The following opinion by Jeffrey Whalen, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, appears in the current issue of the Native Sun News. All content © Native Sun News.

When Oglala Sioux Trigbe council members recite their oaths of office they are indirectly swearing to uphold the United States Constitution, the several Civil Rights Acts and directly swearing to uphold the Tribal Constitution, the Treaties, and to defend the human rights of the Oglalas and of other peoples.

But are they really sincere when they cite the oath of office or are they just reading through the lines? In my opinion, they are just reading through the lines, especially most of the older and more experienced council members who should know better.

The Oglala Constitution is their guide in creating and following the laws of our lands. Yet if you speak to them individually you will find that most of them do not keep up with the language that is in our constitution and some just ignore it altogether.

The Oglala Sioux Tribes Oath of Office can be found in Art. XV of the constitution and reads: "I, name of council person, do solemnly swear that I will promote, preserve, and strengthen the general health and welfare of the Oglala Lakota Oyate; and I will support and defend this Constitution and human rights of the Oglala Lakota Oyate and the human rights of other peoples as recognized in international law, treaties – which includes both the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaties, and declarations. "

In the Oglala Sioux Tribal Constitution there is language that is routinely violated by all of the administrations in our history. In Article XII, Bill of Rights, it reads: "The Tribal Council in exercising its inherent powers of self-governance, shall not make any tribal law or enforce any tribal, state or federal laws that: (h); Denies to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws or deprive a person of liberty or property without due process of law. This language almost mirrors what is in the Indian Civil Rights Act. In terms of the United States Constitution, the fifth amendment reads in part; nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."

If a person is accused of wrong doing and before taking any negative action against that individual, the law allows the person to be heard in their own defense. This is the most basic of human rights that we all have.

For instance, if a person is accused of something then they have a basic right to go in-front of some committee or group of individuals with authority or a court to determine whether or not they are actually guilty of what they are being accused of. This is where they are allowed Due Process to find out the status of guilty or not guilty.

With that understanding, what about employment rights of the Oglala folks? Last administration there was around 70 plus persons who lost their jobs and who did not get to exercise their due process rights. I was one of them and as a matter of fact when I got into court the tribe under the Two Bulls/Brewer administration outright went against me.

The lower court actually ruled that my case was the absolute worst and grossest violation of an individual’s due process rights that they had ever seen. Then after this judicial slap on the hand, the tribe continued to disallow my rights and in Tribal Supreme Court ruled and quoted the same thing as the lower court and ordered the tribe to provide me with due process. When I finally got to the Administrative Law Judge level and had that hearing, the administration violated my due process rights again.

I was accused of something that was not true and when the tribe could not prove its position they charged me with something else right in the middle of the hearing that was not connected to the immediate complaint at all. My advocate moved to strike those comments of the tribe from the hearing because I did not get due process on that issue.

The Judge agreed and it is documented and verbally recorded on tape as removing that language from the hearing because of the objection. Then a few days later when we got the Judge Diane Zephier’s decision and to my dismay, the objected item was suddenly re-inserted and used as a part of the Judge’s decision to terminate my employment! Wow, talk about violating a person’s rights.

My case reeks of manipulation of an Administrative Law Judge’s decision by the tribal administration. To this day I have still been denied due process on a wrongful Administrative Law Judge ruling.

So I know from personal experience that the Oglala leadership has not properly adhered to their own Oaths of Office where they swore to uphold the individual due process rights of others. But what about all those 70 plus folks who went through the same exact thing that I did? Their rights were violated as well by the very leaders who swore to uphold our constitution and civil rights. What about swearing under oath to protect our general health and welfare? Now we are unemployed, broke and in massive debt.

The Oglala are actively running a corrupt organization. Virtually anyone that you speak to who lives off the reservation in South Dakota and who is familiar with our situation will tell you that they know this organization is corrupt.

The very leaders who we routinely elect into those tribal positions are responsible for creating laws, looking out for our best interest in terms of health, education and welfare, but yet when it comes to enforcement of those laws nobody will say a word when council members break the law.

If someone raises such an issue and if they are a tribal employee, they are certain to lose their jobs. This is how the Oglala keep their employees “in line” and guess what happens when nobody is brave enough to fight a corrupt leadership; the corruption expands because leaders realize they can get away with anything by controlling the employment status of its own people. How sad is that?

As the Oglala Oyate, we all need to school the leadership about due process issues. We all need to bring this entire organization back into compliance with its own laws. Next week I’m going to write about our organizational structure and how it relates to our Oglala Constitution and By-Laws. When you read it you will realize that “we the people” or “we the Oyate” are in charge of our destiny and that we are all well above the tribal council.

(Contact Jeffrey Whalen at Jeffrey.whalen@gmail.com)

Related Stories:
Jeffrey Whalen: Oglala Sioux council makes another bad move (3/30)