Sicangu News

It is really hard for our children to stay in school. The intensity of issues they deal with can be overwhelming. When I was in school I didn’t questioned why I had to be there. Most of the time school was fun for me. I enjoyed learning. Of course, every student has their difficult days and I remember those days very well. I also remember the good days which were fun. Times are different now for our children.

 

I recall the time in the middle school as being the most difficult. It hasn’t really changed much as I believe our middle school students are the ones who have the hardest time with peer pressure, bullying and the other students they call their haters. And when I look at the family of the student who is mean or a bully, I can see why the student turned out the way they did. When adult bullies have children, they usually raise those children to be just as mean as they are. Parents are the first teachers so it makes sense that if you are mean you are likely to have cruel children.

 

I also remember the principals, teachers and coaches in my elementary, middle and high schools. While in elementary school I recall my teachers/coaches and principals being adults with high expectations, they wanted us to succeed so they made us work hard. We were encouraged to be high achievers.

 

I had an elementary teacher who pushed me hard to become a good reader. I believe it was her efforts which helped me develop my reading skills. I remember the speed reading exercises she would put me through. It was a challenge but it didn’t seem like it back then because I loved to read!

 

When I got to high school, the social issues I faced were more of a challenge. Still, they were not as difficult as they are for our students today. There were bullies to deal with but I think I only saw one fist fight while I was in high school. Today you can watch fights on YouTube featuring our local high school girls.

 

I had two excellent teachers in high school who were determined to teach me Algebra. I also had two amazing teachers who pushed us to learn all we could about science. Still another teacher influenced me to perfect my typing skills. These outstanding teachers helped me develop my academic skills so I could be the person I am today.

 

Today I hear a lot of negative things about the mission schools and how they abused our people. I know many of my classmates had issues with our teachers. Still, I have to say that the best teachers I had were some of the priests, brothers and sisters of St. Francis Mission. Even though I realize that many of my peers would disagree with me, I have to say that my experience with them was good. For the most part, the ones I encountered were ethical people with integrity who had our best interests at heart.

 

Furthermore, I had mature coaches in school. Sometimes they would get emotional but I never did hear them cuss us out. They never called us derogatory names either. They possessed an admirable amount of self-control. Their behavior was always appropriate.

 

Nowadays we have all kinds. There are teachers, coaches, administrators and even school board members who do not have the level of integrity which the people who held these positions had when I attended school. In my opinion, it is dangerous to have unscrupulous people in the same schools as our children.

 

A teaching certificate does not guarantee ethics or integrity or appropriate behavior. School boards should be looking more closely at the character of the teachers they hire, right? But sometimes we elect people to school boards who do not act in the best interest of our children. They often act in the best interest of the adults.

 

On January 30, 2013, a teacher who is employed with the Todd County School District was publicly reprimanded by the South Dakota Professional Teachers Practices and Standards Commission. Last week, someone provided me with the document and asked me how they could get it published in a local newspaper. For those of you who have not seen the document signed by Chairman Aaron Weaver, the contents of the Public Reprimand issued against a local teacher are provided here:

 

“A hearing was held before the South Dakota Professional Teachers Practices and Standards Commission regarding allegations that Robert D. Boyd Jr., a teacher, violated the South Dakota Code of Professional Ethics for Teachers. The Commission has determined that Robert D. Boyd Jr. violated the following provisions of the South Dakota Code of Professional Ethics for Teachers: ARSD 24:08:03:01. Obligations to students. In fulfilling their obligations to the students, educators shall act as follows: (5) Conduct professional business in such a way that they do not expose the students to unnecessary intimidation, embarrassment, or disparagement; (7) Maintain professional relationships with students without exploitation of a student for personal gain or advantage; As a result of these violations of the Code of Professional Ethics for Teachers, the Commission hereby issues this PUBLIC REPRIMAND against Robert D. Boyd Jr.”

 

I’m not sure about you but I am now extremely apprehensive about Robert D. Boyd Jr. being anywhere near my Takoja when they enter the grade levels where he teaches or coaches. There must have been enough evidence to warrant a Public Reprimand to be issued by a State Commission. So why didn’t the local school board reprimand, sanction, fine or even terminated Boyd? Isn’t it the job of the adults to look after the best interest of the students?

 

The system failed in this instance. This concerns our children. Our students deserve the best, do they not? If Boyd acted unethically or unprofessionally with students before, how do I know that he will not do something inappropriate

Bootleggers on the Rez have got to be the lowest of the low. I hardly ever hear of bootleggers getting busted anymore. I read about drug dealers going to jail but I don’t remember any bootleggers getting arrested.

 

Oh wait. Maybe they aren’t being arrested because alcohol is a legal drug. Never mind our cemeteries are full of young Lakota people who took their lives while under the influence of alcohol or that there are many other Lakota people buried in those same cemeteries because they drank themselves to death. Even though alcohol is the most devastating drug the Lakota people have become addicted to, it is still legal.

 

In my opinion, most businesses which have a liquor license also have the blood of my people on their hands. The bootleggers also have blood on their hands. You might counter my statement with the argument that drinking is a personal choice but someone has to sell the booze. Obtaining a liquor license or bootlegging vodka is also a personal choice. I don’t have any blood on my hands because I am not a drug dealer of alcohol. I do not own a bar or an off-sale liquor/beer establishment nor am I a bootlegger. When you sell alcohol your hands carry the blood of the people who die from drinking.

 

When I post a status on Facebook about how bad the drinking is on my Rez I draw a slew of mixed reactions. The sober people who watch every single day what booze is doing to our people usually agree with me. The people who still actively drink the drug are the ones who call me names or label me as judgmental.  

 

There are bootleggers in nearly every community on my Rez. As a child I had a parent who bootlegged to people. I didn’t like it. I remember there was always someone knocking at the door. I knew where the tin cup full of quarters was kept; it was there to give change because the green bottled pints sold for $1.50 back then.

 

Nowadays there are many people living on fixed incomes and since our lives are now nearly dominated by technology there are ATM cards which people are issued in order to receive their monthly cash (TANF, SSI, etc.) or food benefits (SNAP). I learned that the bootleggers take these cards too. Some of our people can easily drink up all their money and/or benefits. They don’t buy food. They don’t pay their bills. They just drink.

 

Thus, the children of alcohol overdosers (who are not already in the custody of the South Dakota Department of Social Services or are not already placed in a non-Indian foster home) are stuck in the drinker’s home and often live with no power, no heat and no food. Many children do not even have adequate clothing for the winter months. 

 

Many of the gift cards issued a few months back by my tribe for the purpose of buying coats or boots for school children were traded to the bootlegger so he/she could buy more cheap booze to sell for ridiculously marked up prices to the drinkers in the community. Or the gift cards were sold for cash at half of their value so the drinking parent could go sit in the bar. Did you buy one of those $150 cards for $75? If so, you helped deprive a child of some much needed clothing or shoes.

 

The children of active alcoholics rarely have any sober role models in the home. I grew up watching many family members and community people drink. It was all around me. There was absolutely no escape. Today I wonder if I would have succumbed to the many years I devoted to alcohol overdosing if I had grown up around sober people. After all, the people whom I watched overdose on alcohol when I was a child were the ones who showed me how to drink. When most of the family boozes, it must be okay for you to drink alcohol as an adult, right?

 

Still, I cannot blame any one person for the many years I was an active drinker. It was my choice to do all of that but it might have been different if alcohol was not so readily available to me. In any case, I am fortunate to have summoned the strength and the courage to put the booze away. Many of the people I drank heavily with are still at it.

 

This column was sparked through a message sent to me by a young person who wanted advice on how to stop the bootlegging in their community. In my opinion, the only way people can quash the bootleggers is to take back their community. It has to be a grass roots effort and I would hope that local law enforcement could assist with such a movement.

 

Look at what happened at White Clay, NE over the weekend. The Oglala have had enough of those liquor establishments selling the poison to their people so they marched on them for several days in a row. The Oglala Lakota successfully shut the stores down from doing any more business on those days! Not even the Nebraska police could stop the Oglala. The people were led by their Tribal President Bryan Brewer. The Oglala Lakota are showing the world they are serious about stopping the sale of alcohol on their border. They are taking back their own community.

 

I encourage the people on the Rosebud Rez to take back our community. One way to draw attention to the problem is to organize a walk with stops at the houses where the known bootleggers live. It was pointed out to me that even our school children know where these houses are. When a walk is scheduled please contact me. I will bring my camera to photograph the bootlegger’s houses. I will post the pictures on my Facebook and WordPress pages.

On my rez, daylight saving time is most commonly known as “time change.” Many people use the phrase “spring forward, fall back” to remember which way to turn the hands on their clocks. We perform this ritual of moving the hands on our clocks twice each year. I always wonder why.

Maybe I should be saying that we fast forward the settings on our digital clocks because most all timepieces are digital nowadays. In any case, it seems really useless to me to be moving the clocks forward or backward. Some of you might believe the practice gives us an extra hour of daylight. I believe the practice is a total illusion. Are we really that gullible to the illusion of it all? If you believe that moving your clock forward or backward gives you more time then you are definitely caught up in the illusion of it. The sun will continue to rise and set each day whether we move the hands on our clock or not.

We are told to move the hands of our clocks before going to sleep on the night before the time is slated to change. How many of you forgot to do this last Saturday? The time change always happens at the mysterious hour of 2:00 am on Sunday mornings.

Have you ever tried to explain to a child why the time has to be changed? Oftentimes children see through the illusions the adults are caught up in. In any case, if you forget to move the hour of your clock forward or backward you woke up on Sunday morning either an hour behind or ahead. Some of you totally forgot to mess with the clock until you realized you were an hour late for work on Monday morning.

Seems as though we all barely get our sleep patterns straightened out and then it is time to change the clocks again. But I suppose we are bound by the often pointless laws or customs, such as daylight saving time, of our tribe, state, country, region or continent. Many countries of the world have never observed daylight saving time. Some countries used to observe daylight saving time but must have realized the illusion of it all because they don’t move their clocks around anymore.

Two states do not move their clocks forward or backward at all. People living in the states of Arizona and Hawaii enjoy waking up at the same time all year round. They are not subject to daylight saving time. At one time I lived in Arizona. I thought it was great to not have to live under the illusion of “losing” or “gaining” an hour in the spring and fall.

I guess I should say that the only part of Arizona which actually observes daylight saving time is the Navajo Reservation. I suppose the tribe suffers less confusion by observing the time change rules throughout their lands simply because of the fact that their reservation extends across three states. It is probably easier for everyone to be on the same time.

Another thing I do not believe is that time change saves energy. If daylight saving time really saved energy everyone on the reservation would have electricity, propane, wood and coal all year long. Each month of the year every household in Indian country would all be able to afford the outrageous prices charged for electricity and heating or cooling costs. If daylight saving time were so efficient there would not be one house on any rez sitting in the dark because someone couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill.

 

In fact, daylight saving time can actually increase energy consumption. For instance, “A 2008 study examined billing data in Indiana before and after it adopted DST in 2006, and concluded that DST increased overall residential electricity consumption by 1% to 4%, due mostly to extra afternoon cooling and extra morning heating; the main increases came in the fall. The overall annual cos t of DST to Indiana households was estimated to be $ 9 million, with an additional $ 1.7– 5.5 million for social costs due to increased pollution” http:// en. wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Daylight_ saving_ time

The lifestyles of our ancestors were not determined by a clock. The people once moved according to the seasons and the stars. Daylight was taken advantage of in terms of gathering food and fuel. I believe our ancestors used the time they had wisely because they did not enjoy all the energy consuming conveniences that we now have. They had to consume their own energy to make sure the lives of their families continued.

Another illusion I believe we get caught up in is the concept of “Indian time.” Some people use this phrase in a derogatory manner. For instance, when an event or person is running late people might say they are on Indian time. To me, Indian time is when something happens according to when everything has been prepared for it to take place.

For example, we don’t see ceremony running on a clock or daylight saving time. Ceremony is conducted in a timeless space and manner. The creation of sacred energy is not complete until all the prayers have been offered. We don’t hear spirit say “okay I am only here for sixty minutes and then I have to leave or I will be late for the next ceremony.”

I doubt I can change the fact that most of the North Amer ican cont inent observes daylight saving time. I do question whether the ritual of moving clocks forward or backward every six months serves any real purpose. Those of you who have children in school or work full time will know what I mean when I say daylight saving time is disruptive.

Why must we always follow blindly along with the rest of the country? Our all knowing, all powerful tribal councils should change daylight saving time to Indian Time and stop the wasicu illusion of “losing” or “gaining” an hour every six months.

 

 

What image is conjured when you hear the phrase crabs in a bucket? When I use this phrase in my writing, I use it in reference to my own people. There are many Lakota people who seem to be content in perpetuating a very unhealthy crab in the bucket approach to life. I am not sure what to do about it because people have to change themselves. I cannot change anyone. The only person I can change is me.

 

I used to like living with a crab in the bucket mentality. It was an excellent way of justifying my bad behavior. Looking back, the most troubling part of it was I didn’t realize I was living my daily life chained to that debilitating crab in the bucket mentality. I was blind to my own arrogance and denial. I could not see how badly I was treating my own people. I would hear about the crab in the bucket mentality all the time but I really didn’t believe it applied to my life.

 

Now maybe you are thinking to yourself “oh she isn’t writing about me, I am open-minded, I care about all of my Lakota people no matter who they are or what they do.” That’s what I used to tell myself too. But our inner thoughts are a common way to justify our actual behavior. So many self-proclaimed traditional people living on my Rez are locked in the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do mentality. Are you one of them?

 

Nowadays, many of our people use the phrases internalized oppression and lateral violence. I did a little research on these phrases and found the following definitions:

 

“Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and anxiety. . . In sociology and psychology, internalized oppression is the manner in which members of an oppressed group come to internalize the oppressive attitudes of others toward themselves and those like them. For example, sometimes members of marginalized groups hold an oppressive view toward their own group, or start to believe in negative stereotypes. Examples include internalized racism, internalized sexism, and internalized homophobia.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internalized_oppression#Internalized_oppression

“Lateral Violence occurs within marginalized groups where members strike out at each other as a result of being oppressed. The oppressed become the oppressors of themselves and each other. Common behaviors that prevent positive change from occurring include gossiping, bullying, finger-pointing, backstabbing and shunning.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_violence

 

On the Rez, these concepts manifest as an all too common us-against-them mentality. This might be apparent in, for instance, the full-blood versus mixed-blood versus lineal descent drama which is happening on my Rez. Some of you get really heated up over the fractions listed on the papers we all have on file at the tribal office. Four quarters hating on one quarters or vice-versa is really comical when you think about it. It’s also an excellent example of internalized oppression and lateral violence!

 

Also, internalized oppression and lateral violence behaviors are often carried into ceremony by many Lakota people. I see many of my own Lakota people trying very hard to outdo one another when it comes to ceremony. Is it not enough to say a simple prayer? Instead I hear people trash talking one another all the time about how so-and-so shouldn’t be praying with the Cannunpa because of <insert your own personal list of one zillion reasons here>

 

Another great example of internalized oppression and lateral violence is division between the Lakota-speakers and the non-Lakota speakers. We have even more drama over who is fluent in the language and who is not fluent. Do we have to teach our children how to put one another down? Don’t we all carry the blood of famous Lakota Chiefs? 

 

Internalized oppression and lateral violence have turned many Lakota people into very dark-hearted human beings. Are you even human when your heart has become black? When you can read the energy of other humans you will feel instinctively what those people are really like inside.

 

And it doesn’t matter how gracious the dark-hearted people are to your face, it doesn’t matter how hard they shake your hand, it doesn’t matter how genuine their smile seems – if you are an energy reader you see right through their false front. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to mask your real motives from a skilled energy reader. Some spiritual leaders are skilled energy readers. I bet they see more about a person’s true intent than they would like to.

 

So many of our good Lakota/Dakota/Nakota people are attacked every single day by their fellow tribal members; when you are leading people down a good road which is paving a path for our future generations to follow, you can be sure that your own people will have negative things to say about you at some point. I want to encourage you to keep moving forward in your work to bring positive change for our coming generations.

 

Also, if you are employed at a job or involved in a cause and hold a lot of excitement about the positive change you are working to bring to the people, stay strong! You can be sure your good work will be noticed by those corrupt crabs that do absolutely nothing to deserve their biweekly paycheck. You are a threat to them because your hard work to do good things and bring change will eventually draw the attention of their supervisors, who might one day see them for the unproductive employees they really are.

 

Even when someone is really good at justifying why it is okay to hurt their own fellow human beings, remember that Creator sees everything in their heart. People who use lateral violence/internal oppression tactics are like mirrors. You can always look to them to see how NOT to act.

 

 

It is up each individual to make their life into something. We cannot depend on fate, luck or coincidence. We have to depend on ourselves. All our choices are personal.

 

I only have this one short life. It will only be as good as I make it. I do want my life to be the best it can be.

 

I used to believe I had no control over what happened to me or that my life was not simple. There were so many complications, problems and things other people did that seemingly ruined what I wanted. Still, I’ve learned none of the events which take place in in my life depend on what anyone else does. My life depends completely upon my own choices.

 

Some choices we make as individuals might follow us for the rest of our lives. If we choose to commit a crime, for instance, we will find ourselves in jail sentenced to spend some or a lot or the rest of our lives confined to a small room. We live with the choices we make. It is our own fault.

 

My psychic told me I am despised by many because I do not sugar coat the truth. I am a writer who believes my readers should know about the topics I address here. But when I write a hard column about crime, I am immediately judged as someone who wants to see all my people locked up for life, which isn’t true. I write about what is real here on my rez based on events which happen to actual Lakota people. Thus, I am sometimes attacked by people who don’t know me. They might trash me through emails and posts on social networking sites but not one of them has come to me personally to say to my face what they can so easily type from behind their computer screens.

 

Also, I write some tough pieces on domestic violence and stalking which always strikes a painful nerve. Have you seen the documentary called “Rape on the Reservation?” People who don’t agree with what I put forth should watch this documentary about Rosebud because it shows the reality of life on the rez. It portrays what we have to deal with on a daily basis.

 

I have built my personal foundation upon the belief that my own thought and speech determine my reality. Our individual ideas are born within our minds; are they not? Discussing ideas with others helps us to formulate a concrete beginning for something new. Every thought I entertain has the potential to be verbalized and brought into reality.

 

I was once a victim. I would think long and hard about all the wrongs that befell me, my parents, grandparents and the rest of my ancestors. I used to believe it was the fault of the church that our language is ebbing away. I felt it was the fault of boarding schools that there was such a devastating breakdown in our familial system. I blamed our addiction to drugs and alcohol on the wasicu who introduced his poison to my tribe.

 

Then I reached a point in my life where I transformed those weak thoughts into stronger ones. This process began some time ago when a friend suggested to me that I monitor my thoughts. I really did not understand what she meant. When I asked for clarification she simply said to monitor my thoughts. She wanted me to figure it out for myself.

 

So began the monitoring. I would think something and then try to honestly examine the thought. Does that make sense? It didn’t to me at first but the more I engaged in the monitoring the easier it became. I had to be honest with myself in order to recognize my thoughts for what they really were: judgmental, angry, jealous, manipulative, hypocritical, arrogant, dishonest and uncontrolled. My thoughts were bad medicine.

 

When I stopped to examine what went through my mind it surprised me. I had an extremely undisciplined mind. I always viewed myself as someone who didn’t have any bad thoughts until I truthfully what was in my private mind. It was quite humbling to realize how crippling my thoughts really were.

 

After continuously engaging in this thought monitoring process I can now recognize those dark thoughts when they come. It takes great discipline to transform some of the thoughts we have. Are you addicted to negative thinking? It is the nature of the disease of the mind; to think ugly thoughts about someone is akin to projecting bad medicine upon them.

 

I cannot say that I don’t have negative thoughts anymore. Still, years of work to release the diseased mind syndrome has helped me improve my perspective. The quality of a person’s inner thought affects their energy on every level. How do you feel around a negative thinker? How different do you feel around someone who is always upbeat? It all goes back to what is in our minds. Change your thoughts and you will definitely transform your life.

 

You alone are the one responsible for what you think. Some people proclaim they are set in their ways or their thought patterns. I cannot change the way you think but I can tell you that it is never too late to change your thoughts.

 

I will continue to write thought provoking columns for you to read even though it is quite apparent that some of you can’t handle them. I can share with you what has helped me come closer to true happiness in my life. If I can help just one person see how crucial their thought patterns actually are then all the bad medicine continuously projected from the minds of my critics is worth it.

 

I will keep writing about real issues to make you think. Will you monitor your thoughts? Try it for a day and see what you think. You may be surprised. Thanks for reading my thoughts.

 

 

While citizens in Nebraska and all over the USA watched and waited for the decision of Nebraskan Governor Heinman regarding his decision to allow or prevent the Transcanada Keystone XL oil pipeline into ‘his’ state, I cringed, as that mentality is damaging and part of the colonial construct. The Ogllala Aquifer does not acknowledge the Governor. Nor does it acknowledge Secretary of State John Kerry, nor President Obama. I also cringed because another chamber of the heart of the matter is where the tarsands oil comes from in the first place, and what that mining is doing to the Boreal Forest, the Athabascan River watershed, and the Red Nations People and all of life in that area.

                       

The dirty tarsands oil is coming from the tarsands oil mine which has wreaked havoc on the lands and waters and all of life there, only to feed the insatiable monster of greed of the fossil fuel industry and the discussion must include the need to get off the fossil fuel train wreck that is ruining the earth to line the pockets of a few, and the discussion must include the realization that the time is now for all mankind to re-evaluate their true needs and wants and decide if they want this pipeline so bad they are willing to wreck the delicate balance we have already impacted so much.

 

There comes a time when it boils down to personal responsibility. We either look at the whole big picture to see the truth or we continue to live in the many levels of denial that we all construct, and make excuses for what the industry is doing with our support as inactive human beings. People need to take courage and take that stand that this fossil fuel industry and the tarsands oil mine is wrong and work to shut it down before it is too late. Letting that pipeline in is not only contributing to the continuation of the tarsands oil mine, destruction of sacred water and all of life, it is actually supporting the continuation of the tarsands oil mine while it risks our sacred water here because it WILL leak and spill and when it does, it cannot be cleaned up, the technology does not exist.

 

We have to be brave and strong and take action to stop that pipeline and shut down the tarsands oil mine. People need to see the bigger picture and realize the kind of government they have that sets up the situation so they have to choose a job over stopping the biggest threat to the Ogllala Aquifer and all our surface water as well. Who will take a stand to defend sacred water? The sacred water must be preserved for our coming generations. IT IS THEIR WATER.

 

I hope everyone in Washington DC tomorrow yells out 4 times “SHUT DOWN TARSANDS” in a combined voice of 30,000. That would make this Grandmother very, very happy. And the Universe may be listening. Hecetuwe.

 

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and several other tribes, recently received money from a tribal trust accounting and management lawsuit. This was a $1 billion dollar settlement which was paid out to several tribes. Rosebud’s share was just over $15 million dollars. The money was placed into a private bank account.

 

This settlement is one of several which the federal government is now distributing to Indian tribes in this country. Another settlement involves money which was distributed as compensation for thousands of acres of tribal land which was flooded by the damming of the Missouri River. I understand this settlement money was paid to some of the tribes currently living along the Missouri River.

 

Anyway, there has been much speculation on how Rosebud’s portion of the settlement money would be spent. Recently, the tribal council did approve a resolution which allocated funds of $50,000 to $100,000 to each of the 20 communities of the Rosebud Reservation. Each community is to come up with a budget for this money. All of this funding is to be disbursed through the voucher system set up by the tribal finance department.

 

In addition, several tribal programs and organizations have submitted resolutions or requests for funding from this settlement money. Of course, the tribal council will have to review all of these requests before any of them are approved.

 

However, this process has now come to an abrupt halt. Apparently, a petition to call for a secretarial election is now being circulated on the Rosebud. I also understand that this petition for a referendum vote involves tribal members who want at least $11 million dollars of this settlement money to be distributed as a one-time per capita payment to all living members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

 

Many of us received a $1,000 payment from the Cobell settlement. I know many of you spent your money wisely. I also know that many of you financed a big party with that money. In any case, I hope your children had a good Christmas.

 

The first Cobell payment, along with the second payment which is supposed to be distributed soon, is basically tax free. The Cobell money will also not affect your eligibility for any public assistance benefits you currently receive. That is, if you currently receive Social Security, Commodity Food Distribution Program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), General Assistance (GA), etc. you will not have to report the Cobell payments as income. Your benefits will not be affected.

 

However, if this secretarial election happens and if the people vote to receive a one-time per capita payment funded by some of the money received by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, that payment will be taxable. This means you will be required to report this as income to SSI, TANF, SNAP, GA, etc. Receiving a one-time payment from the tribe as a per capita payment will affect your eligibility for public assistance. Some of you might lose a portion or all of your benefits.

 

The Rosebud Sioux Tribal Enrollment Department lists 31,585 people as living members. When you divide $11 million dollars by 31,585 it comes out to be about $348.26 per living tribal member. Is it really worth risk the loss or reduction of your Social Security or other benefits to receive a one-time check for $348.26?

 

What about the minors who would be eligible for these payments? Who will be responsible to ensure that our children benefit from their share of this proposed per capita payment?

 

For instance, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe recently issued gift cards in the amount of $150 which was to be used to purchase new clothing for school aged children enrolled with the tribe. This project costs the tribe well over a half a million dollars each year. Are tribal officials aware that some of our adult tribal members sold their child’s $150 gift card for $75 cash? So those children did not receive the clothing which was supposed to be purchased with the $150 gift card. Those children lost out, they did not receive any new clothes.

 

So, back to my question about who will ensure our children benefit from their $348.26 share of this proposed per capita payment. I believe if a per capita payment is approved through a referendum vote, the tribe should either (1) let the money sit in an investment account until our minor tribal members are at least 18 years old, or (2) require guardianship documents to be submitted before any pay-out is made to tribal members who have not yet reached the age of 18 years old.

 

Personally, I believe our children deserve to spend their own money in the way they see fit. So if it were up to me, I would advocate for the money which would be allocated for tribal members who are currently underage to be invested in a high interest account and that they be issued a check, which would include interest, upon their eighteenth birthday. That is only fair, right? It is not fair to hand money over to parents who will not spend on it the children. If this happens, some children will once again lose out.

 

Personally, I am not in favor of any per capita payments. I would rather see the money go to tribal programs which are in place to help those of us who live here on the Rez. There are many poverty-stricken elders, young families and children who depend on the tribe for a variety of services.

 

If I were to compile a figure of all the tribal money which is paid out to numerous tribal members and organizations for assistance with a variety of needs, the amount would be astronomical. These are our people who have no income and no one to turn to for help except the tribe. I would use money I received in a per capita check to help someone less fortunate. Would you?