Justice for the Lakota People
We partner with the Lakota to help secure their rights to autonomy and self-determination, and to renew their culture.
Ongoing Campaigns
Dedicated to reversing the slow genocide of the Lakota People and destruction of their culture, Lakota People’s Law Project assists in the return of Lakota children to their families and communities, partners to protect sacred lands from threats such as the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), and much more.
Land and Resources
Land and Resources
The incursion of black snakes like the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines represents a threat to not just the tribes, but their sacred relatives as well.
Justice and Sovereignty
Justice and Sovereignty
Dozens of Lakota water protectors have been charged with “criminal trespassing” for protesting on land that has been sacred to them for thousands of years.
Children and Families
Children and Families
Every morning, South Dakota’s Department of Social Services seizes Lakota children without warning.Long–Term Partners
For over a decade we’ve been standing strong with the Lakota to end the long history of treaty violations and systemic corruption that has resulted in the loss of their most sacred lands and the epidemic of children being removed from their families and traditions.
Federal Judge Rules Environmental Review of DAPL Insufficient
Pipeline Battle Shifts to Courts
#NoDAPL Fight Begins
In the spring, members of the LPLP team — including lead counsel Chase Iron Eyes and tribal liaison Madonna Thunder Hawk — become involved in resistance camps on 1851 Oceti Sakowin Treaty land formed to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). LPLP provides media support on the ground and begins circulating petitions in opposition to DAPL, which violates Lakota treaty rights and threatens Standing Rock‘s water supply.
“Native Lives Matter”: LPLP Work Expands
A Solution is Proposed
Lakota People's Law Project is Formed
"South Dakota is still trafficking our children, Lakota children, Indian children, and they get millions of federal dollars every year for their so-called 'child welfare services.'"