A powerful poem by Splitting The Sky. Who is Splitting The Sky? He is an activist, struggling for justice for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. His Mohawk name, Dacajeweiah, translated into English, is Splitting the Sky. He was born in Buffalo, New York, colonized as John Boncore, and also became known as John Hill. From the age of seven, Splitting the Sky survived many years in New York foster homes and youth detention centers which sought to brutalise him with numerous depredations.

The Attica Rebellion: 1971 - Splitting the Sky was 19 years old when he was arrested for stealing a sandwich and sent to Attica Correctional Facility, 16 days before the infamous rebellion. The riot was based in part upon prisoners demands for better living conditions. At the time, inmates were given one shower per week and one roll of toilet paper per month. On September 9, 1971, responding to the death of prisoner George Jackson, a black radical prisoner who had been shot to death by corrections officers in Californias San Quentin Prison on August 21 while armed and attempting to escape, about 1,000 of the prisons approximately 2,200 prisoners rioted and seized control of the prison, taking thirty-three correction officers hostage. The State began negotiating with the prisoners.

During the following four days of negotiations, authorities agreed to 28 of the prisoners demands, but would not agree to demands for complete amnesty from criminal prosecution for the prison takeover, or for the removal of Atticas superintendent. Under order of then Governor Nelson Rockefeller, state police took back control of the prison. When the uprising was over at least 39 people were dead, including ten correction officers and civilian employees. Splitting the Sky was the only prisoner indicted for murdering a Police Officer.

Gustafsen Lake Standoff: 1995 - In June 1995, Indigenous people from the Secwepemc (Shuswap) and other nations began an occupation of sacred Sun Dance lands at TsPeten (pronounced che-peten), known as Gustafsen Lake in English, near 100 Mile House, British Columbia. The occupation at TsPeten followed a long history of attempts to gain recognition of Secwepemc sovereignty by the Canadian Government, and indigenous rights to unceded lands in British Columbia.
The standoff began when a previous arrangement from 1989 to hold sun dances on Crown Land under the jurisdiction of BC rancher Lyall James broke down. Some Natives chose to remain at Gustafsen Lake and continue to hold annual sun dances in defiance of threats of eviction by Lyall James, and to assert indigenous rights to the land. As one of the largest police operations in Canadian history, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched the deployment of four hundred tactical assault team members, five helicopters, two surveillance planes and nine Armoured Personnel Carriers. By the end of the 31-day standoff, police had fired over 77,000 rounds of ammunition, one woman had been shot, and a dog had been killed. The British Columbia Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh, branded the occupation as strictly a criminal matter, refusing to consider political negotiations. Splitting the Sky was fortunate to live to talk about the experience.

Splitting the Sky needs your help! He has unbreakable integrity and will not give up the fight against the oppressive criminal class of this world.