Indigenous and Constitutional Sovereignty

Chase Iron Eyes

Posted October 9, 2025

I have a short, one-question quiz for you today. What does Wounded Knee have in common with Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland? At a glance, perhaps not much. But the rights and sovereignty of people across Turtle Island are now at risk as the federal government, as it did at Wounded Knee in 1890 and again in 1973, is sending armed troops into American cities to violently subjugate the people of this land.

We need to talk about this moment, what it means for our constitutional sovereignty, and what we can do about it. That’s why we’ll be hosting our next Lakota Law Membership Circle Event — Indigenous and Constitutional Sovereignty at Risk — at 5 p.m. PST on Wednesday, Oct. 29. Tokata will host, and I’ll be joined by our legal team to share our perspectives. Please become a Lakota Law member (for just $10 — the price of one fancy coffee!) to take part in this important discussion.

The invasions of left-leaning U.S. cities are not happening in a vacuum. The troops are there to accomplish three things. They’re enforcing the Trump administration’s racist and inhumane immigration policies, and they’re providing a means of distraction — a way to keep the American people from addressing, or even seeing, the corruption, grift, and scandal that should be synonymous with this version of the executive branch.

We need to talk about this moment, what it means for our constitutional sovereignty, and what we can do about it.

Perhaps most importantly, they’re sending a clear message that resistance, dissent, and demonstration — cornerstone First Amendment rights of our constitutional republic — will not be tolerated. Last week, Trump codified this ethos by issuing a national security memorandum that further erodes the rights of all U.S. citizens. It seeks to label those questioning the policies and methodologies of the administration as domestic terrorists — familiar territory from where I sit, as it’s exactly what happened to me and my family at Standing Rock in 2017.

The (same old) cavalry is coming, and I suggest that should be of comfort to absolutely nobody. In our homelands, it started with Custer, whom some descendants of the original immigrant settlers still love to exult and celebrate as a hero. In reality, he was a butcher of noncombatants, a gutter of women, children, and elders. His armed compatriots then earned Congressional Medals of Honor for doing the same to Native People who believed the Ghost Dance (incorporating elements of Christ consciousness) might bring about much needed shifts for our human family.

Fast forward 135 years, and our nation and our world are still badly in need of such a shift. Once again, large swathes of the population have bought into a mythology foisted upon them by the nefarious agents of the blood profiteer war machine — the main beneficiaries of government largess — at the continued expense of life, liberty, and happiness.

Many more of us are waking up to the reality that this is it; we must engage with everything we have in the existential battle to preserve our constitutional, civil, and human rights. It’s time to unite and fight! So, my relative, I hope I’ll see you on Oct. 29 to talk more about what we can and will do together to protect our sovereignty.

Wopila tanka — thank you for fighting for justice!

Chase Iron Eyes is the Executive Director for Lakota People’s Law Project, Sacred Defense Fund.