Scott Weston, the new president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is sworn in by tribal Judge Richard Bark on December 9, 2016. Photo by James Giago Davies
Packed house greets new president
Weston faces ‘a clear and present danger’
By James Giago Davies
Native Sun News Today Correspondent
nativesunnews.today PORCUPINE –– A new tribal administration was sworn in by Oglala tribal Judge Richard Bark last Friday, before a capacity crowd gathered at the Porcupine School Gymnasium. A collective sense of urgency and purpose, fueled by the support of the water protectors up at Standing Rock, influenced the tone of the gathering and the emphasis of the speeches from opening moderator Elgin Bad Wound to the acceptance speech of president elect Scott Weston. Many of the attendees had rushed down from Standing Rock, including former tribal president Bryan Brewer and uniformed veterans like Rusty Merdanian, who said he “was snowed in there a couple of days.” Icy, cold conditions still prevailed outside Porcupine School, or the attendance would have been higher still, and the DAPL issue, and the consequential fight with Washington to come, dominated conversation before the actual speeches from the podium. To face the fight to come, Weston told the crowd, “It’s going to take a special kind of person, a person who is not afraid, not afraid of the roadblocks and obstacles ahead.” Weston clearly has taken on this role from the get go. Weeks before, up in Rapid City, at the last of the DAPL consultations, Weston’s words pulled no punches, as he stood before the Washington representatives and said “thank you for not exterminating us.” More than just fiery hyperbole, Weston, like many of the other tribal leaders of the Oceti Sakowin, seems fixated on a clear and present danger, seems unified with other tribal leaders and buoyed by groundswell support from traditionally competing tribal factions. Weston won an election marred by acrimonious controversy directed at outgoing incumbent John Yellow Bird Steele, accusations from the tribal treasurer of graft and corruption, but remarkably, Weston’s mandate does not seem predicated on that controversy; most in attendance seemed to be united behind the newly awakened sense of tribal unity sparked by the DAPL struggle in North Dakota.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Packed house greets new president (Contact James Giago Davies at skindiesel@msn.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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