Oct 17, 2016

Chief Arvol Looking Horse’s lecture on water crisis, environmental justice, and unity will break the surface of the numerous perturbing issues affecting the Native

Oct 17, 2016

Chief Arvol Looking Horse’s lecture on water crisis, environmental justice, and unity will break the surface of the numerous perturbing issues affecting the Native American community that have been unrecognized and disregarded for centuries.

As the 19th Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe and Bundle, Chief Looking Horse was the youngest to have been given this responsibility in history at only twelve years old. Also the spiritual leader of the Lakota Nation of South Dakota and all three branches of the Sioux tribe, he has dedicated his life to “letting the world know how beautiful [their] way of life is”. The intensifying suppression of his people’s spiritual preferences is what has encouraged Chief Looking Horse to fight for the religious freedom, cultural survival, and revival for Native Americans across the country and restore pride to their lands. He met with the Dalai Lama in 1995 to establish a relationship between Tibet and the Lakota Nation, and has lectured at many reputable universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and UCLA. Chief Looking Horse is also the author of White Buffalo Teachings and columnist for Indian Country Today, as well as the founder of the Big Foot Riders in memory of the massacre at Wounded Knee. He has won many awards, such as the Juliet Hollister Award from the Temple of Understanding and the Canadian Wolf Award.

Stand Down is an invitation to get traumatized Veterans off the street and back into their lives. It is a three day event that includes medical, dental, legal services but most inportantly, it restores Vets with a sense of community. Int he words of its founder Dr. John Natchison it is a drug free Woodstock music festival combined with Maslow's hierarchy of needs and a family picnic. A thousand Vets show up and 2,000 grateful volunteers welcome them. There are now over 300 Stand Down events in the US. Of the percent of citizens who sign up for the military Veterans disproportionately experience trauma, PTSD, substance abuse disorders and homelessness. Community and connection is the means to Veterans to recover their purpose and passion.