South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is now banned to enter nearly 20 percent of her state after two other tribes banned her this week over comments she made earlier this year about tribal leaders benefiting from drug cartels.
The latest developments in the ongoing tribal conflict come on the heels of the backlash Noem faced for writing about kill a hunting dog who behaved badly in her last book. It is unclear how these controversies will affect his chances of becoming Donald Trump’s running mate because it is difficult to predict what the former president will do.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to ban Noem from its land in southeastern South Dakota, just days after the Sisseton-Wahpeton Ovate Tribe. took the same action. The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes had already taken steps to remove it from their reservations. Three other tribes have not yet banned it.
Noem reinforced divisions between tribes and the rest of the state in March when she publicly said tribal leaders were serving drug cartels on their reservations while neglecting the needs of children and the poor.
“We have some tribal leaders who I think personally benefit from the presence of the cartels, and that’s why they attack me every day,” Noem said at a forum. “But I’m going to fight for the people who are actually living in these situations, who are calling and texting me every day saying, ‘Please, dear governor, please come help us at Pine Ridge.’ We are scared. “
Noem’s spokesperson did not respond to emailed questions Saturday about the bans. But she has previously said she believes many people living on reservations still support her, even though she clearly doesn’t get along with tribal leaders.
Noem addressed the issue in a post on Thursday, in addition to posting a link to a YouTube channel about law enforcement video on drugs on reservations.
“Tribal leaders should take action to banish the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,” Noem said. “We can only achieve this through partnerships, because the Biden administration is failing to do its job. »
The tribes have clashed with Noem in the past, including during the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock and during the COVID-19 pandemic when they set up coronavirus checkpoints at reservation borders to keep away unnecessary visitors. She was temporarily banned from the Oglala Sioux reservation in 2019 after the protest conflict.
And there is a long history of difficult relations between the state’s Native Americans and the government dating back to 1890, when soldiers slaughtered hundreds of Lakota men, women and children during the massacre at Wounded Knee, in part of a campaign to end a religious conflict. practice known as Ghost Dance.
Political observer Cal Jillson, based at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said this tribal conflict looks a little different because Noem appears to be “actively fueling it, which suggests she sees political advantage in it.”
“I’m sure Governor Noem doesn’t mind focusing on tensions with Native Americans in South Dakota, because if we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about her shooting the dog,” Jillson said .
Noem appears to be tired of answering questions about her decision to kill Cricket after the dog attacked a family’s chickens during a stop on the way home from a hunting trip, then tried to bite the governor . Noem was also criticized for including an anecdote she has since asked her publisher to take from the book that described “looking down” on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a private meeting that experts deemed implausible.
After these controversies, she canceled several interviews planned as part of the book tour. With all the questions about “No Turning Back: The Truth About What’s Wrong in Politics and How We Move America Forward,” no one is even questioning Noem’s decision to appear in an infomercial-style video praising a team of cosmetic dentists in Texas who fitted him with veneers.
Jillson said all of this likely hurt his chances with Trump, who has auditioned a long list of potential vice presidential candidates.
“I think the chaos Trump revels in is the chaos he creates. Chaos created by someone else just distracts from itself,” Jillson said.
Michael Card, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota, said that if it wasn’t for the vice presidential job, Noem’s political future was unclear because she couldn’t not run for another term as governor. Noem is serving her second term as governor.
She could run for U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds’ seat or try to return to the House of Representatives, Card said.
Gn headline
News Source : apnews.com
