June 6, 2018, Joann Mae Spotted Bear, seventh generation Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, whose family fought in the Little Bighorn and were wounded and survived the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, announced that she will be running for President of the United States in 2020.
Spotted Bear, who has appeared multiple times before the United Nations to testify about US treaty violations, genocide of the Indigenous, and ecocide of the country’s people and its resources, said, “If we’re gonna make this land a great nation the way it’s meant to be, then there has to be some kind of positive change,…What I’m thinking about is: before we take a major dive into Hell to Nowhere, we’re gonna fight the best way we know how. So I was thinking about it, and I was like….maybe I should run for President of the United States,”
“I don’t know about you guys but I do know about me. I am sick and tired of people being sick and tired of seeing innocent people who have done no wrong being murdered whether it by bitumen, benzine, gatolene, Legionnaires, copper, lead, uranium, plutonium, nuclear atomic bombs or contaminated wastewater,” Spotted Bear said.
She added that “It hurts to see babies who are born with uranium. And I hate the lies of ‘Oh! We can solve these problems.’ No! God Damn it! You can solve the problems, yes…but are you willing to solve the problems? What will it take for you to solve the problems?”
As she begins to fight her way back from homelessness after losing everything she had in the fight for clean water and the people, Spotted Bear has a vision for her campaign that involves the people coming together at the grassroots level. “This is what we’re gonna have to do: I’ve never ran for President ever in my life. And I would need every single person’s help. So if you have good ideas or can help me, we are gonna need everyone,” She said adding that, “we have to come together because the United States Government, frankly, does not give a damn about Indigenous people worldwide, let alone the people in this country. All [the President] cares about is a small fraction which is probably less than the 5% rich. And the 5% rich would not be rich if it wasn’t for a dead Indian.”
“I would like people to come over and talk about this government. . . It’s all a corporation, and so long as this corporation is using a de facto executive order to supercede our treaties, we will not have the backing.”
She maintains that the road toward a great nation that watches out for and provides for its people and not for corporate interests begins with a Nation that honors its word. “We will be enforcing our treaties and moving the Corporation back into a Nation by using our Treaty and no executive orders,” she said. “My goal is to help you live.”
