Tim Giago: Maybe we should form an American Indian political party

Tuesday, September 4, 2018  

The attack on Indian sovereignty is just beginning
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji – Stands Up For Them)

Kristi Noem is a candidate for the Governor of South Dakota. She will be meeting with Donald S. Trump on September 7 in Sioux Falls. Noem is an opponent of tribal sovereignty as is Trump. What do you think they will attempt to drum up together in a state with 9 sovereign nations within its borders?

Trump went to war against the Indian Nations in the late 1980s when he tried to block them from getting access to gaming. He insulted Indians as a people and questioned their legality to have sovereign status. Noem feels the same way. Anyone who has known Trump since then also knows that he is a great one for seeking revenge against those he considers to be his enemies. He considered the Indian tribes of the eastern United States as his enemy because he blames them for killing his casino businesses in Atlantic City.

Looking back through the archives of Indian Country Today newspaper I came across articles written back then that followed the battle between Trump, and Wayne Ducheneaux and Gay Kingman in Washington D. C. when Wayne and Gay were the interim directors of the National Congress of American Indians. It was a battle Trump lost to these two tenacious Lakota and he has never forgotten the beating he took.

Too often the people of the Indian Nations sit back on their haunches and ignore national and local politics. They go to sleep in the comfort of their reservation homes with no fear of what the outside forces of politicians can do to their world. The danger is real and eminent.

Suppose Trump is re-elected as President and Noem wins the South Dakota Governor’s seat. And suppose Noem pushes the South Dakota Congressional delegates to introduce legislation calling for the termination of Indian Nations? And suppose Trump puts all of his presidential powers behind the Bill and it passes. What happens to the Indian Nations?

First of all the Tribes would lose all sense of sovereignty. It would be the end of self-governance. Nearly all of the federal funds for the Indian Health Service to Indian Education could be eradicated or greatly reduced. The only tribes able to withstand such a blow would be those with very successful casinos, but you can bet your last dollar that Indian casinos would be the next target of Mr. Trump. As a matter of fact he hates Indian gaming so much that he just might go after Indian casinos first. None of what I have written here is an impossible scenario.

Wishing a very happy birthday to my fellow tax reform warrior... President @realDonaldTrump! pic.twitter.com/PziqSiDrBr

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) June 14, 2018

I began this article by pointing out the sometimes indifference the Indian people have about national politics. Larger numbers of Indians register and vote as Democrats. What good has that done for us? And what can we do to stop the Republican juggernaut that is about to close in on us?

We can do what our ancestors should have done 150 years ago and that is unite as one people and not allow the federal government to divide and rule us. We should form an American Indian Party that will bring all of the Indian people together in a common fight. In the western states where we are numerous we have never taken advantage of our superior numbers. We have never got behind a common cause, our very survival, and attacked it in political numbers.

If all of the American Indians from the Navajo to the Tribes of the Great Sioux Nation pooled their resources and numbers in a common political front, there lies a power just waiting to be unleashed. We don’t need to identify as Republican or Democrat: But instead we must identify as members of the American Indian Party. Those rich gaming tribes that are too busy counting their money must understand that there will be nothing left in the gaming pot if the Indian Nations lose their sovereignty. Gaming is a part of that sovereignty and easily eliminated by the stroke of a pen.

Impossible you think? Did our ancestors truly believe that those small numbers of settlers and fur trappers venturing into our country would soon have the power to overrun us and take most of what we had? The common denominator back then was greed; greed for gold and greed for land.

Today the common motivator is still greed. We still have a few things that have not been taken from us and what we still have will soon be elevated into another source of wealth by those who would take it from us. The oil and minerals beneath the soil of our sovereign nations and the wealth of some casinos are powerful motivators for the greedy.

Think about it. Unite we must; because for those Native Americans who believe there is no danger to our sovereignty are wrong. The American Indian Party may be our sole salvation.

(Contact Tim Giago at najournalist1@gmail.com)