But I have land here! And I work over there!
Are the Oglala students at OLC in Rapid City citizens of their reservation?
By Native Sun News Editorial Board
nsweekly.com There is still time for the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council to start recognizing all of its citizens including those living off of the reservation, but are still landholders on the reservation and although living off of the reservation still reside in the lands the Tribe claims as treaty lands. By not recognizing these Oglala citizens the Tribe is denying the fact that they do live on lands claimed by the tribe in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The day will come in the not too distant future when one of these disenfranchised Oglala will bring a lawsuit against the OST in federal court and settle once and for all whether they are to be considered citizens of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Many Oglala Lakota moved to Rapid City and other places still considered Treaty Lands in search of jobs and housing. They did so because jobs are almost nil on the reservation and houses are nearly impossible to find. Are they to be punished as non-citizens because they chose to do what is best for their families? The next elections are just around the corner, but a Tribal Council that is fair and objective can still introduce a bill to correct a very erroneous decision of a prior Council that disenfranchised thousands of its own citizens. As enrolled members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and in many cases land holders on the Pine Ridge Reservation we believe that we have the right to participate as full citizens of the reservation because decisions made by the president and council still have a profound impact upon our very lives. This is no longer a matter to joke about. The lives of the Oglala Lakota living off of the reservations either to work or to attend college at Oglala Lakota College or the School of Mines or Black Hills State University are being jeopardized by the disenfranchisement put upon them by the government of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Are the nearly one thousand Lakota students attending OLC in Rapid City not considered citizens of the Pine Ridge Reservation? How totally unfair is that? It is high time for these students and other Oglala now disenfranchised to scream bloody murder and erase this blight upon their citizenship. We may live in Rapid City but we are Oglala and we should be given every right of a citizen of the Pine Ridge Reservation.
For more news and opinion visit the all new Native Sun News website: Are the Oglala students at OLC in Rapid City citizens of their reservation? (The Editorial Board of Native Sun News can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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