Kevin Costner and the Dunbar Resort
Tom Beno
Here's the article:
=======================
THE COSTNER BROTHERS AND THE BLACK HILLS
Kevin Costner, the man who became famous with the movie Dances With Wolves,
and who said at that time that he supported the American Indian nations in
their struggles for justice and sovereignty, has been building a gigantic
recreation resort in a forest that is sacred to the Lakota, Nakota and
Dakota Nations.
Behind the curtain of expensive special effects and Hollywood glitter a
different story has been hiding: one of betrayal and of destruction!
One of Kevin Costner's other success movies was called Robin Hood, Prince of
Thieves... What's in a name?
The Black Hills
Dances With Wolves was filmed partly in the Paha Sapa, the Black Hills of
South Dakota. The movie related the struggle of the Lakota people to
preserve their land and their culture.
"Who would do such a thing?... This was proof enough that it was a people
without value and without soul, and with no regard for Sioux rights...". As
Lieutenant John Dunbar in the movie, Kevin Costner spoke these words in
scorn of the invading white man's disregard for American Indian land, its
people, its living things, and its history.
Today, Lakota people ask the same question: "Who would do such a thing?..."
For thousands of years, the Lakota Nations have considered the Black Hills
as sacred. This is where the first people emerged; where they buried their
dead, and where up to this very day, they practice sacred ceremonies and
seek visions.
This is also the area where Kevin Costner and his brother Dan are building
an enormous recreation resort, with a 320-room luxury hotel-casino complex,
including golf and ski courses, and their own railroad.
Treaty
According to the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851, 60 million acres if the
Paha Sapa were deeded to the Great Sioux Nation. In 1868, the second Treaty
of Ft. Laramie reduced that to 20 million acres, but it still included the
area around Deadwood, SD, where the Costner brothers are building their
resort.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the validity of this treaty;
although it has been violated often (even before the ink ever ran dry). The
U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Lakota Sioux are the rightful owners of
60 million acres of the Great Plains, including 7.3 million acres of the
Black Hills.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the federal government to compensate
the Lakota for the land. The L/D/Nakota Nations, however, denounced the
settlement - that now stands at $380 million - as an insult. The gold taken
from the Paha Sapa over the last 100 years amounts to over $250 billion
alone!
Pollution
The Black Hills have been severely polluted by (often illegal) mining of
coal, gold and uranium ore;
The Costner brothers want to use the water of a heavily polluted river for
their Dunbar Resort. That water will leak back into the soil and will in
turn contaminate the groundwater and rivers with radioactivity, dioxides,
nitrates,...
Furthermore, a part of the old-growth forest must be clearcut for the
construction of this giant resort.
Dances With Dollars
The project costs approximately $100 million - "only" 80 million less than
Costner's other gigantic project, the movie Waterworld;
The Costner brothers already have a casino in the town of Deadwood,SD. Here
Dan Costner allows the American Indian people of South and North Dakota to
apply for top-of-the-line jobs such as washing dishes, sweeping floors, and
parking cars... for minimum wages, of course.
The American Indian people of South Dakota are, according to the latest U.S.
Census, the poorest people in the entire United States. Unemployment on the
Pine Ridge Reservation, for example, is over 80% - while the state
unemployment rate for South Dakota is 6%. Contrary to popular belief, the
Costner resort does not bring job opportunities for the Lakota people, but
only for an elite few (whites).
Nobody can recall Kevin Costner ever donating so much as one dollar to an
American Indian cause, although Dances With Wolves netted Costner over $500
million worldwide. Kevin Costner, as director, producer and star took about
10 percent of that sum...
The Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations do not have the necessary funds to
fight the wealth of the Costner brothers; and they are not politically
strong enough to sue the U.S. Government which allows this umpteenth
violation of the Treaty and American Indian religious rights.
The State of South Dakota raised loss and wager limits from $5 to $100 to
help pay for Costner's Midnight Star casino in Deadwood. The State also has
given the Costner brothers $14 million to help them build their Dunbar
Resort...
Betrayal
Kevin Costner has betrayed the People who carried him warmly in their hearts
after Dances With Wolves.
The Dunbar Resort will desecrate another 635 acres of sacred land - such as
ancient Sun Dance areas, Vision Quest sites, Sweat Lodge areas - and it will
destroy a precious ecosystem. The Costner brothers claim that not one single
tree will be cut... How can one build such a gigantic resort, with golf
courses, in the middle of an old-growth forest without cutting one tree?
Furthermore, Kevin and Dan Costner are violating the Treaty of Fort Laramie,
which is nationally and internationally recognized and still valid.
Quote Dan Costner, February 1995: "The fact that the Sioux consider it [the
Black Hills] sacred is fine, but that's their problem."
Quote Terry Kranz, director of acquisition and development for the Dunbar
Resort, in a telephone conversation with a KOLA activist, August 1998: "In
1835 the Sioux stole that land from the white people!" -- hereby rewriting
history completely...
Rewriting history is a crime against humanity
You...can support the struggle of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people to
preserve their sacred Black Hills!
•by signing the petition which is kindly asking the Costner brothers to stop
construction of the Dunbar Resort;
http://kola-hq.hypermart.net/actcosn.htm
•by asking the U.S. government to uphold and respect the treaty rights as
provided in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie.
As a member of his worldwide audience, YOU have also been betrayed.
The story of Dances With Wolves and the construction of the Dunbar Resort in
the sacred Black Hills do not match!
NADAdog
What I wrote:
I am appalled at the actions of the Costner brothers. This is no different
than if they wanted to build a casino at the tomb of Jesus or at the tomb of
the unknown soldier. These actions are sacreligious at the least! It
violates a US treaty, which once again makes us liars and thieves in the
eyes of Native Americans everywhere. To make such a great movie, as DWW was,
then to stab The People in the back like this is a mark of a coward and one
who can't ever be trusted.
Tom Beno wrote in message <36c82...@news.oz.net>...
Anne V. Gilbert
NADAdog wrote in message <7a9hqe$1hk$1...@winter.news.rcn.net>...
>Thanks Tom, I feel this is important.
>What I wrote:
>I am appalled at the actions of the Costner brothers. This is no different
>than if they wanted to build a casino at the tomb of Jesus or at the tomb
of
>the unknown soldier. These actions are sacreligious at the least! It
>violates a US treaty, which once again makes us liars and thieves in the
>eyes of Native Americans everywhere. To make such a great movie, as DWW
was,
>then to stab The People in the back like this is a mark of a coward and one
>who can't ever be trusted.
>
>
>Tom Beno wrote in message <36c82...@news.oz.net>...
>>Here's a link: http://users.skynet.be/kola/costner.htm
To all:
I, too, am appalleed that Kevin Costner and his brother would even consider
building a resort in the Black Hills. I saw, and enjoyed, "Dances With
Wolves" some years back, and I fail to see how Costner, who earned the
respect of the Lakota people when he made the film, could possibly do such a
thing. OTOH, Native Americans, being the poorest group in America, are
often not considered when somebody makes a decision like this. The feeling
seems to be "Who cares if a few Native Americans protest? They don't count
anyway, and besides, they don't really know what's good for them". I'm now
beginning to wonder about Costner, too. Incidentally, this kind of action
doesn't fit his "Robin Hood" persona, either. Doesn't anybody remember that
Robin Hood was supposed to have robbed from the rich to give to the poor?
Anne Gilbert
Tom Beno
<7a9qau$tbm$1...@newssvr03-int.news.prodigy.com>...
>
>...Native Americans, being the poorest group in America, are
>often not considered when somebody makes a decision like this. The feeling
>seems to be "Who cares if a few Native Americans protest? They don't count
>--------------------------------------
A friend on the alt.native newsgroup helped me get to that article - it
still took a couple weeks. The Dunbar Resort is travesty in the making at
the hand of a (former) wolf hero - Kevin Costner.
Consistent with your comments (above) about Native Americans, the following
was posted to that ng two days ago. It's slightly off-topic (mea culpa) but
without their help, we wouldn't have had the Costner article in the first
place.
===========================
BEING INDIAN IS... By J.C. High Eagle
BEING INDIAN IS...having a large family of over a million brothers and
sisters!
BEING INDIAN IS...feeling that Little Bear, Prays-for-All, Big Heart are
more beautiful names than Jones, Smith or Brown.
BEING INDIAN IS...watching cowboys shoot to kill 40 of your kind with a
six-shot revolver on the TV late show without getting a scratch.
BEING INDIAN IS...observing your children watching a cowboy and Indian TV
western movie and cheer for the cowboys.
BEING INDIAN IS...joining the U.S. Army to save your country from the perils
of aggression, and against the U.S. Army on your reservation to keep the
Army Corps of Engineers from stealing your sacred land.
BEING INDIAN IS...graduating from a government Bureau of Indian Affairs
school and not being able to read a 6th grade English book from your white
friend's urban school.
BEING INDIAN IS...having your child come home from school and ask you about
the "strange beliefs" of the Indians that his/her teacher mentioned in
school today.
BEING INDIAN IS...never making quick evaluations of people, but reserving
judgment until their actions show what kind of people they really are.
BEING INDIAN IS...feeding anyone and everyone who comes to your door with
whatever you have.
BEING INDIAN IS...knowing the Great Spirit.
BEING INDIAN IS...having a Christian missionary tell you it is wrong to
believe in more than one Divine Being, then listening to him tell you about
God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Patrick,
St. Christopher, St. Francis, your spirit, your soul, etc.
BEING INDIAN IS...never giving up the struggle for survival.
BEING INDIAN IS...standing up for life principles and truths unashamed
without having compromise your values.
BEING INDIAN IS...not only being proud of who you were born from, but
mindful of how you conduct yourself in the world.
BEING INDIAN IS...to have your liberal white friends urge you to follow the
same path as your Black brothers to gain some advantage.
BEING INDIAN IS...having your friends and relatives accuse you of being a
traitor if you seek an education, earn more than $7,000 a year, wear a white
shirt and tie, drive a car less than three years old, and live in a three
bedroom home.
BEING INDIAN IS...having heard your grandparents and yourself say, "When
they honor the treaties and we get our land claim payments"...then suddenly
realize your children are saying the same words also.
BEING INDIAN IS...having your non-Indian friends go on a Vision Quest led by
a white man to the mountains, but leaving you home because you can't make
the $300 registration fee to attend.
BEING INDIAN IS...listening to your well-intentioned white brother try to
tell you about your native spirituality.
BEING INDIAN IS...hearing from non-Indians how rotten the government has
treated Indians, but still voting them back into office.
BEING INDIAN IS...listening to people tell you about their grandmother or
great grandmother that was a Cherokee Indian Princess.
BEING INDIAN IS...seeing other Indians in search for an Indian identity.
BEING INDIAN IS...being greeted by non-Indians with pseudo names from real
ancestors of your tribe.
BEING INDIAN IS...having to prove with documentation that you are one, when
other races and people in the country don't have to.
BEING INDIAN IS...knowing that your ancestors were slaughtered like animals
in the name of Christianity, and then being told that Christianity is out to
save us.
BEING INDIAN IS...buying "authentic" Indian jewelry made in Taiwan or Japan
BEING INDIAN IS...learning of people becoming Indian without having an
Indian mother or father.
BEING INDIAN IS...finding out that people think all Indians lived in tipis.
BEING INDIAN IS...being told that Columbus discovered America from his ship,
when we were watching him from the shore.
BEING INDIAN IS...trying to relate to people who say they are mathematically
1/4, 1/8, 1/16, etc. degree of blood.
BEING INDIAN IS...wearing braids and being called a "hippie" by those who
object to long hair.
BEING INDIAN IS...being whipped for speaking your own tribal language when
on the school ground premises.
BEING INDIAN IS...watching your elders boast of Indian pride and leadership,
between swigs of liquor from a half-empty bottle.
BEING INDIAN IS...having your brothers and sisters that are enrolled in the
tribe treat you as second class citizen because you and/or your family chose
not to walk the government's path.
BEING INDIAN IS...trying to search for tradition and truths of life when
alcoholism and drugs poison the path to the answers.
BEING INDIAN IS...trying to talk to elders about the "old ways" and having
them want to talk more about the rising price of cigarettes.
BEING INDIAN IS...going to school when you're young and having the teacher
skip over the Indian chapter in the history book.
BEING INDIAN IS...seeing others forget the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
BEING INDIAN IS...having others make jokes about your heritage and culture.
BEING INDIAN IS...living in two worlds.
BEING INDIAN IS...knowing the word, "Indian", is not your true name.
BEING INDIAN IS...being called "Chief" or "Tonto" by patronizing
non-Indians.
BEING INDIAN IS...being human, with human thoughts and feelings like your
non-Indian brothers and sisters.
BEING INDIAN IS...being constantly on the alert for the government's tactics
that will annihilate you and your tribe.
BEING INDIAN IS...holding onto a piece of paper treaty that was signed, but
never honored.
BEING INDIAN IS...being told of the ten commandments, but see the white man
subscribe to them only when convenient and in his favor.
BEING INDIAN IS...having non-Indians look at a barefoot Indian child that
laughs, thinking he or she is poor.
BEING INDIAN IS...knowing alcohol doesn't make you Indian, just drunk.
BEING INDIAN IS...seeing elders die and the language & customs with them.
BEING INDIAN IS...seeing Mother Earth destroyed by those who don't know Her.
BEING INDIAN IS...seeing history books tell you Columbus discovered America.
BEING INDIAN IS...hearing others think all Indians wear war bonnets.
BEING INDIAN IS...having the government treat you like a prisoner of war.
BEING INDIAN IS...seeing the government spend billions of dollars abroad,
but fail to honor the Indian treaties.
BEING INDIAN IS...sad,
BEING INDIAN IS...hard,
BEING INDIAN IS...crying,
BEING INDIAN IS...laughing,
BEING INDIAN IS...forever!
Pat Morris
I hadn't seen that one. It's a gem...............
Biting my tongue..............
Pat
b h
of Humble Pie for me. I had admired Costner's work and loved the movie.
Never considering that he would take advantage of the Sioux in this way.
Lessons learned.
I would encourage everyone to take the time to add your comments to the
petition.
Rhiain Hewinson
b h wrote:
What are you all on? Hollywood actors are out to make money the best way
they can. If that means going eco-friendly for a week, then they'll do it.
Costner has ALWAYS being nothing more than a show-boy. He is one of the most
superficial men in Hollywood and his films express this quite blatently.
Waterworld, the Postman, Dances with Wolves may all have been watchable
(just) but their claim to fame was the money he had spent on them -
certainly not the content. Don't be so surprised that he apparently lied to
you all. It's exactly what I would have predicted would happen. Movie stars
and politicians - I'd rather trust a lawyer.
seao...@my-dejanews.com
>
>
> Costner has ALWAYS being nothing more than a show-boy. He is one of the most
> superficial men in Hollywood and his films express this quite blatently.
> Waterworld, the Postman, Dances with Wolves may all have been watchable
> (just) but their claim to fame was the money he had spent on them -
> certainly not the content. Don't be so surprised that he apparently lied to
> you all. It's exactly what I would have predicted would happen. Movie stars
> and politicians - I'd rather trust a lawyer.
>
>
This is, of course, your own personal opinion and I don't take it for fact -
as I am sure others won't as well.
It is a mighty strong opinion, indeed. One that I can't help wonder where it
generates from, but all the same it is not mine (and many others who would
equally disagree with you). I can't say for certain why Kevin would attempt
to venture into this resort but I can say with as much certainty as I
believe, that he has thought long and deep about it. I do not believe he
intended to cause any hardship or disrespect, though I am fully aware that it
has. I also believe that this feeling of hardship and disrespect has cast a
spirit upon him that one could discribe as a curse. I think this has shown
itself quite clearly, though it might be diffcult to comprehend.
In defense of Kevin, let me just say that he is not, and should not, be
looked upon has another greed filled, self serving hollywood star with a
shallow soul. I believe he cares (deeply) about things that he seldom shows
publically, for reasons of his own self defense. To toss him in the lions
den seems unfair and shallow in itself, and makes those who cast stones no
better than those they rip apart.
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