By Tim Giago A brand new newspaper calling itself the Lakota Times hit the streets of the Pine Ridge Reservation for the first time on July 1, 1981. I took our layout sheets to the printer, the Chadron Record, watched as my very first newspaper came off of the presses, loaded it in my pickup and started to deliver it for the first time all over the Pine Ridge Reservation. After I returned in the late afternoon from Kyle I drove to our office on the main street of Pine Ridge Village and saw two elderly Lakota men seated on the park bench across the street from the Sioux Nation Shopping Center each reading a copy the Lakota Times. What a great feeling that was. With the help of Melvin “Dickie” Brewer and his then wife Alma, Doris Giago, Mary Irving and Brother Scotty, a Marist Brother who was also a photographer and darkroom enthusiast, we worked day and night to get that first newspaper ready. Dickie was a fellow student with me at Holy Rosary Mission and was a stalwart news hound. He knew we needed a newspaper on the reservation and he urged me to start one. When starting any business the first question one asks is “Where do I get the money?” We didn’t have the patience or the time to go after any federal dollars so we went to the Stockmen’s Bank in Rushville, Nebraska seeking a small loan. Dickie was willing to put his vintage 1946 Chevrolet on the block as collateral. A young banker named Mr. Greg Hunter took a chance on us and gave us a $4,000 dollar loan. With that small sum we launched the Lakota Times. We started the paper in 1981, the very same year the U. S. Census Bureau came out with its report that listed Shannon County – the county that covers the Pine Ridge Reservation – as the “poorest county in America.” Whoa! We were starting a business on the poorest county in America? We succeeded because we didn’t know any better. We believed that if we printed the news the residents of the reservation wanted to read and if we worked long, impossible hours, we could do it. With a lot of helpful advice from Jim Kuehn and Jim Carrier of the Rapid City Journal, and the financial support of Bob Connealy of the First National Bank of Gordon, Nebraska, we built the Lakota Times into the largest Indian-owned weekly newspaper in South Dakota in 4 years. I remember my school mate and friend, “Gabby” Brewer coming into our office after our first publication. He said, “I’m only going to take out a six-month’ subscription because I don’t think you’ll last longer than that.” Well, “Gabby” lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation all of his life and he saw businesses come and go over the years and one can’t blame him for being skeptical. “Gabby” turned out to be one of our biggest promoters. I believe it is imperative for Native Americans to read the news and the opinions of other Indians in a newspaper published by Native Americans. I also believe that we must not only be aware of what is happening on our home reservations, but what is happening all across Indian Country because what happens on one Indian reservation can come back to haunt you on your own reservation. A newspaper that aligns itself with any government becomes reluctant to print anything that would be contradictory of that government. Native Sun News is independent of all county, school, state, federal and tribal governments. We are not beholden to them by any stretch of the imagination. Well, the 33 years since our first newspaper came off of the presses have flown by. There was a Year of Reconciliation in 1990 and South Dakota became the first and only state in the Union to do away with Columbus Day and replace it with Native American Day all because there was a Native American newspaper to push for it and fight for it. Our very presence forced white-owned newspapers across South Dakota to take another look at their neighbors on the Indian reservations. We have fought for freedom of the press on all Indian reservations and have stood up against injustice whenever it appeared. All in all we have been an advocate for the human rights of Native Americans for 33 years and with a new generation of Native journalists at the helm, we hope to continue to serve you, our readers, to the very best of our ability. We thank all of you for standing beside us and behind us all of these 33 years. And by way, the Lakota Country Times is in no way, shape or form, connected to the original Lakota Times. This newspaper took its name from the original Lakota Times and then added “Country” to the middle of it when Oneida Nation of New York threatened to sue them if they didn’t change their name. The Oneida believes it has the copyright to the name “Lakota Times.” (Tim Giago, Publisher can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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