On Wednesday Dec 19, 2007, the Lakota Indian tribe officially announced its secession from the USA in a press conference. The Lakota are a part of the greater Sioux Nation. Native American rights activist Russell Means spoke at the conference, enumerating the reasons and details regarding the Lakota secession. Means said, “We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us.”

The new Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. According to Russell Means, the new country would issue its own passports and driving licenses, and living there would be tax-free—provided residents renounce their US citizenship. They say the US government has broken 33 treaties with their people, and so the Lakota nation is withdrawing from those treaties and claiming independence.

Unemployment among the Lakota people is incredibly high—much higher than the US average—as is the teen suicide rate, infant mortality, and male average life expectancy (a mere 44 years). It’s no wonder the Lakota people want a change. But do they have the business leaders, the government leaders, the legal leaders, to make it work?

In order to be your own country, you must have a strong leadership core, a sustainable business base. The Lakota nation will need to negotiate new international trade treaties, create their own internal operation systems and government, provide municipal services, manage their country’s commerce… the list is lengthy and difficult, the details overwhelming. Their work is certainly cut out for them.

Are they ready and up to the task? Can anyone be ready? Does the Lakota nation have the human resources—the individual business, government, and leadership experience—and the material resources to survive as an independent nation? Admittedly, I don’t know enough about the Lakota people to answer that question, but it is a vital question that lies at the root of the success of this secession, and it must be answered.