Echo Hawk picks Mike Black as permanent director of BIA

Politics

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk has named Michael Black, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, as the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Black has worked for the BIA since 1987. Most recently, he served as regional director of the Great Plains office.

"He's a good man," Michael Jandreau, the chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, told The Sioux Falls Argus Leader. "He's pretty sensible and pretty open-minded."

Black replaces Jerry Gidner, who has been transferred to another post at the BIA's central office in Washington, D.C. No reason has been given for the shift in management.

"In the past, in our dealings with the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, we've had less than adequate responses or immediate followup," Rodney Bordeaux, the chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, told the Argus Leader. But Black will be a good fit for us in this job."

Get the Story:
Oglala Sioux member named head of BIA (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 4/27)
Press Release: Echo Hawk Names Michael S. Black to BIA Director Post (BIA 4/26)