Indianz.Com > News > Ivan Star Comes Out: Reservation government plagued by incompetence
Incompetence in government planning leads to public mistrust and skepticism
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Native Sun News Today Columnist
The Ikce Wicasa (Natural Man/Human) co-existed amicably on the North American continent. They maintained a balance of all creation by taking only what they needed for food, shelter and clothing. They developed a nature-based system of laws and a spirituality that has prevailed into the 21st century. I can only imagine their contentment.
Then the colonizer came and wreaked discord and death on the native inhabitants. 300 years later, that pristine world our ancestors maintained for millennia is also dying. Today, geographically separated, Lakota people endure an uncertain existence on the remaining pieces of our once vast treaty territory, the Great Sioux Reservation, most of which congress “appropriated” illegally.
On and around the Pine Ridge Reservation, we cope endlessly with racial intolerance. Under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934, government corruption permeates our reservation experience. I know this is hard to swallow, but the IRA constitution actually advances greed and selfishness upon its elected officials. The result is an inhibition of a person’s logic and sympathy.
Consequently, human rights are denied in terms of physical and mental integrity, safety, and life. The IRA’s voting criteria does not satisfy democratic principles but it has yet to be proven in a court of law. Having endured this oppressive system all of my life, I want an equitable government that will allow my grandchildren and their children to live respectably in a free and fitting community.
NATIVE SUN NEWS TODAY
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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.
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