RAPID CITY, S.D. ? The nine reservations comprising the Great Sioux Nation presented goals and priorities to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at a Sept. 14 field hearing here.
Senators Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Tim Johnson, D-S.D. brought the panel to South Dakota to gather information about what tribal leaders consider to be important for Indian country. Inouye is chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; Johnson is a committee member.
Many of the leaders were reluctant to prioritize issues; if some are perceived to be on the lower end of the list, they may not be handled expediently.
“At Pine Ridge, our priorities are too many to name,” said John Steele, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Health care, education, housing, trust fund issues, domestic violence, crime and suicide were all brought to the floor, as were funding and the federal government’s obligations to the treaty tribes present.
“As a treaty tribe, we feel we should be prioritized on a higher level than the executive-order tribes established by the Secretary of Interior, because our treaty was ratified by the Congress and signed into law by the President,” said Andrew Gray, chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. “We have a greater degree of sovereignty than any executive-order tribe.”
Gregg Bourland, former chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said that his highest priority is the return of the Black Hills to the Lakota people.
“Congress can do that, they [the Hills] belong to us,” Bourland said. “Our people will not accept money for it. Number two; we lost millions of acres of treaty lands ? we want the treaty lands back. Number three, for years you have removed minerals illegally from out land ? we want that back and number four, we want the money for what is owed us. Many people now have enough food to feed three children and they may have 10. I have to decide which ones I will feed today.”
“The IHS gets $3 billion in funding and we need five times that much,” said Thomas Ranfranz, chairman of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. “How do you prioritize health care? Our inpatient treatment needs more money, the cost for staff and rooms is way under-funded. The youth centers have 35 percent of the money they need and there is diabetes. How can you fight a war on diabetes without money?”
Ranfranz said he spoke with a medical doctor who was on the job for five weeks and already dealt with 12 suicide attempts. He also said there was no money for early crisis intervention.
William Kindle, chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe said the hospital at Rosebud is funded at 40 percent. “We need the other 60 percent. Our ambulance is the most used in the area and it operates at a yearly shortfall. We have to lay off personnel and lower the level of care.”
An issue that plagues South Dakota tribes is the lack of elder care facilities. The state imposed a moratorium on the development of nursing homes so many elderly live far from their families.
Steele said that there are 2,200 elders on the Pine Ridge reservation and that a top priority of his is to develop a long-term care facility. “We would like to become a model in the long-term health care of our Tribal elders.”
Education is very under-funded and teachers are difficult to attract and hold, tribal leaders said. In the border town schools, which are mostly Indian, neither Lakota history nor language is taught.
“If this is a true democracy, why is it that other children who come from other countries are taught their language in their schools, but the native peoples who have always been here don’t have this opportunity?” asked Ellsworth Chytka, spokesperson for the Yankton Sioux Tribe. “I see the pains of children who are now on drugs and alcohol. It is despair. It is because they have no history; therefore, they have no pride. Because even in a school system where seventy-some percent of the children are Native American, there is no language taught, no native history or native culture taught.”
Ron Duke, chairman of the American Horse School and the Oglala Nation Education Consortium, said that a hearing on the state of Indian education was in order. “I hope to get a selection committee hearing just for education. And hold special hearings with experts.”
Education on such a vast area as Pine Ridge is made more difficult because of transportation. Poor roads and harsh winter weather makes it harder for parents and the schools to transport children to and from school buildings. More money was requested for transportation and reservation roads.
For the treaty tribes of the Great Plains, the treaties are the most important documents ever written, but as tribal leaders are quick to say, the treaties have been broken and today the United States does not live up to their spirit.
Jesse Taken Alive, Standing Rock Sioux Nation, said that the Allocation Act of 1889 was illegal according to the wording of the treaties and should be revisited. It took away most of the land of the Standing Rock and other reservations without the consent of three-fourths of the adult men of the Lakota nation.
“This is not a Republican and Democrat issue, this is nation-to-nation,” Taken Alive said. “We are talking about a quality of life. The plight of Indian country is the best-kept secret. We are always included in the discretionary budget when it comes to health care. You are asked for money; we are members of the indigenous people who are renting the land to you.”
“The Federal Government cannot continue to turn its back on the social issues that face Native people in Indian country. The Unites States and the Administration must live up to its treaty obligations and begin to fund tribal programs at a level that will allow our leaders to meet minimum basic needs of our people,” Ranfranz said.
Johnson noted that plans for a new health care facility on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation at Eagle Butte do not include an obstetrics ward.
“It’s frustrating to think that people have to get on icy roads to go to Pierre, to deliver a baby,” Johnson said. “It’s important to come to tribal homes across the country to the various nations.”
Senator Inouye said he has heard voices of anger and frustration at the hearing and for the past 15 years he has been on the committee.
“This is a magnificent country, but we have made mistakes, some horrible mistakes,” he said. “Jefferson and Franklin referred to the Iroquois form of government when forming this country. They decided Indians were sovereign ? We had more than 800 treaties with sovereign Indian national and I’m sorry to tell you that 430 are still on file with the U.S. Senate that have been ignored. They found gold and oil and minerals and the treaties were never looked at. I’m sad to say we violated provisions in every one of them.”
Inouye said he was asked to serve on the Indian affairs committee, “because I looked like one.” He said no senator wanted to serve on that committee. That was 15 years ago, and since that time the committee has held more hearings than any other committee, he said.
“I know what frustration is all about. The best solutions for Indian country can be found in Indian country,” Inouye said. “At one time there were 50 million or more American Indians, now there is a fraction. More American Indians served in the armed forces per capita than any other ethnic group. You have paid your dues.”
