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“The Oglala Sioux Tribe has banned the governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem from entering Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, after she introduced Keystone XL pipeline-related bills without consulting natives living on ancestral lands.
“You are not welcome to visit our homelands, the Pine Ridge Reservation, until you rescind your support for SB 189 and SB 190, and affirm to your state and this country that First Amendment rights to free, political speech are among the truths you hold to be self-evident,” Tribe President Julian Bear Runner said in letter to Noem on Thursday, after the tribal council unanimously voted to bar the governor from their lands.
The Oglala Sioux were especially “offended” that Noem failed to consult the nine Indian nations but talked to TransCanada, the company building the pipeline, before introducing two bills dealing with covering the potential financial burden associated with potentially violent protests over the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline through western South Dakota.
While Senate Bill 189 establishes a fund from civil fines to help pay for costs associated with “riot boosting, ”Senate Bill 190 allows state’s counties to sue any person who “directs, advises, encourages, or solicits other persons participating in the riot to acts of force or violence.” Both bills were met by stiff opposition from the Native American communities before Noem signed them into law in March.
Native American tribes have staged an epic battle against the erection of the massive, 1,100-mile oil highway to transport crude from Alberta, Canada to refineries in the United States, ever since its construction was proposed in 2008. Opponents of the multi-billion-dollar project say its presence will ruin the environment and threaten the very livelihood of the Natives’ existence.”
– RT.com, ‘You are not welcome!’ Native Americans ban S. Dakota governor for supporting Keystone XL pipeline.
“Pursuant to a unanimous Oglala Sioux Tribal Council Action as of May 1, 2019, I am hereby notifying you that you are not welcome to visit our homelands, the Pine Ridge Reservation, until you rescind your support for SB 189 and SB 190 and affirm to your state and this country that First Amendment rights to free, political speech are among the truths you hold to be self-evident Your newly fabricated, unconstitutionally vague notion of “Riot Boosting” is being litigated against and will not stand. We are particularly offended that you consulted TransCanada before introducing these bills but failed to consult the Oglala Sioux Tribe, or any of the sovereign bands of the Sioux Nation, though our treaty lands would be traversed and endangered by the Keystone XL Pipeline. ”
– Oglala Sioux Tribe, Letter to Gov. Kristi Noem.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #15 – Tribal Ban (Kristi Noem).
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country. Follow the series: Indian Country 52
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