Sicangu News

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Sicangu Lakota Akicita

The national mid-term elections will be held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. I want to thank all of the Lakota people who have worked tirelessly to register voters. Many used their own resources to bring you a voter registration form. They did an awesome job.

In order to be sure my vote counts, I made an effort to cast an absentee ballot earlier this month. If you live in Todd County, you can vote early at the County Building in Mission, South Dakota. The last day to vote early by casting an in-person absentee ballot is Monday, November 3, 2014 at 5pm.

I see many Native American journalists ride the fence when it comes to speaking out either in favor of or against political candidates. Yet, I believe we have too much at stake in this election for anyone to ride the fence. So let me give you a little background on Rick Weiland (Democrat), M. Michael Rounds (Republican), Gordon Howie and Larry Pressler (both Independents) who are on the Senate ballot for our state.

A Vote For Sovereignty flyer being circulated on Facebook lists how the candidates for the lone US Senate seat from South Dakota stand on land, water and health. Three examples used are (1) the Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline, (2) Tribal Land Acquisition and (3) the Indian Health Care Improvement Act which is part of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare).

Weiland opposes the KXL pipeline. The flyer states there is no immediate information available on his stance regarding Tribal land acquisition. He supports the Affordable Care Act, which includes the Indian Health Service Improvement Act. I voted for Rick Weiland.

Rounds supports the KXL pipeline. He fought the Yankton Sioux Tribe’s attempt to prevent the transfer of federal lands along the Missouri River to the State of South Dakota. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which includes the Indian Health Service Improvement Act.

Howie supports the KXL pipeline. The flyer states there is no immediate information available on his stance regarding Tribal land acquisition. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which includes the Indian Health Service Improvement Act.

Pressler supports enhancing existing oil pipelines. He supported legislation to impose county taxes on newly acquired Indian lands and require Congressional approval to remove the land from county tax rolls. He opposed Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s land acquisition. He believes the Affordable Care Act is flawed but here to stay.

I do not support the KXL pipeline. I am in favor of any Tribe working to acquire land. And for the first time in my life, I can actually afford paying for my own health insurance coverage due to the Affordable Care Act.

You might not agree with the way your tribal, state or federal government operates. But until the Constitutions of these governing bodies are rewritten, the systems will remain in place. So get involved and be an active participant in choosing your government officials. The power of change is in your vote.

On October 15, 2014, the Rosebud Law Enforcement Services received information regarding suspicious activity at the Quality Inn at the Rosebud Casino. Officers responded to a room rented by a male and female. The Officers observed drug paraphernalia in plain view. Upon requesting and receiving a Tribal Search Warrant, the Officers seized approximately 90 grams of methamphetamine. In addition, the Officers seized approximately six thousand United States dollars ($6,000) suspected to be drug related. Also found in the room was paraphernalia, including loaded syringes. The suspects were arrested and are currently incarcerated in the Rosebud Sioux Adult Correctional Facility. Bond has been set at $10,000.00 for each suspect.
The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is working diligently to eradicate the use and sale of drugs throughout the Reservation. If you have any information pertaining to the use and/or sale of drugs on the Rosebud Reservation please contact the Rosebud Sioux Law Enforcement Services Criminal Investigation Division at (605)747.2281.
Contact Information: Iver Crow Eagle, III
(605)747.2281
ivercroweagle@rstjustice.org
Also available on Facebook through the Rosebud Sioux Law Enforcement Services page.

Chase Iron Eyes speaks at the Native American Day Treaty Rally in Pierre, SD on October 13, 2014

Integrity is a term used to describe a person who is impeccably honest. The person who is genuinely honest is an individual who “walks their talk,” so to speak. Personal integrity requires you are honest with yourself first.

In order to be a positive role model for our children, an individual must have honesty and integrity. Again, this starts with the self. That is, if you are deceived by your own lies which you’ve convinced yourself to be true, how can you be honest with anyone else? In Lakota society, there is no room for the attitude of “do as I say, not as I do” if you are to be a positive role model.

Ego is the one thing which will get in your way of being completely honest with your own self. There is that saying about how the truth hurts. This concept also applies to the truths we admit to ourselves. Our own shortcomings are painful to face.

Ego also allows us to judge ourselves and other people, either positively or negatively. Our ego will convince us that someone else is doing something very wrong. We will judge them for whatever they are doing which we perceive as wrong. But what about the self? If you are doing the same thing which you judge another person for doing, why is it not wrong for you to do it? It’s very hypocritical to judge someone for the same thing you are doing as an individual.

I believe people who have been prosecuted for committing crimes have to do much, much more to prove their integrity. Still, their personal integrity is often beyond repair. Their character and reputation are forever tarnished. Society will never look at them the same again. So, some of us tend to judge our people who have been convicted of crimes in federal courts. After all, the crime has to be extremely serious if a person is indicted, tried and convicted in the federal system. And despite the claims of innocence or being set up for federal charges, people who accept a plea bargain are admitting they did something wrong.

Most people convicted in federal courts are sentenced to either a jail term or probation. Many times they will also have to pay a fine or restitution. This is how they make amends to society. Still, despite the fact that they have “paid” for their crimes by serving time in jail, being on probation or paying money, the trust of public is forever gone. The way they carry themselves when they return home from prison is forever scrutinized by the people who know them.

Murderers, rapists and molesters are often forever branded as such by their family and former friends. Many times people will not forget what they have done nor will they ever trust them again. Sex offenders must register with local law enforcement agencies so community members are aware of their record and where they live. Some felony convictions require these people to stay away from children. For example, people with a felony convictions usually cannot work in organizations which serve children, such as schools or daycare centers.

But what about those people who have been convicted or reached a plea agreement for selling eagle feathers? Some Lakota people believe a criminal conviction of this nature should be enough to ban the person caught from forever possessing eagle feathers.

Now that type of ban may seem extreme, it might also seem very judgmental. Still, it doesn’t look right at all when people convicted in the federal system of selling eagle feathers to subsequently wear them in public. But ego tends to prevail when a person refuses to admit to him or herself that what they are doing is wrong. There is also a certain amount of arrogance involved when a person does something like this.

For example, there are those of us who believe an individual cannot be considered a positive role model to our young people when they flaunt an eagle feather headdress after they’ve been convicted of selling eagle feathers. This conveys the message that it’s okay to sell federally protected eagle feathers because you can always wear your eagle feathers when you are finished serving your prison term.

If I had a felony conviction on my criminal record for selling eagle feathers I would be embarrassed to wear even one eagle feather in public. It would be hypocritical to represent myself as someone who respected eagle feathers when I had served a prison sentence for selling them. Now if I allowed my ego and arrogance to overcome my personal integrity, you would definitely see me wearing those eagle feathers like I had done no wrong against the Wanbli Gleska Oyate.

I am aware that many of us do not agree with the United States Attorney having jurisdiction over the major crimes committed in Indian Country. Yet, until the laws are changed, this jurisdiction is something all of us who reside on the Rez must live with.

Also, some will claim it isn’t my place to speak about eagle feathers because I am a woman. Others will accuse me of being judgmental and lacking forgiveness. Still, it was a woman who brought the sacred gift of the Cannunpa to our people. As the caretakers of our children and grandchildren, Lakota women have both the right and responsibility to speak out against behavior we perceive as wrong.

I doubt that any of us want our grandsons to grow up to be arrogant criminals who lack personal integrity. I want my grandson to be able to have a positive role model to look at to see how men should behave properly.

When tribal members travel off our Rez, it’s generally understood that we will be subject to the laws of the tribe, county, state or country which we are traveling through or visiting. Right?

The original boundaries of the Rosebud Reservation, which was illegally established in 1889 through a partition of the Great Sioux Reservation by the federal government, include the counties of Todd, Mellette, Tripp, Gregory and Lyman. Consequently, many Sicangu people were duped into selling their land allotments for next to nothing after the reservation was partitioned.

Still, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe recognizes the five county area as being within the exterior boundaries of the reservation as tracts of trust/tribal land are located within those counties. Consequently, non-Indian business owners quickly forgot the fact that the land their establishment was built on in Todd, Mellette, Tripp, Gregory or Lyman County originally belonged to a Sicangu Lakota. They will also refuse to acknowledge that the acquisition of the land they “own” wasn’t always a fair deal.

Today, the Rosebud Reservation is legally recognized as comprising all of Todd County. So, Todd County is the Rez, even though some of the land here is “owned” by wasicu. Thus, when you are doing business within the boundaries of Todd County you are subject the laws of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe whether or not you are a tribal member.

I attended the Cherry Todd Electric Cooperative Annual meeting in Mission last week. I do realize many of our non-Indian neighbors are ignorant when it comes to the way the Tribe conducts business. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt but I was rudely reminded of the ignorance and arrogance which the wasicu are capable of; the behavior I witnessed at the meeting was truly appalling. All those arrogant and ignorant wasicus need lots of prayers!

An issue which carried over from the 2013 meeting was the fact that an attorney retained by Cherry Todd didn’t have a tribal business license, which resulted in the tabling of a motion last year. The motion was apparently to remain tabled until the attorney obtained a license. Yet, the attorney was ignorant enough to believe he did not need a tribal business license to provide services within the legal boundaries of the Rosebud Reservation. Maybe he skipped class when his law school offered the lesson on the importance of complying with the laws of the local jurisdiction when doing business.

This attorney is not covered by Cherry Todd’s tribal business license because he is not an employee of the cooperative. Attorneys are paid a retainer to provide services. This attorney would only be considered an employee if he was at the cooperative office every day and paid a salary instead of a retainer.

People doing business within the boundaries of the Rosebud Reservation are required to obtain a tribal business license. It’s that simple, yet ignorance or maybe just plain arrogance got in the way of this lawyer doing things according to tribal law.