About

LPLP History

In 2004, Madonna Thunder Hawk and a group of grandmothers in Lakota country — an area comprised of nine Indian reservations in North and South Dakota — asked us to investigate and help them prevent South Dakota's Department of Social Services from removing their grandchildren from their families. The investigation uncovered that drugging and routine patterns of physical and mental abuse of Native children in foster care were leading to high levels of youth suicide.

These atrocities, a direct violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — a federal law enacted in 1978 — inspired the formation of the Lakota People’s Law Project (LPLP). It was time to put a stop to the cycles of injustice leading to the slow genocide of the Lakota.

Our first program, the ongoing Lakota Child Rescue Project, launched in 2005 to assist the return of Lakota children to their families, tribes, and communities. An initial investigation uncovered drugging and routine patterns of physical and mental abuse of Native children in South Dakota's foster care system, leading to high levels of youth suicide.

In 2011, Lakota Law invited National Public Radio journalist Laura Sullivan to South Dakota. After a year of research supported by LPLP staff, Sullivan produced a Peabody Award-winning series of stories about the foster care crisis in Lakota Country — including the systematic, and perhaps financially-motivated, violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act by the Department of Social Services. Following this reporting — heard by an estimated 20 million people — Congress members issued a letter demanding action. In response, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) promised to host a summit for key stakeholders.

When the BIA failed to immediately follow through, Lakota Law organized intensively to inspire action. In the summer of 2012, we helped increase tribal participation at a conference in Rapid City attended by three Executive Branch Departments (the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services).

Since 2012, Lakota Law has successfully organized to secure $200,000 planning grants to assist the Standing Rock and Pine Ridge nations in securing direct federal funding to administer foster care and adoption services. The work to secure autonomy from South Dakota continues to this day. Recently, Lakota Law helped to facilitate the opening of a teen center at Standing Rock, very near to our Native-run foster home.

In 2016, the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) threatened the Lakota’s sacred lands and water, so we expanded our mission. The injustices perpetrated against the Lakota during the peaceful and prayerful resistance to DAPL highlighted a blatant pattern of contempt and disregard for the Lakota and their sovereignty.

In 2017, in the wake of the Standing Rock protests, we undertook the successful defense of Lakota water protector and LPLP attorney Chase Iron Eyes, who had been arrested for allegedly trespassing on his tribe's own ancestral lands and instigating a "riot."

The term "riot" is now key to an ongoing attack on American civil liberties. States around the nation are passing laws meant to chill and criminalize the protest of pipelines, which constantly ignore treaty boundaries and have the potential to despoil sacred lands. The Lakota People's Law Project is committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of Native peoples and their allies.

We also work closely with tribal nations and nonprofit compatriots to amplify Indigenous voices, provide renewable solutions in place of fossil fuel consumption, protect the voting rights of Native people, and provide on-the-ground support when and where it is needed most. That includes working with organizers to advance LGTBQ2S rights in Indian Country and help with challenges around COVID-19.

LPLP aims to assist in the reclamation of Indigenous lands and to stop all threats to the Lakota culture. Native Peoples possess inherent sovereignty and the right to autonomous rule and self-determination.

The Lakota flourished for centuries before Europeans arrived on these lands, and their tradition of living in relation to all things is more important today than ever. We are committed to working toward the revitalization of the Lakota People and culture. Learn more about actions you can take and discover how you can get more involved!

Leadership

CO-DIRECTOR & LEAD COUNSELChase Iron Eyes, Esq.
Chase's distinguished career fighting for the civil rights of Native Americans includes serving as lead local counsel in the Dakotas for the Lakota People’s Law Project, co-founding the Native news website LastRealIndians.com, and work in the Native Lives Matter movement. In 2016, he was the Democratic congressional nominee for North Dakota.

From the beginning of the movement, Chase was involved on the front lines of the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline, hosting tribal leadership, providing legal services, and joining the water protectors in their prayerful and peaceful protest. Born on Standing Rock Nation, today Chase lives at Pine Ridge as an enrolled member of the Oglala Nation.

Chase holds bachelor's degrees in political science and American Indian studies from the University of North Dakota, and a Juris Doctor of Law degree with an emphasis in Federal Indian Law from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. He is the father of three Lakota children.
CO-DIRECTORDaniel Paul Nelson
Daniel oversees all Romero Institute departments and helps decide strategic direction for the organization. He has over 15 years of experience as a deputy director, organizer, researcher, and writer. He holds a BA in Political Theory from Harvard College and an MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago.
CHEYENNE RIVER ORGANIZERMadonna Thunder Hawk
Madonna Thunder Hawk, a member of the Oohenumpa band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, has a long history of grassroots activism prior to her formative work for LPLP as a Tribal Liaison. She is co-founder of Women of All Red Nations (WARN), as well as the Black Hills Alliance—which prevented corporate uranium mining in the Black Hills and proved the high level of radiation in Pine Ridge reservation's water supply. She was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and occupied Alcatraz and Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government's genocidal policies against Native Americans. She spent months camped in Standing Rock to oppose the Dakota Access pipeline and protect clean water and treaty rights. Her work with LPLP builds alliances and support for Indian child welfare among South Dakota's tribal leaders and communities. She is a grandmother to a generation of Native American activists.
STANDING ROCK ORGANIZERPhyllis Young
An enrolled member of the tribe, Phyllis Young leads our #GreenTheRez campaign to bring renewable energy to the people of Standing Rock. Serving as a tribal council member from 2012 to 2015, Phyllis was hired by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to address the NoDAPL struggle in the fall of 2015 and acted as an official “tribal liaison” to the Oceti Sakowin Camp. Her presence was felt daily by the tens of thousands who traveled to the resistance camps protesting the Dakota Access pipeline. Phyllis is a long-time member of the American Indian Movement, and co-founded Women of All Red Nations with Madonna Thunder Hawk in 1978. She also served as a board member of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian for 15 years.
President & Chief CounselDaniel Sheehan, Esq.
A Harvard-trained constitutional law attorney, Daniel has led or participated in some of the most important public interest cases of the last 40 years. His lawsuits include the Watergate and Iran-Contra Scandals, the Pentagon Papers, and the killing of Karen Silkwood. In 1973-74, he served as amicus counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union regarding the occupation of Wounded Knee. In 1980, he co-founded the Christic Institute, a nonprofit public interest law center that—among many other cases—prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina, and represented victims of the Three Mile Island disaster in Pennsylvania. In his work with LPLP, Daniel has been a principal attorney in drafting the legal strategy for the federal Justice Department’s lawsuit against the State of South Dakota for its violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act. He was present at Standing Rock during opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline. Daniel also served as defense counsel for LPLP lead counsel and water protector Chase Iron Eyes, who was targeted by law enforcement and faced severe charges following the Dakota Access pipeline protests. You can learn more about Daniel Sheehan at his website and his Facebook page.
Executive DirectorSarah Nelson
The Executive Director of the Romero Institute since 1992, Sara has over 40 years of nonprofit leadership, grassroots organizing, national education, and fundraising experience. She was the director of the Karen Silkwood Fund, executive director and co-founder of the Christic Institute, and executive director of the State of the World Forum in San Francisco. She was the national labor chair for the National Organization for Women and a member of the California Commission on the Status of Women. For over a decade, Sara has been working with our Lakota staff and the nine tribes of South Dakota on matters relating to the Lakota Child Rescue Project, as well as with executive agencies in Washington DC. She holds a BA in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Communications

COMMUNICATIONS & PRESS DIRECTORJesse Phelps
An award-winning journalist and experienced PR pro, Jesse has decades of experience writing, editing, and developing relationships. He contributes words and strategy to LPLP, and he's grateful to work with people of heart and intelligence on something so meaningful. He holds a BA in film from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
ONLINE EVENTS PRODUCEREarth Hadjo
Earth Hadjo is an enrolled member of Yamassee Indian Tribe of Seminoles, serving as their Cultural and Government Liaison. She’s also a Software Engineer, DJ, and Indigenous Peoples Movement coalition member. Earth is embedded in the movement for Indigenous Sovereignty and Black Liberation, but more than that she wants to see all people be free from the systems of capitalism, exploitation, and colonization.
FIELD ORGANIZER & SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALISTDeCora Hawk
DeCora Hawk, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is a graduate of The University of Oklahoma College of Law, with a degree in Indigenous People’s Law. Granddaughter of Lakota Law co-founder Madonna Thunder Hawk, she comes to us with experience in grassroots organizing, as a former Director of Community Engagement for an Indigenous-led non-profit. Her work has been centered around the liberation of the Oceti Sakowin by combating systemic racism, perpetuated by colonization. She is a founding member of the Women’s Equity Movement. This group of women, located on the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Pine Ridge Reservation, works toward its mission to provide a safe, violence-free nation for our men, women, and children through policy advocacy and cultural responses. DeCora also partnered with Generations Indigenous Ways Executive Director Helene Gaddie to spearhead the Indigenous Response Network. This network provided necessary resources — including cleaning supplies, food distributions, and a vaccination pop-up clinic — to elders and youth across the nine districts of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Most recently, DeCora has promoted legislative action on the inequity of property tax inflation on the reservations of South Dakota.
SOCIAL MEDIA & MARKETING SPECIALISTShaun Little Horn
Shaun Little Horn (Napé Sutá) lives in Oglala Lakota Territory in Porcupine, SD. He brings a wealth of media experience to the Lakota People's Law Project, including a nationally syndicated talk radio show for over a decade. Shaun has published articles in over 30 different newspapers and ten magazines. He has also been interviewed on over 300 radio stations, television stations, and podcasts and worked as a marketing manager for multiple South Dakota television stations. He enjoys sports, BUT his true passion is working for the Oyáte. He looks forward to using his marketing and media skills to bring the deserved attention to the work being done on the frontlines by the LPLP.

Support Staff

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE & MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM MANAGERAnna Mason
Anna oversees fundraising efforts, donor relations and manages the membership program for LPLP. With a background in marketing, sales, and entertainment, she is happy to now funnel her energy toward the protection of our planet and the rights of its people. Anna holds a BA in American Literature & Culture from the University of California, Los Angeles.
VIDEO EDITORChris Sherertz
Chris manages LPLP’s video and audio production, graphic design, and Youtube channels. He also runs a small music studio. He holds a BS in astrophysics and a minor in electronic music from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
VIDEOGRAPHERChuck Banner
A producer, director, cinematographer, editor, and livestreamer with over 30 years of production experience in the industry, Chuck has done extensive work in Indian Country, beginning with documenting AIM’s Yellow Thunder Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1981. Since then, he has created a number of films about Native American rights and the environment. Chuck’s own projects include BannerCaswell Productions and Earthstream Media, which develop digital signage, cloud-based Internet distribution, and broadcast-quality live stream solutions. His latest “deployment” was to Standing Rock in November of 2016.
SENIOR DIGITAL PLATFORMS MANAGERNoel Rabinowitz
The Sr. Digital Platforms Manager since May 2020, Noel has over three decades of empowering grassroots movements with strategic technology and media capabilities to win greater racial and economic justice for more and more people. It's an honor to serve here for Native American rights and environmental justice as we "get in good trouble" against racism, poverty, war, exploitation, gender oppression and environmental degradation. What do digital platforms for mass organizing, outreach performance analysis, supporter research, staff training, data integrity and security have to do with social progress? Well I'm with you still trying to learn by doing. Find me any time by emailing noel -at- lakotalaw.org or message me on LinkedIn. I'd love to connect.

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LPLP History

Leadership

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Support Staff

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