ROSEBUD – The Rosebud Sioux Tribal President issued a statement condemning the recent remarks by the South Dakota governor aimed at tribal nations and demanded an apology.
President Scott Herman stated Governor Kristi Noem’s statements “strayed from education into an unwarranted and untruthful attack on Tribal Nations. Her remarks were made from ignorance and with the intention to fuel a racially based and discriminatory narrative towards the Native people of South Dakota.”
The action came after Noem spoke at a town hall event held in Winner last week. “The Mexican cartels are set up here in South Dakota. They are here in South Dakota on our tribal reservations trafficking drugs and kids and sex trafficking” Noem said. “We’ve got some tribal leaders, that I believe, that are personally benefitting from the cartels being here and that’s why they attack me every day.”
Herman called her statements “defamatory and libelous.”
Noem’s remarks were a continuation of the Jan. 31 address during an emergency session of the South Dakota Legislature. She alleged “The drug and human trafficking pouring over the border devastate our people. Make no mistake, the cartels have a presence on several of South Dakota’s tribal reservations. Murders are being committed by cartel members on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City, and a gang called the “Ghost Dancers” are affiliated with these cartels.”
Noem “should take the time to contact tribal leaders before making racist, unsubstantiated and discriminatory attacks on tribal people,” Herman stated. “The Rosebud Sioux Tribe strongly condemns the Governor’s statements, and we demand an apology.”
Sicangu News 
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