Statement by David Swallow, Jr., Wowitan Yuha Mani
Teton Lakota Spiritual Leader, Sun dance Chief of the Medicine Wheel Sun dance, and a Headman of the Lakota Nation Band of Wana Way Gu (Broken Bow)

Statement Date; May 3rd 2010
Transcribed To and edited by Keith Rabin and Allison Gutirrez-Bundy

Hau, Mitakuyepi na Mita Kola. [ Hello. Greetings my relatives and my friends. ]

My name is Dave Swallow Jr. My Lakota name is Wowitan Uha Mani, Walks With Pride. I’m a Lakota. I live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation [South Dakota]. I was born and raised there. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is The United States Prisoner of War Camp Number 344. That’s where I was born and raised.

We are the People of the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota People. We have adopted the Sacred Horse, [ Sunka Wakan ] into our nation and into our families. It is part of who we are. It is hard in our ways to remember our lives with out our Horses. They are part of our family. We give them names and honor them. They take part in our ceremonies. They are part of our lives, not only for transportation but also the Sunka Wakan help heal our minds, bodies and spirits.

Sunka is the Lakota word for “dog”. Before the horse, Sunka helped us with our transportation. They also are our family members. When Sunka Wakan, the “Sacred Horse” came, it became a blessing a gift from our Creator to be forever in our lives.

Today, our grandchildren and children still need the Sunka Wakan for our healings of body, mind and spirit. Some of the grandparents and parents save their money for months just to buy a colt, a Sunka Wakan for their children and grandchildren. This keeps our children and grandchildren away from alcohol, drugs and gang activities. This why we need our Sunka Wanka is part of our families.

But today, in 2010, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council at the Pine Ridge Agency created their own laws against the People of the Reservations and one of these new laws is against our Sacred Horse [ Sunka Wakan ]. Two Councilmen from the Porcupine District of the Pine Ridge have spear headed this law. The whole Tribal Council supports it. Without asking the People on the Pine Ridge Reservation to whom they are to represent, they created new Park Ranger positions on the Reservation to confiscate the People’s horses, impound the Sacred Horses of the People and then charge the owners an outrageous amount of money to get their horses back. It seems they have no intent to return the Horses to the People.

Every other foreign nation conquered by the United States has received huge efforts towards rehabilitation and rebuilding. Yet, while the U.S. cries about 20% unemployment, we have 80% unemployment. We remain isolated and have living conditions which are as bad as or worse than any “third world country.” Our life expectancy is only 48 years old for men and 52 years old for women.

On March 2, 1889, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America established the Reservations. They said we are to live here on the Reservations, hunt and fish without any permits and the Reservations were established as “Open Range” without any fences.

It seems to the ” The People” [ The Lakota Oyate ] that the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council has forgotten these rules set by the Senate of the United States of America and has taken upon itself some goal of not only hurting the Horse itself but the People and the families of the Lakota People .

This is a Reservation. We are NOT living in a park or a National park. It is the land of the People. We already have the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Police, the Oglala Sioux Tribal (OST) Public Safety Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals watching over us. I believe we Lakota Oyate have enough jurisdiction watching over us . Now come the Oglala Sioux Park Rangers, confiscating our Sacred Horses and arresting us if we don’t cooperate. The Oglala Sioux Park Rangers are selling our horses to local ranchers (who then sell them to slaughter houses for slaughter) or the OST Rangers sell our horses directly to slaughter houses. THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED AND RETURN OUR Sacred Horses returned back to the People.
We are the People of the Sacred Horse. It is as much to our lives as your cars and trucks are to yours.

We have a treaty council, a council of elders, all kinds of councils but none of them are effective. The government and state have kept us hungry and distracted with their projects which accomplish very little.

But they need to know. If we are to survive, people need to understand. When we’re talking about the Black Hills, it’s not just the land that was lost but our way of life. It’s not just money. Money is the least important thing. We have lost our way of life.

When we talk about the Sacred Horses, It is not about only Horses it is about everything.

Ho he’cetu yelo, I have spoken these words.

David Swallow, Wowitan Yuha Mani

Porcupine, South Dakota – The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

This whole business of who should or should not be allowed to participate in native ceremonies is a contentious issue, especially for the Lakota people since their ceremonies seem to be growing in popularity and being borrowed by other native cultures and anyone else who is searching for spirituality. Unfortunately, we have a dark shadow in every corner, ready to translate people’s spiritual needs into their own wealth.

I’ve poked at the Sedona deaths with a stick and flipped it over a few times to see the underbelly of it and my frail human consciousness keeps telling me that the deaths, as unfortunate as they are, were the spiritual consequences for that one dark spirit that exploited trusting people’s spiritual needs.

I remember a conversation with a relative who is a spiritual leader. We were flipping over this issue with a Lakota stick; what about the people who fly in and out for sundance? Are they part of a community? Do they exercise the Lakota disciplines and responsibilities in their daily lives? What do they pray for? He said that he tries to teach them, but they don’t listen.

There is much reaction to the movie, “Avatar”. The most interesting is the not-surprising reaction by the Vatican, but that’s another story for me.
For those that must endure my presence, they hear me talking about Avatar, Avatar, Avatar.
I don’t go to the movies much. When I do rent movies, I search the independent films section, for those that have received awards from film festivals.
Avatar? I got the nudge from a trusted friend and I walked out of the theatre a bit stunned. Sometimes we get a fleeting, elusive sensation of deja vu and sometimes we awake from dreams still wrapped in the feelings of comfort and familiarity. Well, I came out of Avatar wanting to tell the world that THIS is what we are talking about when we say that we must preserve the language, the culture, the way of being. I felt the familiar energy from the moment the young Na’vi woman was so angry for having to kill another living being for the man’s foolishness, all the way to the moment she raised her voice to “wicaglata”, I felt so reconnected to the collective energy that is NOT gone.
http://www.theworld.org/2010/01/29/avatar-in-the-amazon/

As Keeper of our Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, I am concerned for
the 2 deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated in a sweat
lodge in Sedona, Arizona that brought our sacred rite under fire in the
news. I would like to clarify that this lodge and many others, are not our
ceremonial way of life, because of the way they are being conducted. My
prayers go out for their families and loved ones for their loss.

Our ceremonies are about life and healing, from the time this ancient
ceremonial rite was given to our people, never has death been a part of our
inikag¹a (life within) when conducted properly. Today the rite is
interpreted as a sweat lodge, it is much more then that. So the term does
not fit our real meaning of purification.

Inikag¹a is the oldest ceremony brought to us by Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit).
19 generations ago, the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Oyate (people), were given
seven sacred rites of healing by a Spirit Woman Pte San Win (White Buffalo
Calf Woman). She brought these rites along with our sacred C¹anupa (pipe) to
our People, when our ancestors were suffering from a difficult time. It was
also brought for the future to help us for much more difficult times to
come. They were brought to help us stay connected to who we are as a
traditional cultural People. The values of conduct are very strict in any
of these ceremonies, because we work with spirit. The way the Creator,
Wakan Tanka told us; that if we stay humble and sincere, we will keep that
connection with the inyan oyate (the stone people), who we call the
Grandfathers, to be able to heal our selves and loved ones. We have a
³gift² of prayer and healing and have to stay humble with our Unc¹i Maka
(Grandmother Earth) and with one another. The inikag¹a is used in all of the
seven sacred rites to prepare and finish the ceremonies, along with the
sacred eagle feather. The feather represents the sacred knowledge of our
ancestors.

Our First Nations People have to earn the right to pour the mini wic¹oni
(water of life) upon the inyan oyate (the stone people) in creating Inikag¹a
- by going on the vision quest for four years and four years Sundance. Then
you are put through a ceremony to be painted - to recognize that you have
now earned that right to take care of someone¹s life through purification.
They should also be able to understand our sacred language, to be able to
understand the messages from the Grandfathers, because they are ancient,
they are our spirit ancestors. They walk and teach the values of our
culture; in being humble, wise, caring and compassionate.

What has happened in the news with the make shift sauna called the sweat
lodge is not our ceremonial way of life!

When you do ceremony - you can not have money on your mind. We deal with the
pure sincere energy to create healing that comes from everyone in that
circle of ceremony. The heart and mind must be connected. When you involve
money, it changes the energy of healing. The person wants to get what they
paid for; the Spirit Grandfathers will not be there, our way of life is now
being exploited! You do more damage then good. No² mention² of monetary
energy should exist in healing, not even with a can of love donations. When
that energy exists, they will not even come. Only Œafter¹ the ceremony,
between the person that is being healed and the Intercessor who has helped
connect with the Great Spirit, the energy of money can be given out of
appreciation. That exchange of energy is from the heart; it is private and
does not involve the Grandfathers! Whatever gift of appreciation the person
who received the help, can now give the Intercessor what ever they feel
their healing is worth.

In our Prophesy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, she told us that she would
return and stand upon the earth when we are having a hard time. In 1994 this
began to happen with the birth of the white buffalo, not only their nation,
but many animal nations began to show their sacred color, which is white.
She predicted that at this time there would be many changes upon Grandmother
Earth. There would be things that we never experienced or heard of before;
climate changes, earth changes, diseases, disrespect for life and one
another would be shocking and there would be also many false prophets!

My Grandmother that passed the bundle to me said I would be the last Keeper
if the Oyate (people) do not straighten up. The assaults upon Grandmother
Earth are horrendous, the assaults toward one another was not in our
culture, the assaults against our People (Oyate) have been termed as
genocide, and now we are experiencing spiritual genocide!

Because of the problems that began to arise with our rebirth of being able
to do our ceremonies in the open since the Freedom of Religion Act of 1978,
our Elders began talking to me about the abuses they seen in our ceremonial
way of life, which was once very strict. After many years of witnessing
their warnings, we held a meeting to address this very issue of lack of
protocol in our ceremonies. After reaching an agreement of addressing the
misconduct of our ceremonies and reminding of the proper protocols, a
statement was made in March 2003. Every effort was made to insure our way
of life of who we are as traditional cultural People was made, because these
ways are for our future and all life upon the Grandmother Earth (Mitakuye
Oyasin All my relations), so that they may have good health. Because these
atrocities are being mocked and practiced all over the world, there was even
a film we made called ³Spirits for Sale².

The non-native people have a right to seek help from our ³First Nation
Intercessors² for good health and well-being, it is up to that Intercessor.
That is a privilege for all People that we gift for being able to have good
health and understand that their protocol is to have respect and appreciate
what we have to share. The First Nations Intercessor has to earn that right
to our ceremonial way of life in the ways I have explained.

At this time, I would like to ask all Nations upon Grandmother Earth to
please respect our sacred ceremonial way of life and stop the exploitation
of our Tunka Oyate (Spiritual Grandfathers).

In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no ending and no beginning!

Namah¹u yo (hear my words),
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White
Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle.

STANDING UP!
by DJ Danforth, Oneida Nation

This article is set to appear in the upcoming Battered Women’s Support Services newsletter in a series featuring men’s responses to ending violence against women.

Today in far too many of our Aboriginal communities across Canada and the United States, families are being affected by the increasingly higher rates of violence and abuse against women perpetrated by men, leaving people to wonder why men could do such things. Colonization has certainly done its damage to our people, which is not to say that men don’t have the ultimate responsibility to make change. When you think about the time that our ancestors had suffered through colonization, it may feel like an eternity ago, but the fact is that colonization still exists to this day.

Colonization comes in many different forms – and one of the clearest examples came in the shape of residential, mission, and boarding schools. Although they were eventually closed (albeit not that long ago), the impact of colonization still remained in the minds of our ancestors, which has had long lasting intergenerational effects. This has lead to various types of culture shock when people eventually returned to their home communities because in essence, they were returning to a place that might have still practiced the same traditional way of life they were forced to forget. Coping mechanisms with drugs and alcohol ensued in many instances to try and block out the pain of residential school, but more often than not the drinking and drugging made the memories even more intense. Simultaneously, it led men to use violence, abuse and molestation in the family, just as they had learned in the schools. And the years that followed the closing of residential schools have not been much better for our communities, what with the sixties scoop and the continual removal of First Nations children into state care, land claims not being resolved, and extreme conditions of poverty both on and off reserve.

As men we hold a huge responsibility in helping to end violence against women. It is not solely the responsibility of women to take a stand against violence and abuse; we in fact hold the largest responsibility of all. By working with women and making contributions to eradicate these cycles of abuse, we can move from a place of being reactive to the problem of violence, which is where we are now by only trying to help after the abuse has already occurred. It is critical that we move to a place of being proactive where we can stop it before women have to become the victims and survivors, and this has to start with our children.

Across the board our children are in much need of the traditional teachings about respecting themselves and their partner, beginning with what the meaning of a healthy relationship even is. These teachings are essential because throughout several of our Aboriginal nations women have always been held with the highest honour because of their ability to give life in its many forms, and the leadership roles they posses within our communities. But we need knowledge in action, not simply teachings of the past that we might give an occasional “nod” to. For myself, this applies to the highest degree in my relationship with my partner because at a very young age I received the cultural knowledge of how to treat women and my responsibility as a man to support the women around me. Yet where do other young men get to have this discussion today?

In present day society, it seems there are a lot of men who are confused about how to be a “good man”, because of the ridicule that we receive for wanting to come to a state of equality with women. When we act with any type of respect towards women we still hear comments like “who wears the pants” or “your leash is pretty tight”, but instead of feeling humiliated by these kinds of comments, it’s important to look on the other side and listen to what women say about men who believe in equality. For us in the Aboriginal community, it means coming to terms with the fact that colonization has had a devastating affect to our people – and looking at concrete ways to decolonize now.

Men seeking to get involved to help end this traumatic issue can get involved by doing small everyday things from starting in their own homes talking to their children about violence and abuse or listening to their companion about what they want and their opinion. Speaking up when you see this happening to relatives or people you know is the first step in getting involved to end violence and abuse against women. I have been fortunate enough to have been asked to write for Masc Magazine which is an online magazine in which men can talk about the gendered issues that we face each and everyday. It also has a blog in which you can write and get responses from the staff or people who have knowledge on specific topics. I encourage people who want to get involved to visit the website www.mascmag.com and explore the links that are provided on the website. Finally encourage and support one another to stay strong in our stance against this issue, you are not alone and there are people who want the same results, we can go a long way with encouragement and support from the entire community.

It is imperative that we all stand together to protect all of our life givers on this earth, our women, because no matter who we are, without them none of us would even have a life to live. So as a young Oneida man I carry the responsibility and commitment of honouring our life givers in the most respectful way that I know how. With the knowledge that I come from a matriarchal society, I acknowledge that as a man it is my job to respect the strength of women. Each of us must learn to honour the roots of our own culture so that collectively we can have a stronger backing in ending violence and abuse against women. I call upon my brothers and my community as a whole now to stand up as modern day warriors, and protect our women and children and the life they give to each and every one of us every day.

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Suzan Shown Harjo: Warrior women pass to spirit world
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
Filed Under: Opinion 

Sing an honor song. Pray a mourning prayer. Pause for a moment of silent respect for two warrior women who have gone to the Spirit World. Alison Bridges Gottfriedson and Victoria Adele Santana each died at home of natural causes; Vicky on July 17 at the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana, and Alison on July 18 at the Franks Landing Indian Community in Olympia, Washington. 

These exemplary Native women fought for, upheld and lived treaties and Indian rights. They cut their teeth on Native activism of the 1960s and 1970s – Alison, as a poster child of the Indian fishing rights struggle in the Pacific Northwest and on the Trail of Broken Treaties in 1972; Vicky, as a veteran of the takeovers of Alcatraz Island (1969) and Fort Lawton in Seattle (1970). 

Alison was born 57 years ago to the matriarch of the Franks Landing Indian Community, Theresa (Maiselle) McCloud Bridges, and the late-Alvin James Bridges, who died in 1982. They, together with Alison’s sisters Suzette and Valerie (who died in 1970) and uncle Billy Frank, Jr., were arrested myriad times by Washington state agents for fishing on the Nisqually River in accordance with their treaties. Indian peoples throughout the Pacific Northwest were vindicated in 1979, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Washington and reaffirmed treaty fishing. 

Vicky was the daughter of two scholars, a Blackfeet mother and a Puerto Rican father, Rita Brown Santana and Arthur Santana (both deceased), who were with the University of Chicago when Vicky was born 64 years ago in Chicago, Illinois. Raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, she became a scholar herself, earning both Juris Doctor and Master of Library Science degrees. Vicky had been a lawyer, judge and policy advisor for the Blackfeet Nation. She provided pro bono legal services for friends and family. She leaves behind a large extended family and more than a dozen godchildren throughout Indian country. 

In their youth, Alison and Vicky both partnered with national Indian political activists from Plains nations – Alison with Hank Adams (Assiniboine-Sioux), who remains a member of the Franks Landing Indian Community, and Vicky with the late-Raymond Spang (Northern Cheyenne). Alison and her longtime husband, Hank Gottfriedson (Similkameen Okanagan), have raised their children and grandchildren at Franks Landing. The Gottfriedsons recently bore the brunt of the local Indian tobacco wars and narrowly escaped prison time, but not the suffocating debt in connection with the Franks Landing smoke shop. 

Alison and Vicky were educators, who worked to bolster tribal governments, revitalize Native languages and keep Indian traditions. Alison was a Founder, with her mother and sister, of the WaHeLut Indian School at Franks Landing, which is a beneficiary of the smoke shop profits, and served as a Member and Chair of its School Board. She also was a Council Member of Franks Landing and a Former Member of the Puyallup Tribal Council. Alison’s name in Shumash is No Shoon, which means My Heart. 

Vicky taught Native legal research and other subjects at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, while serving as Reference Librarian/Native American Resources for the OCU Law Library. She provided legal services to Native peoples and organizations in matters including constitution revisions, legal codes, tribal court development, international law, religious freedom, cultural property, domestic violence and child welfare. She was Policy Advisor to The Morning Star Institute’s 2004-2005 Native Languages Archives Repository Project of the National Museum of the American Indian and the Administration for Native Americans (NMAI print report, 2005; ANA CD report, “Native Language Preservation,” 2007). Vicky’s name in Piegan is Sak Oon IsTaah Saa Kii, which is translated as Last Calf Woman. 

Alison and Vicky reminded me of beautiful birds, but very different ones. Alison spoke in low cooing sounds in the manner of a mourning dove – calm, contemplative and nourishing. Vicky was more clipped and energizing, whether in English or Spanish, always dancing a robin’s dance – perpetually joyous and announcing the arrival of Spring. 

These warrior women sacrificed everything for family, friends and community. They never hesitated to put themselves in harm’s way or to keep and bail others out of trouble. They lived caring, giving and loving lives, and in the end could finally lay down their weapons. 

Author Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” Vicky and Alison had healing power for spotting people’s broken places and helping them to grow stronger. Neither one thought that was unusual — just the courteous and social thing to do. 

I loved and admired Alison and Vicky, and their passing is wrenching. Those of you who did not know these warrior women can only imagine how much stronger you might have been for their friendship. For you, seek out Native daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmas and warrior women in your Native nations up and down the hemisphere. And sing their honor songs while they live. 

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) is an award-winning columnist, poet, lecturer and curator, who has helped Native peoples recover more than one million acres of land, including sacred places. She is president of The Morning Star Institute, a founder of the National Museum of the American Indian and a former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians.

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Suzan Shown Harjo: Warrior women pass to spirit world
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
Filed Under: Opinion

Sing an honor song. Pray a mourning prayer. Pause for a moment of silent respect for two warrior women who have gone to the Spirit World. Alison Bridges Gottfriedson and Victoria Adele Santana each died at home of natural causes; Vicky on July 17 at the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana, and Alison on July 18 at the Franks Landing Indian Community in Olympia, Washington.
These exemplary Native women fought for, upheld and lived treaties and Indian rights. They cut their teeth on Native activism of the 1960s and 1970s – Alison, as a poster child of the Indian fishing rights struggle in the Pacific Northwest and on the Trail of Broken Treaties in 1972; Vicky, as a veteran of the takeovers of Alcatraz Island (1969) and Fort Lawton in Seattle (1970).
Alison was born 57 years ago to the matriarch of the Franks Landing Indian Community, Theresa (Maiselle) McCloud Bridges, and the late-Alvin James Bridges, who died in 1982. They, together with Alison’s sisters Suzette and Valerie (who died in 1970) and uncle Billy Frank, Jr., were arrested myriad times by Washington state agents for fishing on the Nisqually River in accordance with their treaties. Indian peoples throughout the Pacific Northwest were vindicated in 1979, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Washington and reaffirmed treaty fishing.
Vicky was the daughter of two scholars, a Blackfeet mother and a Puerto Rican father, Rita Brown Santana and Arthur Santana (both deceased), who were with the University of Chicago when Vicky was born 64 years ago in Chicago, Illinois. Raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, she became a scholar herself, earning both Juris Doctor and Master of Library Science degrees. Vicky had been a lawyer, judge and policy advisor for the Blackfeet Nation. She provided pro bono legal services for friends and family. She leaves behind a large extended family and more than a dozen godchildren throughout Indian country.
In their youth, Alison and Vicky both partnered with national Indian political activists from Plains nations – Alison with Hank Adams (Assiniboine-Sioux), who remains a member of the Franks Landing Indian Community, and Vicky with the late-Raymond Spang (Northern Cheyenne). Alison and her longtime husband, Hank Gottfriedson (Similkameen Okanagan), have raised their children and grandchildren at Franks Landing. The Gottfriedsons recently bore the brunt of the local Indian tobacco wars and narrowly escaped prison time, but not the suffocating debt in connection with the Franks Landing smoke shop.
Alison and Vicky were educators, who worked to bolster tribal governments, revitalize Native languages and keep Indian traditions. Alison was a Founder, with her mother and sister, of the WaHeLut Indian School at Franks Landing, which is a beneficiary of the smoke shop profits, and served as a Member and Chair of its School Board. She also was a Council Member of Franks Landing and a Former Member of the Puyallup Tribal Council. Alison’s name in Shumash is No Shoon, which means My Heart.
Vicky taught Native legal research and other subjects at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, while serving as Reference Librarian/Native American Resources for the OCU Law Library. She provided legal services to Native peoples and organizations in matters including constitution revisions, legal codes, tribal court development, international law, religious freedom, cultural property, domestic violence and child welfare. She was Policy Advisor to The Morning Star Institute’s 2004-2005 Native Languages Archives Repository Project of the National Museum of the American Indian and the Administration for Native Americans (NMAI print report, 2005; ANA CD report, “Native Language Preservation,” 2007). Vicky’s name in Piegan is Sak Oon IsTaah Saa Kii, which is translated as Last Calf Woman.
Alison and Vicky reminded me of beautiful birds, but very different ones. Alison spoke in low cooing sounds in the manner of a mourning dove – calm, contemplative and nourishing. Vicky was more clipped and energizing, whether in English or Spanish, always dancing a robin’s dance – perpetually joyous and announcing the arrival of Spring.
These warrior women sacrificed everything for family, friends and community. They never hesitated to put themselves in harm’s way or to keep and bail others out of trouble. They lived caring, giving and loving lives, and in the end could finally lay down their weapons.
Author Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” Vicky and Alison had healing power for spotting people’s broken places and helping them to grow stronger. Neither one thought that was unusual — just the courteous and social thing to do.
I loved and admired Alison and Vicky, and their passing is wrenching. Those of you who did not know these warrior women can only imagine how much stronger you might have been for their friendship. For you, seek out Native daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmas and warrior women in your Native nations up and down the hemisphere. And sing their honor songs while they live.
Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) is an award-winning columnist, poet, lecturer and curator, who has helped Native peoples recover more than one million acres of land, including sacred places. She is president of The Morning Star Institute, a founder of the National Museum of the American Indian and a former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians.

From Kevin Abourezk’s column “Red Clout”

Criticism Over Tribal Airport Borders On Racism

By Kevin Abourezk

The first salvo of public criticism directed at tribes receiving federal stimulus came recently when a South Dakota newspaper blasted the Rosebud Sioux Tribe for receiving funding for an airport.

That tribes would be criticized for trying to pull themselves out of conditions most would describe as beyond those of a depression was inevitable.

That the criticism would be couched in language bordering on racist is shameful.

In a May 19 editorial, Madison (S.D.) Daily Leader Publisher Jon M. Hunter criticized $4.1 million of stimulus money that will pay for an airport for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

Hunter didn’t question that construction of the airport would fall under the provision of rebuilding infrastructure, one of the stated goals of the federal stimulus act. However, Hunter questioned whether a new airport was what was most needed on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, “where alcoholism and poverty are pervasive, education is substandard and healthcare quality is questioned.”

While failing to support his assertions with facts or statistics, Hunter continued to rail on the horrendous conditions of the reservation.

“Since many tribal members don’t have enough money to buy a used car or the gasoline for it, we would guess that there are a limited number of private or corporate airplanes at Rosebud,” he wrote.

And that’s where Hunter revealed his ignorance.

Not enough money to buy a used car or gasoline?

I think it’s safe to say Hunter has never visited the Rosebud Reservation, or any reservation for that matter. If he had, he would know just how much Indians like to cruise in used and new cars.

While poverty certainly is rampant on the Rosebud Reservation, there are still plenty of people who can afford to buy cars, gasoline and, yes, even plane tickets.

Rosebud Tribal President Rodney M. Bordeaux retorted in a column this week on Indianz.com, saying some tribal members are so angry over Hunter’s “derogatory racial stererotypes” they are considering legal action.

“If the only factual support for these statements are the gut feelings of whoever ‘we’ are, why not simply say all Native Americans are alcoholic, poor, lazy, and uneducated people?” Bordeaux wrote.

I would add that Hunter’s statements are patronizing, yet further proof of the we-know-what’s-best-for-those-poor-ignorant-Indians attitude that so many white leaders in South Dakota demonstrate.

While those leaders constantly fail to do anything to improve the lives of the Indians in their state, they can always be relied upon to criticize tribes for trying to improve their own conditions. When a tribe pursues gaming, those leaders indignantly attack tribal leaders for taking advantage of their own, while failing to offer any other solutions to severe unemployment.

Further, the notion that a tribe has no need for airport access is demeaning at best.

As Bordeaux pointed out, the airport will allow the tribe to transport critically ill patients from the reservation to larger hospitals. A significantly smaller airport on the reservation is barely able to support the more than 270 flights a year that take patients to hospitals beyond the tribe’s borders. Construction of the airport will create about 150 jobs, thus meeting a very clear goal of the stimulus act: job creation.

Hunter’s editorial reminds me of the criticism directed at former Sen. Ted Stevens for his efforts to gain federal funding for the notorious “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska. Where that argument breaks down in this context is in the idea that the Rosebud Reservation is “nowhere.”

Rather, more than 20,000 tribal members call the reservation home. They are mothers, fathers, children and elders who require adequate access to emergency health care. So if an airport can help them get the care they need, that’s exactly what they should use their share of stimulus money to build.

Ignorant white leaders be damned.

Kevin Abourezk’s “Red Clout” columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet’s “Red Clout” political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

“Trespass legal for government employees”

By Brenda Aplin

April 22, 2009

One of the saddest days for all Americans happened on April 21, 2009, when precedent was set in the Eighth Circuit Federal Court, Rapid City, SD. Judge Richard H. Battey sentenced Marc Wisecarver to 3 years in prison for protecting himself against a trespasser who had threatened Wisecarver’s life.

Eventually it became known that the trespasser, named Duke Bourne, was a soil conservation officer for the federal government, who said on the stand that he could go anywhere he wanted because he worked for the government.

On April 29, 2008, Bourne drove onto Wisecarver’s property, passed ‘No Trespass’ signs, ignored Wisecarver as he tried to get his attention, and proceeded to chase Wisecarver’s horses with a pickup truck. As the horses circled, Bourne continued to pursue them at a high speed in a tighter and tighter circle.

Wisecarver ran to his house and got a rifle. Firing a shot into the air, he was finally able to get Bourne’s attention. Bourne then turned his vehicle on Wisecarver as if to run him over. That’s when Wisecarver fired a round through the radiator aiming for the ground.

Bourne wasn’t scared. He jumped out of the truck and ran towards Wisecarver stating, “You shot my tire.” Wisecarver said “No, I shot your radiator and your trespassing so get off my property.” At no time did Bourne identify himself or what he was doing on Wisecarver’s property. After being order to leave because he was trespassing, Bourne walked off the property and Wisecarver called the police.

That evening, Wisecarver was arrested for discharging a firearm and destruction to government property. Bourne was never arrested or charged with anything because he was a federal soil conservation officer. Why would a soil conservation officer not identify himself, and why would he deliberately chase horses?

This incident happened on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Tribal Police Officer, Paul Forney, that evening arrested Wisecarver and said that he was ordered to arrest Marc by the Bureau of Indian AffairsSuperintendent, Robert Ecoffey, along with the Police Captain Milton Bianas and Police Chief Joe Herman or lose his job. Eventually, the charges of Discharging a Firearm and Demage to Government Property were dropped with prejudice in Tribal Court so the charges could not be brought up again. However, that didn’t please the BIA Superintendent so he had charges filed in Federal Court. That’s where the precedent was set that affects all Americans.

On Jan. 29, 2009, a jury immediately found Wisecarver innocent of assaulting a federal employee by reason of self-defense. However, the true assailant, the federal employee Duke Bourne, has never been charged with trespassing, or assault with a dangerous weapon, or attempted murder. This opens the gate for any government employee to assault any American citizen and not be held accountable.

Nevertheless, the Federal Judge Richard H. Battey ordered the jury to consider the destruction to the weapon, the pickup truck, as a charge separate from the acquittal of self-defense. How can blocking a weapon generate a criminal charge? The U.S. Constitution states that citizens have the right to protect themselves.

Of course, Wisecarver damaged the pickup truck. That was the only way he was going to stop Bourne from running over him, in the middle of the country where there were no witnesses. So the jury, under threat of contempt of court by Judge Richard Battey, found Wisecarver guilty of deprivation of government property. The same charge had already been dismissed in Tribal Court. Isn’t this double jeopardy?

On April 21, 2009, Judge Richard H. Battey sentenced Marc S. Wisecarver to three years in a federal prison plus three years supervised release for damage that was less then $2,400.

Wisecarver was trying to protect himself and his property. That is allowed under the U.S. Constitution. The Judge said that Bourne as a government official could go anywhere he wanted. This is where the danger starts for all American citizens. It used to be that only the police could enter property if a crime was being committed. Now, with this case, any government official: city, state, county, tribal, or federal, can enter a person’s property, and if that person tries to defend themselves, they could be sent to prison. The precedent has been set.

The criminal minded will relish this court decision. Even though some states, including South Dakota, have “castle protection laws” allowing a resident to use physical force to protect themselves and their property, which is also in the U.S. Constitution, this Battey ruling sets federal precedent and will impact state laws.

Wisecarver’s public defender is appealing the sentence. In the meantime, however long it takes for the appeal to overrule this judgment, the rest of the United States is wide open to the trespass by any government official, and help the poor soul who tries to defend himself or his property. He or she could get sentenced to three years in a federal prison. What damage has been done to the U.S. Constitution?

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Brenda Aplin, Exeter, England, has been working with Native American people of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.A for almost 7 years. She may be contacted at www.lakota-aid.co.uk

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