Chunka Luta Summer Fundraiser

Aho hau mitakuyepi, attention hello relatives and comrades we are a diverse collective of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, whose goal is to build up dual power to enable collectives to achieve greater work free from the oversight and commodification of capitalism. All with a specific emphasis on land back, but from a scientific socialist lens. Last year I started this collective after raising several thousands dollars, gathering a uhaul full of wood, and bringing it 15 hours to my reservation to keep folks warm. There were multiple people who froze to death in their cars and even their homes, one elder was burning his clothes. This is a common scene, especially for those who refuse to sell their ancestral land and move into the housing project that liberals heil as a success. My uncles describe it as a concentration camp, within the concentration camp. This might be a stark contrast to draw, but it is speaking to the truth that the reservations inspired concentration camps, and we still live there. In fact our voting districts are based on which prisoner of war camp we were in.

Of course charity will never be the actual answer and only alleviates issues temporarily, but if we are to help on Reservations across the US, we must set up natural and artificial infrastructure, in order to provide for the people and ourselves. This is why we will be setting up several permaculture alternatives to normal firewood, planting trees to replace the ones we have been cutting, and will cut. Along with bring back mouse beans to the black hills, and applying for a grant to form a Buffalo pasture; there is plenty for us to do while we are there, and plenty for us to bring.We will have a PO box set-up in the future so please follow @BandsIsland or @ChunkaLuta1973 on twitter to stay up to date, on that front and check here for updates. Below is a list of things you can begin gathering for this summer drive, or even start gathering for the winter drive early. Here is a list of goals and the supplies needed to complete them besides the obvious gas and lodging:

Build a house; my uncle and aunt have a house they need help putting together we have hands

Buy a buffalo tag and hunt a buffalo and gather food to feed the people

Build the Arb and help with Sundance from gathering medicines, to tending fire, and building sweatlodges; tarps and blankets needed, as well as sheers and foraging stuff

Gas and travel expenses of organizers

Camping supplies to make cooking and feeding volunteers easier, but will also be feeding the entire camp during the ceremony (50-100 people)

We will be providing trash pick up which is not a service available on the reservation, and cleaning litter around the reservation

We will be doing interviews with elders to preserve their wisdom and knowledge before they die; most importantly I will be spending four days with my uncle recording his life story. My uncle is David Swallow Jr who is a famous medicine man that at 17 was at the occupation of Wounded Knee and later in life was even at the incident at Tiananmen Square. These days he was given Crow Dogs treaty papers and made a headsman of the nation, and is still rather famous even given Iggy Azalea ceremony as well as Axel Rose. Obviously it is worth sharing his life with the world if for nothing else besides that it's interesting.

You’ll pay for seeds, growing containers, coco coir, vermiculite, and tools and materials to be used by our organizers in the Black Hills and for our convenience to free up space next time we travel; ideally even bringing out another Uhaul full pallets, water barrels, and other things that would be useful

The most exciting aspect of this as we mentioned is bringing back mouse beans, also called hog peanuts in English, we call them Maka Tomnica. They bud fruits both underground like a nut, and then on its vines like pea pods. This plant use to be prevalent and saved people year after year during the winter, but colonialism of course stole this from us. We will bring it back.

We need money for the gas and supplies for four parents to have naming ceremonies for their kids, for a grandma to come out and name one of the children, and for fabric and materials for people on the Rez to use for ceremony and crafts to sell

We could really use donations of blankets, gloves, masks, wet wipes, blankets, tarps, flower pots, and we can do workshops teaching people how to make fuel that lasts longer for people on the reservation to use to extend the logs we cut and season while out there

Would love to raise money for a quality camera if not pay for a camera man himself, but it will obviously be cheaper to enable us to do our own propaganda but that's less important (this will also allow me to film crow training progress)

We would also love to raise enough money to raise a steel building, this will give us a place to distribute in the winter for free, and will give us access to a program that sends returned goods from walmart and amazon to third and fourth world communities. Currently people with access take the good stuff and then throw it all on the ground and make people lose dignity digging through stuff, as well as exacerbating the garbage problem.

We will also be chopping and seasoning wood for the winter

I am sure we forgot something

Obviously this is a lot of work but it is nothing I am not already used to, I just need help making it possible, and then I can do all the labor; however I won’t have to so long as we can get the other hands here. Another thing is that one of the caravans will be bringing with them a PA system that will go on to help organize events, and sundances across the country. I hope all of this explains extensively enough where we plan to send the money, but more importantly is our goal and how we came to those conclusions which obviously we have many goals. My hope is that many overlap toward the same goal. Some of our goals have zero costs and only take labor, so I will list the money involved with each goal as follows:

All the materials are already there to build my uncle's house.

A buffalo Tag is $500 (if available) if not we will have to pay $800-$1000 for the full buffalo, along with another $200-$500 to pay for food to feed everyone. Normally my family pays a caterer so we would like to remove that cost and feed folks ourselves.

Only the tools, blankets, and tarps cost money $600 should be more than enough for anything we might need on that end

Gas and Travel expense is probably the most costly part; as said there are four parents we want to get to their homelands, a grandma, and at least 7 helpers. For nine people in four different cars I would Imagine gas be at least $2500 for everyone back and forth.

Camping supplies such as sleeping bags and tents for those who couldn’t bring any, food supplies, and various other camping stuff which I’d imagine costing no more than $1000 considering what is already available

We will need to pay for the gas and trash bags to get around the Rez, another $500

Doesnt cost us a dime

The gardening supplies, seeds, etc all amount to at least $1000 depending on how much we can get cheap/free

Again free, just bringing out seeds I already have been growing

We covered this in point 4

Also free

At least $1000 for a good Canon camera

Raising a steel building is $5000 for the size we need

Will need to use gas money for chainsaw oil too

I am sure something was forgotten or an emergency will come up which we would like to have $500 set aside for, and Would wait to pay for the steel building until we are leaving and set it up after this winter to reduce chances of collapse prior to reinforcement, and tools to clear it from the large amounts of snow.

In total of course we come to about 10,000 USD if we try and raise the steel building and get a camera, otherwise we only need $5000 if these estimates are correct. This seems like a lot of money, and quite honestly is, but pays for twelve people's travel expenses, and feeds at least 50-100 people over four days and those nine while they are there helping.Help us make this an annual endeavor, and help us set up so the Winter Drive later this year is more successful and can happen sooner. Thank you all for your help, and blessing to those who have read this. Wopila.

Check @ChunkaLuta1917 for updates and more information that wasn't included here