No More Broken Promises: Demand State & Federal Governments Respect Tribal Sovereignty

By Eric K. Ward

A Call to Action

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and the Trump administration are attempting to interfere with tribal sovereignty and are unnecessarily exposing Native communities to the coronavirus — all for a July 3 photo op at Mt. Rushmore. Native people, by design, have experienced health vulnerabilities at much higher rates than other groups. That puts Native people at greater risk for the coronavirus. The Rosebud, Oglala, and Cheyenne River Sioux are doing everything they can to protect their people.

We must raise our voices in support of the Rosebud, Oglala, and Cheyenne River Sioux’ efforts to uphold their rights. As a human rights and civil rights movement, we should consider treaty rights and tribal sovereignty our moral and political obligation.

Raise your voice today: Use the information below to follow the Tribes on Facebook and Twitter. Repost their commentary. Read the Tribal leaders’ statements below and the news coverage they’ve earned and post on your social media. If you’re seeing folks this holiday weekend, make this a topic of conversation and ask them to amplify these voices too.

The Travesty Planned for July 3

Just as Trump endangered peaceful protestors and offended military and religious leaders alike with his crass photo op near the White House, today he is recklessly endangering Tribal citizens for the sake of an Independence Day media charade. This time he’s not just violating presidential propriety. He’s violating treaty rights — what should be considered our nation’s most sacred promises — and threatening the health of an indigenous population that has worked hard to do what he hasn’t: protect their people from the ravages of the coronavirus.

The July 3 event at Mt Rushmore — a monument carved by a Ku Klux Klan member on a sacred Lakota site — with fireworks and a fighter jet flyover, is expected to draw large crowds. The Appeal reports, “Organizers of the event have scrapped plans for social distancing, even though upward of 7,500 people may be in attendance. Jason Ravnsborg, South Dakota’s attorney general, tweeted gleefully that he’s looking forward to welcoming Trump, ‘#MasksNotRequired.’”

The Cheyenne River, Oglala, and Rosebud Sioux Tribes have taken aggressive measures to combat the spread of the virus in their communities, including shelter-in-place orders and highway checkpoints at their reservation borders to conduct health screenings and limit travel if needed. The tribal nations also have enacted measures for contact tracing and established quarantine sites.

On June 23, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe filed suit against President Trump, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of the Interior, and various White House officials. The suit shows how the Trump administration has interfered with Cheyenne River’s rights as a sovereign nation and taken retaliatory measures in an attempt to force the Tribe to eliminate the checkpoints, including threatening COVID-19 and police funding. The Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux have both voiced their support for Cheyenne River and the lawsuit.

Voices of Tribal Leaders

“In a time of crisis, where more than 127,299 Americans have died, the president is putting our Tribal members at risk to stage a photo-op at one of our most sacred sites,” Harold Frazier, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, says. “This is an administration that has not only mishandled the federal government’s response to the virus from the start, but has attempted to trample on our rights as a sovereign nation to conduct safety checks at our boundaries. We will not allow this administration or anyone to interfere with our right to take measures to protect our people.”

“We are more than three hours from the nearest critical care facility,” says Julian Bear Runner, President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. “To expose our people to the virus would be devastating. And for our more vulnerable members who have underlying medical conditions, COVID-19 is far more deadly. We make no apologies for wanting to enact the most aggressive measures possible to protect our members. These are our families, our elders, our friends, our community, and they deserve protection. Since, the federal government is not doing its job — we will.”

“You see what they’re doing at the state level in places like Washington state, New York and California to be proactive in slowing the spread,” said Rodney Bordeaux, President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. “Our tribal governments also have rights, and obligations to our people to protect them. Apparently, the administration wants to punish Tribes for that. We will not stand by and let that happen,” says Rodney Bordeaux, President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

“It’s incredible that this administration is playing with our lives for a photo-op,” says Frazier. “Especially after members of the president’s own advance team and Secret Service tested positive following his irresponsible Tulsa rally. Now he’s hosting an over-the-top fireworks display in our sacred Black Hills, while he doles out retribution against our Tribal governments. And for what? For doing what he failed to do — protecting people from a deadly virus.”

News Coverage of Trump Administration’s Violation of Tribal Sovereignty

Trump must respect sovereignty when he visits Mt. Rushmore on July 3, Indian Country Today

“In a time of crisis, where more than 127,299 Americans have died, the president is putting our Tribal members at risk to stage a photo-op at one of our most sacred sites,” said Harold Frazier, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. “This is an administration that has not only mishandled the federal government’s response to the virus from the start, but has attempted to trample on our rights as a sovereign nation to conduct safety checks at our boundaries. We will not allow this administration or anyone to interfere with our right to take measures to protect our people.”

“Faces of the conquerors”: Trump trip to Rushmore draws fire, CBS News

“Mount Rushmore is a symbol of white supremacy, of structural racism that’s still alive and well in society today,” said Nick Tilsen, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and the president of a local activist organization called NDN Collective. “It’s an injustice to actively steal Indigenous people’s land then carve the white faces of the conquerors who committed genocide.”

Trump’s Planned Trip to Mount Rushmore Puts Lives and a Fragile Ecosystem At Risk, The Appeal

“It’s been an uphill battle for the Lakota. Noem refused to issue a stay-at-home order like the vast majority of governors did. She also demanded that the Oglala and Cheyenne River remove their checkpoints, threatening to sue them if they did not. She even wrote a letter to Trump, asking him to intervene. Now the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which oversees law enforcement in Native Country, is saying it will defund its already underfunded police force unless checkpoints are removed. The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe has only eight hospital beds for thousands of people. Checkpoints appear to have been successful in thwarting an outbreak on the Cheyenne River Reservation.”

Tribe in South Dakota Seeks Court Ruling Over Standoff on Blocking Virus, New York Times

In seeking to end the tribe’s use of checkpoints, the administration is “forcing us to accept contagion into our community when we have exercised our sovereignty in a way that benefits our community,” said Nikki Ducheneaux, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe and one of the lawyers representing the tribe in the court case.

Tribal Social Media Channels

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Website: https://www.sioux.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRSTChairman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CRSTChairman

Oglala Sioux Tribe

Website: https://www.oglalalakotanation.info/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/THEOGLALANATION/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OSTOfficial1

Rosebud Sioux Tribe

Website: https://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RosebudSiouxTribeOfficial/