The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe became the fifth Sioux tribe this year to ban South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem from setting foot in their territory, making Noem an outlaw in more than 16 percent of South Dakota and in more than 90 percent of her state’s tribal lands.
Noem is now barred from the Lake Traverse Reservation in the state’s northeast, according to a resolution passed Tuesday by the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Council. They join the Oglala, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, and Rosebud Sioux tribes in banning the governor from their lands, which together comprise about 13,000 square miles of South Dakota’s total area of 77,116 square miles.
Sisseton Tribal Chairman J. Garrett Renville said the resolution was passed “by way of the voice of our people.” He added that, while the tribe was open to communicating with Noem in the future, she would remain barred from Sisseton lands until she took significant steps to repair the relationship.
“The people at this time would like that in place until there was a formal apology,” Renville told local station KELO.
The banning is in response to derogatory comments Noem made about tribal families. According to the resolution, Noem “has made statements and undertaken actions that have been injurious towards the parents of tribal children, thus detracting from the value of their education.”
At a town hall in March where she was signing education bills into law, Noem touted her own achievements while throwing dirt at tribal leaders and parents, whom she derided as lazy and uncommitted to their children’s educational success.
“My next step would be to do what I can to get a tribe to participate with me to help their kids be more successful,” Noem said. “Because they live with 80 percent to 90 percent unemployment. Their kids don’t have any hope. They don’t have parents who show up and help them. They have a tribal council or a president who focuses on a political agenda more than they care about actually helping somebody’s life look better.”
Ian Fury, spokesperson for the governor, did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
Noem also floated unsupported claims that Mexican drug cartels were operating on South Dakota’s Native reservations to the benefit of some tribal leaders, which drew immediate condemnation from the Oglala, Rosebud, and Cheyenne River tribe. All three eventually banned her in April, and they were joined by the Standing Rock tribe.
With this decision, the governor is effectively banned from about 16 percent of all land in her state, Lakota Law Project director Chase Iron Eyes told The Daily Beast. Sioux tribes claim a total of 17 percent of all land in South Dakota.
“If you look at a map, she basically has to stay on the interstate,” Iron Eyes said.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated to reflect that Noem is banned from 16 percent of all land within South Dakota itself.
Read it at KELO
