Chase Iron Eyes
Politically-motivated, back-stabbing, race-baiting, dog-whistling, anti-Native attacks from South Dakota Kristi Noem continue unabated, and South Dakota tribal nations are striking back. On April 4, we received word from the government office of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that it has joined the Oglala and Cheyenne River Nations in banishing Governor Noem from their reservations in the wake of her comments connecting tribal leaders to Mexican drug cartels, throwing Native parents and education under the bus, and requesting a federal audit of tribes.
There’s no way to overstate how wrong all of this is. Please watch our new video, in which you can see some of what Noem said and hear a more detailed response from me. I can bottom line it for you like this: Kristie Noem thinks that by positioning herself as an old-school Indian hunter, she’ll appeal to our region’s far-right ultra-MAGA base and possibly set herself up for a seat at the national table as Donald Trump’s running mate in November. But at what cost?
I’m here to tell you, just as we did when those historical figures came after us, we’re going to fight back with everything we’ve got.
These kinds of statements have real effects on how we, as Indigenous People, are seen by the outside world and how we view ourselves. Sadly, Noem appears to care so little for the original inhabitants of this land — who comprise nearly one tenth of her state’s population — that she’s willing to sacrifice our reputations and put our children and families in real danger simply to advance her own political agenda and ambitions. It’s disgusting.
Of course, Noem has endangered tribes before — and it’s not the first time she’s been banished by a tribal council. She famously challenged tribal safety checkpoints during the height of the pandemic. And the Oglalas previously banished her when she targeted tribes and attempted to thwart legal First Amendment protests against the failed Keystone XL pipeline by passing a pair of so-called “riot-boosting” bills in 2019.
Enough is enough! It’s not acceptable for Kristi Noem to lie repeatedly, stoke further division, and endanger the people of the sovereign nations which pre-exist the United States and South Dakota, which have illegally annexed and occupied sovereign territory of the Oceti Sakowin. Noem is now prohibited from entering sovereign territory of Sioux bands and is subject to detention and/or removal if she violates banishment orders, meaning the state’s governor is barred from entering more than 10 percent of all land her state claims is within its “borders.”
I’m no fan of government leaders, right or left, who fail to prioritize our concerns, such as respecting treaty law, protecting the environment, or keeping our families together. But, clearly, the far-right — who Noem so proudly represents — is fully committed to using us as a stepping stone, no matter the collateral damage. She seems proud to continue in the tradition of government-sanctioned genocide perpetrated by the likes of George Armstrong Custer, George Yates, John Chivington, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Richard Henry Pratt.
I’m here to tell you, just as we did when those historical figures came after us, we’re going to fight back with everything we’ve got. Wopila tanka — thank you for standing for justice and truth.
Chase Iron Eyes is the Director and Lead Counsel with The Lakota People’s Law Project.
