The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot Indians, live in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There is only one of the Niitsitapi (Niitsitapi means original people) tribes that are called Blackfoot or Siksika. There is a story that has been told to my grandmother that the Niitsitapi used to put ash in the bottom of their moccasins so they would always be able to tell themselves apart from the other tribes. The blackfeet Nation is one of the ten largest tribes in the united states and I wanted to talk about the Niitsitapi because today at 12:00 am an article was posted about them, the Niitsitapi have proposed a new constitution for the Blackfeet Nation the new constitution has been approved by resolution by the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, it has been approved by local BIA Superintendent Thedis Crowe and has been forwarded to the Billings office of the BIA to begin the process that will need the Secretarial Election among the Blackfeet Tribal Membership to approve or reject it their constitution. The Niitsitapi seem to be very secluded, their reservation is about 165,588 acres with 17,321 members of the Blackfeet Nation, The Niitsitapi consider their land to be sacred, I think Chief Earl Old Person said it best “This area is part of who we are; it’s a part of our creation story,” “We go to the Badger-Two Medicine to gather medicines and food, and to be closer to our Creator.” With that being said Chief Earl Old Person wrote a letter to President Obama ask him to sit down and talk with him about protecting the land because not only is the land sacred to the Niitsitapi but a lot of land that is “owned” but different tribes have had a lot of illegal fracking in their water, the great plains have not yet had oil spills on their land and the Chief would like to keep it that way. I choose to talk about the Niitsitapi because they are quiet, they are one of the largest and most secluded tribes in North America and I personally think it’s amazing to know that there is a group of people that I live so close to that still practice their traditions and live that same way they did when they were first here, It shows how much they love and respect their land because it is really easy to adapt to the “American” lifestyle, I makes me proud knowing that I am apart of the Blackfeet Nation and that I can go there and see the land they have taken care of .
Blackfeet- Niitisapi [Digital image]. (n.d.).
Cherokee Blackfoot Tribes [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/66/ca/15/66ca1534befac995ac4f49c039b93950.jpg
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