In response to the comments by Doreen Yellowbird, I must remind her as a former journalist that it is often impossible to get responses to accusations from tribal officials on the receiving end of an accusation.

I tried without success to get comments on the charges of several disgruntled members of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold right up to press time and just as I was about to put the paper to bed I got a response from Chairman Marcus Levings. I stopped everything and caught the layout and design person just in time and added the chairman’s comments to my column.

In my more than 30 years of news reporting I have found it most difficult to get comments from tribal officials when there are allegations of corruption or crimes within a tribal government and it has always caused me to think about how much an immediate response to any allegations by tribal officials would do to help clear the air. I commend Chairman Levings for stepping forward and speaking out because, in my experience, many tribal officials and chairmen never speak out but sit back hoping it will all go away.

One should also consider that Doreen Yellowbird is an employee of the Three Affiliated Tribes and works directly for Chairman Levings and is indeed obligated to respond to any criticism of her boss. However, I had no idea that she held the position of Press Secretary for the tribe because this bit of news has never been sent to me because if I knew this, I would have contacted her immediately for comments on the allegations by tribal members against the present administration.

Perhaps I will get lambasted again for believing that all members of an Indian tribe have the right to complain when they believe that something within their government is not right. Whether that complaint has teeth is another matter, but they still have the right to voice it. It is up to press secretaries and tribal leaders to dispel the truth of any allegations.

Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the publisher of Native Sun News. He was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association, the 1985 recipient of the H. L. Mencken Award, and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1991. Giago was inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2008. He can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com.

More Tim Giago:
Tim Giago: Tribal governments and democracies (11/2)
Tim Giago: Airing allegations of tribal corruption (10/26)
Tim Giago: Native Sun a watchdog for tribes, public (10/21)
Tim Giago: Can ceremonies save Sioux people? (10/19)
Tim Giago: 'Wizard' author backed genocide (10/12)
Tim Giago: Indians left out of bison roundup (10/9)
Tim Giago: Racism against Native Americans (10/5)
Tim Giago: Another nail in the coffin of smokers (9/28)
Native Sun Editorial: Mascots are not an honor (9/22)
Tim Giago: Leaving the anger and the meanness (9/21)
Tim Giago: Indian Reorganization Act turns 75 (9/14)
Tim Giago: They could not kill Lakota spirituality (9/7)
Tim Giago: Don't take IHS criticism at face value (8/31)
Tim Giago: Coffee and bagels with Tim Johnson (8/24)
Tim Giago: Real problems of US health care (8/17)
Tim Giago: Sotomayor puts dent in glass ceiling (8/10)
Tim Giago: Standing ground at Mount Rushmore (8/3)
Tim Giago: Voting Native and voting independent (7/27)
Tim Giago: Rapid City is changing for the better (7/20)
Tim Giago: Frontier mentality still alive in 2009 (7/13)
Tim Giago: The execution of Chief Two Sticks (7/6)
Tim Giago: McDonald's mentality needs revamp (6/29)
Tim Giago: National health care debate and IHS (6/22)
Tim Giago: South Dakota restricts tribal growth (6/15)
Tim Giago: No more status quo for BIA education (6/8)
Tim Giago: Being Indian and being independent (6/1)
Tim Giago: Let Oglala Sioux president do her job (5/27)
Tim Giago: Memorial Day speech at Black Hills (5/25)
Tim Giago: Small victories in battle against mascots (5/18)
Tim Giago: A day of tribal victory at Little Bighorn (5/11)
Tim Giago: Negative Native images in the news (5/4)
Tim Giago: Resolving ownership of the Black Hills (4/27)
Tim Giago: Good things and bad things come in April (4/20)
Tim Giago: An open letter to South Dakota governor (4/13)
Tim Giago: Nostalgia and South Dakota blizzards (4/6)
Tim Giago: An older brother who paved the way (3/30)
Tim Giago: Sticks and stones and Charles Trimble (3/17)
Tim Giago: Pine Ridge team triumphs at tournament (3/16)
Tim Giago: Announcing the Native Sun News (3/9)
Tim Giago: No winners at Wounded Knee 1973 (3/5)
Tim Giago: The real victims of Wounded Knee 1973 (3/2)
Tim Giago: No outrage over abuse of Natives (2/23)
Tim Giago: A perspective on the fairness doctrine (2/16)
Tim Giago: Throwing Tom Daschle under the bus (2/9)
Tim Giago: Native people out of sight, out of mind (2/2)
Tim Giago: Native veteran loses fight against VA (1/26)
Tim Giago: The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness (1/19)
Tim Giago: The stolen generations in the U.S. (1/12)
Tim Giago: Indian Country looks to Tom Daschle for help (1/5)