http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2009/11/indian-tribe-sues-under-treaty-to-get.html
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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Last month, three people died after spending time in a sweat lodge as part of a "Spiritual Warrior" retreat conducted by self-help author and speaker James Arthur Ray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arthur_Ray). Each participant paid over $9600 to attend the retreat at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona. (CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/29/arizona.sweat.lodge.deaths/)). Now, according to a report this week from Sedona.biz (http://www.sedona.biz/lakota-tribe-files-lawsuit-sweat-lodge-incident-sedona111209a.php), members of the Lakota Sioux Tribe, upset over non-Indians appropriating Native American ceremonies, has filed a federal lawsuit demanding prosecution of James Arthur Ray. The complaint (full text (http://www.sedona.biz/LAKOTA-LAWSUIT-SWEAT-LODGE.pdf)) in Oglala Lakota Delegation of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council v. United States, (D AZ, filed 11/2/2009), cites to provisions in the 1869 Treaty of Ft. Laramie (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/four/ftlaram.htm) that provides:
QuoteIf bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent, and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington city, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.
The complaint explains that a wrong was committed on the Lakota's property because the Oinikaga sweat lodge ceremony is part of the Lakota's oral tradition which, according to the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples (http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf), Art. 31, the Lakotas have a right to maintain, control and protect.
Posted by Howard Friedman
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Now, I have no problem with this fucktard getting prosecuted for hurting people in a totally fucked up attempt at a sweatlodge ceremony (dumbass made the 'lodge' with a layer of plastic tarping, preventing the venting of excess steam and basically turning it into an oven), but I find it very interesting that the tribe is suing on the grounds that his actions harmed their "right to maintain, control and protect" their traditions.
To quote the comments from the religionclause blog:
"
Creative lawyering, in the best sense of the phrase."
&
"
I see at least three major legal problems with this suit: (a) the UN Declaration is not binding international law; (b) the conduct of ceremonies is not a protected form of intellectual property under US law or any IP treaties to which the US is signatory; (c) as I read the cited provision of the Lakota treaty, it deals specifically with crimes against the Lakota. I don't think it is applicable to torts, which an IP infringement would presumably be. (There is such a thing as criminal copyright infringment, but I don't see that as being applicable here.) The only criminal act alleged is destruction of evidence, which even if valid would not seem to be a crime against the Lakota."
aren't the Lakota the same yahoos who tried to declare independence a year or two ago?