Bluestem watched Governor Kristi Noem's speech to a joint session of the South Dakota State Legislature and was not surprised by the blowback to her choice to focus on cartel activity on Native American reservations in the state.
Indeed, I was surprised that she singled out the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, since the Lake Traverse Reservation isn't even on official state maps handed out at visitor centers. As I noted in the headnote to Drug cartels have infiltrated reservations, Noem says, but some tribal voices call speech ‘political:
I'll be looking for more information about Noem's flagging the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate land as a cartel base. Does this mean that Noem will support Tribal leaders as they urge legislators to support reestablishment of Lake Traverse Reservation boundaries?
I know my Dakota neighbors here within the traditional boundaries of the Lake Traverse Reservation would appreciate that step.
On the other side of the state, Oglala Sioux Tribat President Frank Star Comes Out has banned the governor from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Dakota Scout and the Associated Press report.
it's not the first time Noem's been banned. As Dakota Free Press noted in May 2019, Oglala Sioux Tribe Slaps Travel Ban on Kristi Noem over the anti-pipeline-protest, industry drafted "riot boosting" laws. Courthouse News Service reported in September 2019 South Dakota Anti-Riot Law Blocked by Federal Judge.
In October, the ACLU noted in a press release, South Dakota Governor Drops Anti-Protest Laws in Settlement Agreement With ACLU.Jeepers.
That was then, this is now
Star Comes Out posted a press release containing the tribe's statement on Facebook. Click on the See more link in the embed to read the entire statement.
At the Dakota Scout, Joe Sneve and Austin Goss reported in Noem banned again by Oglala Sioux after tying reservation crime to southern border crisis:
Gov. Kristi Noem is once again banned from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe has banished the Republican governor from its territory following remarks she made earlier this week in an address to the state Legislature in which she said Mexican drug cartels are operating on tribal lands, specifically saying that “Ghost Dancers” are affiliated with those criminal organizations.
“I and the Oyate are deeply offended that you alleged the “Ghost Dancers” are affiliated with these cartels,” OST President Frank Star Comes Out said in a statement issued by the tribe Friday, referring to claims by the governor that murders in the Rapid City area stems from the cartel activity, including a gang called the “Ghost Dancers.”
That part of Noem’s address to lawmakers Wednesday has brought criticisms from Native American policy makers and tribal leaders, who say the governor’s comments were disparaging to the tribes and Native Americans while politicizing a public safety issue, done as a way for her to gain favor with presidential candidate Donald Trump. Noem is a leading contender to be selected as Trump’s running mate in this year’s presidential election.
“Ghost Dance: one of the most sacred ceremonies was a used with blatant disrespect and is insulting to our Oyate,” Star Comes Out continued in the four-page memo released on the tribe’s social media pages, which concludes with, “Due to the safety of the Oyate, effective immediately, you are hereby Banished from the homelands of the Oglala Sioux Tribe!”
It’s the second time the tribe, located in southwestern South Dakota, has banned the governor from the reservation. In 2019, the tribe’s council banished Noem following her support for legislation aimed at penalizing Keystone XL pipeline protesters.
In a statement provided to The Dakota Scout Saturday, Noem said her address was intended to highlight the effects of an uncontrolled southern border on all of South Dakota, and that it’s Star Comes Out who is playing politics while his tribe is victimized by inaction from the federal government.
“The Mexican cartels are not only impacting our tribal reservations; they are impacting every community, from our big cities to our small towns,” she said. “But our tribal reservations are bearing the worst of that in South Dakota. Speaking this fact is not meant to blame the tribes in any way – they are the victim here.” . . .
Noem's in Texas again on Sunday (today), so I suspect that the tribe and other South Dakotas just aren't her audience.
For the Associated Press, Trisha Ahmed reports in A South Dakota tribe banned Gov. Kristi Noem from a reservation over her US-Mexico border remarks:
A South Dakota tribe has banned Republican Gov. Kristi Noem from the Pine Ridge Reservation after she spoke this week about wanting to send razor wire and security personnel to Texas to help deter immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and also said cartels are infiltrating the state’s reservations.
“Due to the safety of the Oyate, effective immediately, you are hereby Banished from the homelands of the Oglala Sioux Tribe!” Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said in a Friday statement addressed to Noem. “Oyate” is a word for people or nation.
Star Comes Out accused Noem of trying to use the border issue to help get former U.S. President Donald Trump re-elected and boost her chances of becoming his running mate.
Many of those arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border are Indigenous people from places like El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico who come “in search of jobs and a better life,” the tribal leader added.
“They don’t need to be put in cages, separated from their children like during the Trump Administration, or be cut up by razor wire furnished by, of all places, South Dakota,” he said.
Star Comes Out said he took deep offense at her reference, saying the Ghost Dance is one of the Oglala Sioux’s “most sacred ceremonies,” “was used with blatant disrespect and is insulting to our Oyate.”
He added that the tribe is a sovereign nation and does not belong to the state of South Dakota.
Noem responded Saturday in a statement, saying, “It is unfortunate that President (Star) Comes Out chose to bring politics into a discussion regarding the effects of our federal government’s failure to enforce federal laws at the southern border and on tribal lands. My focus continues to be on working together to solve those problems.” . . .
Bluestem will keep an eye on this development.
Photo: OST President Frank Star Comes Out, from Facebook.
Related posts
- South Dakota apologizes, pays Transformation Project $300,000 for discrimination
- Explaining and gaining? Noem concedes Texas costs were gift to Lone Star state; meets with two South Dakota House tribal members
- Drug cartels have infiltrated reservations, Noem says, but some tribal voices call speech ‘political’
- Texas hasn’t repaid South Dakota for border help
- Missing from AP report on Biden's revoking Keystone XL pipeline: indigenous voices
- South Dakota ethics: Will lawmakers resolve Governor Noem's closed-door meeting with daughter violated public trust?
- Pants on fire at CPAC: Governor Kristi Noem claims "We kept kids in the classroom"
- Judge stops bid to end Rosebud Sioux & Fort Belknap Indian tribes' Keystone pipeline lawsuit
- SD Gov Noem blames Soros' money for pipeline protests; cuts tribes out of anti-protest bills talk
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