Red Road Construction Drive and Wheelchair Pls

Hello relatives, comrades, and allies. My name is Sungmanitu. I formed this collective of activists last winter in order to fundraise and bring out wood to keep elderly alive during the winter. This was a great accomplishment for us, and so this summer we helped put on a traditional ceremony known as Sundance that is historically one of the longest standing Sundances that was continued in the Badlands during the period of history they were outlawed. The way of life the Sundance helps preserve is called “the Red Road” or Chunka Luta which is where our name comes from. It is a message of hope and an offer of direction to those who lack direction, but know it is time to do something to build the world we want to see for the next generation. This traditional seat of power has withstood the test of time against US Imperialism, and therefore I think is worth investing our time and energy in. So we hope to raise a grand total of 30k-35k USD, based on costs incurred at Sundance and the multiplication of available hands, and skilled trades people with tools for their use building the house before winter, moving the roof, feeding people etc. We also wanted to try and raise money for a comrades wheelchair (10k), and help with a down payment on a car and a cheap trailer to cheapen rental costs of moving trucks (2.5-3k). We are set to launch our website after the webmaster is out of the hospital, and there we will be posting the receipts from the projects, and various updates and newsletter, as well as paying a professional camera person to help us film quality videos of the land and showcase just how much we accomplished in less than a year, with all extra fund we would buy wood to haul and chop there, as well as lay the foundations of the steel distribution center which will also serve as a meeting hall for the Oceti Sakowin traditional headsmen. Along with this will be finishing a four day interview process with my Uncle David Swallow Jr to write his memoir before he dies, and preserve the wisdom and stories that helped me grow, and helped inform the movement we carry forward.

But our goal is so large for this fundraising cycle due to the unique opportunities presented to us; namely the purchasing of 150+ acres of land that has hosted the longest continuing Sundance at these grounds since 82. This is when my uncle took it over from Fools Crow, who continued it from his teacher even while it was illegal to Sundance, and thus it remains a center of power and community, as well as a symbol of resilience. My uncle being the headsmen of the Oceti Sakowin places the cadre in a unique position in the community, where other Indigenous nations like the Crow and Ponca come to us to reclaim their traditions. The Crow do not hold their national flag, and so when doing ceremony they come to us to retrieve their national flag in shame, for the crimes committed on behalf of the US against us. The Ponca use our Sundance grounds for the Sundance now, and so it is even more important to use this place of international unity to its fullest. To place the movement in the nexus of so many peoples from around the globe who come there to pray, will only legitimize and strengthen our ties to my community there. Not only are we reclaiming sovereignty, but we are preserving dignity, dignity we gain by the land. It is not only construction, but preserving what has withstood the test of time. In order to achieve this here are some of the ideas we will bring back to or establish in the community;

Buffalo Prairie to remove the commodification of ceremony

Re-opening the Porcupine Survival School to provide an alternative communist led education to the reservation youth, as well as providing a center for feeding kids and families in need

Big ol Gardens with so much food for free we wont know what to do

Things to process Hemp in various ways considering there is 40 acres already growing on the land

Move a couple trailers (one from Nebraska) to better house some elders whose trailers are falling apart completely

We get to make whatever improvements we want to the Sundance grounds like saving $1600 a year by building compost toilets instead of renting porta potties

A workshop/blacksmith area for the community to make crafts in to sell, or invent shit I guess

We want to build a permanent kitchen structure for the Sundance and get supplies to run a summer kids kitchen to pilot the eventual Survival School project

Distribution Center/Meeting Hall building

Eventually housing

This is of course just various projects we could run off the land that starts with helping us fundraise a measly 10k which we did in 2 weeks last time. So please tell your friends and families, and help make this a reality. I'd eventually love to build a place where my family and I can move there, or at least stay the summers just organizing and being a part of the people, or we say Oyate. So walk on this Red Road with us, come see for yourself what we are doing if you doubt us, I never believed in something so profoundly in my life until I started doing this work, and I think everyone can learn from what we are doing to better their own communities. We have a second kid on the way so the SUV would also help on that front, but our last goal is clothes for my nieces and nephews and school supplies. They grow so fast and cheap clothes are getting cheaper quality, so even clothe donations would be appreciated but due to some bed bugs we got one time id like you to email us at so we know what to expect in the PO Box. I will itemize our list below:

$10k for the Land

$10k for Wheelchair

$3k for SUV and Trailer

$2k to move Trailers and Roof of House

$400 Other Building materials to convert a garage into a double loft room

$600 Clothes and School Supplies

$3000 Travel Costs for ~20 people and tools

$1000 Lay Foundations

$1000 For feeding folks and wood

4000 for Transcriptionist for a Year if extra

We obviously hope to raise more than the desired goal of 30k and with the extra 5k we would hire a cameraman to take professional videos for a few days, to make seeing our work easier besides the photos we have been taking and plan to upload here eventually as well as the patreon (Chunka Luta Network) or the twitter which is @ChunkaLuta1973 which you can follow for closer updates of the various projects we have going on internationally, as we grow more and more. The extra $4000 unaccounted for in the grand total would to pay the yearly costs of transcriptionists for the over three years of interviews with elders I have yet to upload. This would be to make things more accessible for searching and hearing-impaired folks. Thank you to all previous donors, and I look forward to seeing the many new donors for this seemingly impossible goal I’d like to complete in a month since it took two weeks for 10k last time. Wopila (blessings/thank you/prayers) lets get it done again! Below is just a video of the thunder that greeted us when we went out to the Rez the first time. Almost got struck by lightning on our way back to Rapid City