About Us
Owe Aku Bring Back the Way and the International Justice Project takes its direction from Lakota leaders to preserve traditional protocol & stewardship on behalf of Mother Earth utilizing the legal basis established in our treaties.

We are decolonizing our Minds.
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Owe Aku works to bring back our way of life which includes humanity’s role in nature:  we are a part of it, not outside of it, not having dominion over it.  To achieve this Owe Aku works to stop mining that contaminates our water and land.  Owe Aku has reestablished programs that utilize the wisdom of our ancestors in combating the effects of inter-generational trauma caused by colonization and the intentional attempts for hundreds of years to destroy our culture.  


Decisions are always made collectively first with the grassroots leaders of our tiyospaye (extended family or clan) and our direct allies.  The people of our tiyospaye founded Owe Aku Bring Back the Way and have continued to direct its activities and make decisions based on the traditional Lakota principle of consensus.  

Owe Aku’s work is centered on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in present-day South Dakota, the home of the Oglala Lakota people.
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WIOWEYA NAJIN WIN ON FREEING YOUR MIND THROUGH SOBRIETY.
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Watch Trailer of Crying Earth Rise Up!
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GUIDING PRINCIPLES:

In all of our efforts Owe Aku International Justice Project (Owe Aku IJP) recognizes that reliance upon Indigenous wisdom has resulted in the survival of Indigenous peoples against overwhelming odds while still managing to preserve and protect the last pristine environments on Earth. In the 21st century, we must be equally resilient and irrepressible.

WE RELY ON:
  • our ancestors and elders for they have preserved generations of Indigenous knowledge,
  • the strength and courage of our leaders to give us guidance and direction, and
  • the ongoing resistance and endurance of the communities to whom we are accountable.

Owe Aku IJP develops strategies for projects harnessing international human rights standards that compliment the efforts and address the concerns expressed from within Indigenous communities and nations. This is maintained by allegiance to identifiable Indigenous leaders and communities, in particular, we look to Owe Aku, a traditional cultural, social, environmental and educational organization of the Lakota Oyate (Sioux Nation).

Owe Aku IJP's mission, goal and principles are clearly defined, however, we will not and do not set the agenda.  We will, however, remain active in all processes involving our efforts, and appreciate the confidence of our elders, we rely upon Indigenous leaders and communities to provide the framework for Owe Aku IJP's activities and programs/projects.

  1. Only through returning to a balance with Nature can humanity survive on Earth.
  2. In order to accomplish this, platforms and rights for Indigenous communities must be established.
  3. The most obvious established authority preserving Indigenous rights is to honor treaties with Indigenous nations.
  4. The UN's World Court is the proper forum to adjudicate Indigenous peoples' rights to land and conservation under treaties.
  5. This is a Cause by and for Indigenous peoples.

To Support these efforts to Protect Sacred Water, Mother Earth and our Way of Life, check out our funding campaigns by clicking the button below.
Fund Raising Campaigns

    protect sacredwater.
    contact us to find out more.

PROTECTING SACREDWATER

Ama's Freedom School is dedicated to our children by providing decolonized educational programs based on traditional Lakota teachings and law.
Crying Earth Rise Up!
The Video about our fight to stop uranium mining. Watch Trailer of Crying Earth Rise Up!
An initiative of Owe Aku and Prairie Dust Films, the Lakota Media Project began in 2003 to mentor Lakota youth and women on documentary film-making.
The Moccasins on the Ground, a grassroots resistance training, focuses on skills, tactics, and techniques of nonviolent direct action in three day training camps.