Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States. Originally, the U.S. Federal government recognized American Indian tribes as independent nations, and came to policy agreements with them via treaties. Any Indian under the jurisdiction of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, who has not yet reached their eighteenth (18th) birthday, shall be in a regular place of abode not later than 9:00 p.m. O'Clock each night preceding a regular school day and 10:00 p.m. O'Clock any other night, unless such person is accompanied by their parent or legal guardian. Oglala Sioux Tribe - OST, Pine Ridge, South Dakota. KEEPING THE OGLALA LAKOTA OYATE INFORMED DAILY.
Chairperson Julian Bear Runner responded, “I appreciate your knowledge of that way of life of the bible but your words were very hurtful for me to hear.” According to Bear Runner, the two spirit people have a place in Lakota culture and spirituality. “Our way of life existed before the bible,” he said. “Before I was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church, I was a Lakota. Before I served in the military, I was Lakota. Before I became tribal council president, I was Lakota and when I die, I will be Lakota. He stated that every citizen has a right to choose their own religion. He said, “As an elected official, my job is to ensure that the freedoms and liberties of all our citizens are protected so they have an opportunity and right to choose their ways of life.” The vote to rescind the same-sex marriage law was split evenly among the 20 council members. Bear Runner cast the deciding vote to deny the resolution. On the next day, September 4, the council voted in favor of enacting the hate crime law with 14 in favor, 2 opposed and 1 not voting. Under tribal law, hate crimes are now punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine and/or restitution. The council meeting and months leading up to the final vote for both the same-sex marriage law and hate crime law has been an emotional roller coaster ride for the two women who forwarded the legislation. Monique “Muffie” Mousseau and her wife Felipa De Leon, both Oglala Sioux tribal citizens, spend months traveling the Pine Ridge Reservation explaining the need for the laws. They conducted presentations at 8 of the reservation’s 9 districts; there was no quorum at one district meeting, so they were unable to formally deliver their prepared remarks.#INDIGENOUS first tribal hate crime law https://t.co/8mgxq15luJ
— Mary Annette Pember (@mapember) September 21, 2019 In 2008, a newly appointed police chief contacted Mousseau asking her to return to help out with the short-handed staff. “He said I was a good cop and asked me to come back,” Mousseau said. She returned to Pine Ridge as a police officer. All went well until the police chief position changed hands again in 2009. According to Mousseau, the new chief called her into his office informing her that she was to answer all ‘“faggot” calls that came into the police office. During one such call, the transgender man she arrested for intoxication asked to be placed in protective custody at the tribal jail. He complained that he was repeatedly raped during his last incarceration. “He told me that the jailers just laughed when he cried out for help,” Mousseau said. Jail staff refused to place the man in protective custody according to Mousseau. “The police chief said we can’t do that. When I asked him why he said, “faggots get what faggots deserve when they go to jail here,” she said. “That was a defining moment for us. We determined that our time on the reservation was done,” Mousseau said. “He was a police officer in charge of enforcing our laws and he was refusing to protect people; I decided I wasn’t going to put up with that,” she said. Again the couple moved away from Pine Ridge. Oglala Lakota Nation Passes Hate Crime BillEarlier this month, the Oglala Lakota Tribal Council passed important legislation protecting our #LGBTQ and #TwoSpirit relatives.
Posted by Julian Bear Runner, Oglala Sioux Tribe President on Wednesday, September 11, 2019Oglala Lakota Tribe may be first in Indian Country to pass hate crime law including LGBTQ peoplehttps://t.co/BOwBPpjNmG
— Mary Annette Pember (@mapember) September 19, 2019Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe leaders have rejected South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s demand that they remove checkpoints meant to regulate traffic through their reservation, set up to prevent the spread of coronavirus on tribal land.
In early April, the tribes’ governments separately decided to regulate travel on and off their reservations via checkpoints. The Oglala Sioux Tribe closed the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to all non-residents for non-essential travel, though vehicles could pass through without stopping. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe also restricted travel, limiting non-residents from entering their reservation unless on essential business or if the tribal government has granted them a travel permit. Residents and non-residents entering the reservation must fill out a health questionnaire.
On Friday, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sent letters to Chairman Harold Frazier of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and President Julian Bear Runner of the Oglala Sioux Tribe demanding that they remove the checkpoints from state and U.S. highways. Noem said if the checkpoints are not removed within 48 hours, she would take “necessary legal action,” according to a statement released Friday.
“We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against COVID-19,” Noem said in the statement. “I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on U.S. and state highways and remove all travel checkpoints.”
The originals soundtrack list. On April 8, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) released temporary guidance telling tribes to reach an agreement with state authorities before restricting travel on government-owned roads. “Neither consultation nor agreement among the tribal and state government occurred,” Noem said in her statement. “Regardless, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe established checkpoints on state and U.S. highways to control and restrict non-tribal member travel.”
But both Frazier and Bear Runner maintain that they have the legal authority to have the checkpoints and they do not intend to remove them.
“We’re not doing anything wrong. We have every legal right to do what we’re doing,” Frazier tells TIME. “We’re just trying to save lives, and the lives of all the residents of this reservation, not just our [tribal] members.”
Both the Cheyenne River Sioux and the Oglala Sioux Tribe have issued stay-at-home orders and curfews, while the state of South Dakota has not.
Frazier says of now there is only one positive case of coronavirus on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe reservation. He says because of the checkpoint system, they know where that person went and who they came in contact with.
As of Saturday, there are at least 184 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Native Americans in South Dakota, according to the state’s health department. There have been at least 3,393 confirmed cases in South Dakota as a whole, according to a track by Johns Hopkins University.
In a video posted to Facebook on Saturday, Bear Runner said that Noem had “threatened the sovereign interest of the Oglala people when she issued an ultimatum,” but continued, “we have a prior and superior right to make our own laws and be governed by them.”
He said he believes the tribe’s checkpoints are in “full” compliance with the BIA’s memorandum since they “have not closed non-tribal roads or highways owned by the state of South Dakota or any other government,” and it is not their intent to restrict access to such roads.
Gov. Noem’s office responded to TIME’s request for comment, saying that the governor’s letters to the tribal leaders speak for themselves.
Bear Runner said in the video that he had informed the state of South Dakota of their “tribal border monitoring plan” on several occasions, and only learned of Noem’s letter via news reports and social media.
Frazier tells TIME that he believes his tribe has many legal justifications, including in his tribe’s Constitution and in the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868, for their travel checkpoints. He added that, as of now, the Cheyenne River Sioux’s nine checkpoints “take less than a minute.”
According to a summary of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s checkpoint policies posted on social media, residents of the reservation are allowed to travel to areas within South Dakota that are not COVID-19 “hot-spots” as long as it’s for an “essential activity.” When they return to the reservation, they must fill out a health questionnaire at a checkpoint. Frazier also tells TIME that license plate numbers are written down.