If change must come let it be on our own terms
By Ivan Star Comes Out
Native Sun News Today Columnist
nativesunnews.today
Pine Ridge Reservation voters have complained incessantly about tribal council actions since this so-called constitution was installed here 80-plus years ago. It has been a decisive factor regarding our current living conditions. In lieu of political parties within this council, we have a majority of “progressives” blindly promoting assimilation against those who constantly struggle to retain cultural ties.
This situation may seem complicated but I see two major problems. One is tainted with internal racial undertones. The other involves the 1936 constitution installed here under the federal Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934. Both have contributed to our devastating dependency, poverty, discord, and the long list of social conditions and to the lack of tangible infrastructural development.
A tangible that always rises to the surface is the deeply-rooted racial undercurrent existing on our homeland. This internal discord is a result of the federal policies involving “blood quantum” which is keeping us divided. It has been an effective strategy that has subdued and maintained control of the population here.
According to established research, the first such law was passed in the 1705 in the colony of Virginia to define “Indian” and to restrict the civil rights of people who are half or more. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the U.S. government believed tribal members had to be defined, for the purpose of federal benefits or annuities paid under treaties resulting from land cessions.
Many reservation voter-residents are related by blood, yet this policy is strong enough to disrupt family ties. The long-standing problem is aggravated when a “full blood” calls their relative “iyeska” as a racial slur and in return they are looked upon as “stupid,” drunk,” and “lazy.” Regardless of who is the loudest, we as a culturally distinct group of people have not moved in any direction for 80 years.
Looking back at our history, have these federal blood quantum laws allowed us independence, prosperity, or posterity? We are still among the poorest in the United States. Both sides of this racial dilemma will have to learn to work together. Do we want to keep our heritage as Oceti Sakowin (Seven Fires) descendants or do we want to totally conform to Euro-American mainstream?
It is a difficult decision as many fear loss of their “Indian” status under current federal guidelines and the other is a completely different chapter in our history. The latter could unite the Oglala as a nation against the wishes of the federal government. We do have an inherent right to govern ourselves but this “constitution” does not allow us to do so.
At this point in our history, we are in the middle of making a genuine and positive change for ourselves which can actually move us toward building a better future for our children. These problems (s) affect us wholeheartedly but they are not of our doing. They were all brought here by the settler and thus have not served our best interests.
Undeniably, many of us have been eking out an existence on our own treaty lands. Now we have an opportunity, as “duly-enrolled” members of this federally approved “tribe,” to make a difference for ourselves. We can support the work that has already occurred regarding this “tribal” constitution or we can reject it and continue surviving the way we have been.
There is no doubt that this IRA constitutional system is actually an extension of congressional plenary power and authority. The federal government’s purpose is to subjugate and control us natives on our own treaty lands. It effectively dismantled the ancient Oceti Sakowin system of government and obliterated it.
Instrumental to this national policy is the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) that was established in the Department of War (1824). This OIA was renamed the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1847 and then transferred to the new Department of Interior (1849).
The Wheeler-Howard Act, known as the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 was intended to reduce federal control over “Indian” affairs and increase self-governance and responsibility. This law was put to a vote on the Pine Ridge but did not meet its “30 percentile” voting requirement (1935). Congress enacted the defective law and its constitution was put to a vote here in 1936 and “accepted.”
Today, we struggle with resulting desolate conditions. However, we do have a small glimmer of hope in a small group of elected officials who have taken an ethical stance. The odds have been stacked against them but it is all they have. As concerned voters, we must support this small group within the council.
Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at P.O. Box 147, Oglala, South
Dakota, 57764; via phone at 605-867-2448 or via email at
mato_nasula2@outlook.com.
Copyright permission Native Sun News Today
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